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<p class=MsoNormal>Dear Alice,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The following query and attached images came to me via Clare
Ward at the British Museum who has requested that I forward them to the bonetools
discussion list to see if anyone can help with the function of this
piece. It is not clear to me what the materials is from these photographs
but what I can see is consistent with an ivory of some species. I am
happy to pass thoughts back via Clare.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>All the best,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Sonia<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:72.0pt'>Dr Sonia O'Connor <span
style='font-size:8.0pt'>PhD FSA FIIC ACR Honorary Visiting Fellow, University
of York</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:72.0pt'>Post-doctoral Research Fellow<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:72.0pt'>Archaeological Sciences<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:72.0pt'>Division of AGES, <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:72.0pt'>University of Bradford<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:72.0pt'>Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD7
1DP, UK<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:72.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:72.0pt'>tel 01274 23 6498 (office) 5210
(lab)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:72.0pt'>fax 01274 23 5210<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Sherry Doyal <br>
<b>Sent:</b> 29 June 2010 15:01<br>
<b>To:</b> Caroline Cartwright<br>
<b>Cc:</b> Clare Ward; Philip Kevin<br>
<b>Subject:</b> FW: Identification?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Any guesses? S <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Ed Tennant [mailto:etennant2@comcast.net] <br>
<b>Sent:</b> 29 June 2010 14:57<br>
<b>To:</b> Sherry Doyal<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Identification?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal>Dear Sherry -- I am a good friend of your cousin, Jim
MacDiarmid. Started working with him in Alaska in the mid 1970's. Still talk
to him a couple of times a week, brushing up on our German and exchanging
recipes. He suggested that I forward these photos and background information
about a fossilized piece of ivory that so far no one can identify. Below is
the info I sent to Vincent LaFonde at the Canadian Museum of
Civilisation. I think you will find the piece curious and if I am lucky you
will be able to say "Eureka!" -- My best regards, Ed Tennant<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Dear
Colleague:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>
Although I am now retired here in Albuquerque, I worked as a language
education consultant in rural Alaska for about 30 years. Over a ten-year
period I worked with the elementary school staff at Gambell on St. Lawrence
Island. During that time I picked up several pieces of fossilized ivory
artifacts. One is particularly intriguing and somewhat mysterious, as, so
far, no one can tell me what it is. The first suggestion was that it was a
guide for the hitch on a fan-shaped dog team. The elders at Gambell tell me
that that type of sled hitch was never used on the island. Fan hitch
specialists also say they have never seen anything like that to guide traces.
So, after twenty years I am still trying to find out what this object may
have been used for. At the suggtestion of my Canadian friend Jim MacDiarmid
(currently a language consultant in Juneau, Alaska) I have included two
photos: a front view and a top view. The back is somewhat roughly hewn and is
not as polished as the front. Note the stick figure in the center that
has the "eye of awareness" (ellam inga) as its head.
This may suggest that the object may have been used in some religious
ceremony. The five equidistant 1-cm holes run completely through the piece
from top to bottom-- I would be most grateful if you could identify this
unusual, artifact that is from the Bering Sea Punuk culture (800-1200 C.E.).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>My sincere
thanks -- Ed Tennant<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a
href="mailto:etennant2@comcast.net" title="mailto:etennant2@comcast.net">etennant2@comcast.net</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Y<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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