<div>The flute/musical instrument idea seems plausible. I still wonder about the hole on the end that is cut in half. Alice, if it was a larger instrument that was broken and reworked, why cut it off halfway through the hole? I don't know enough about wind instruments to guess what the effect would be. Anyone have an idea?</div>
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<div>I'm also not sure about the species of bird. Over the weekend a faunal expert looked at the bone and couldn't determine the species either.</div>
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<div>Thanks for the help. If anyone has any sources that might help me learn about wind instruments, please let me know.</div>
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<div>Best,</div>
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<div>Julie Byrd<br></div>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jun 23, 2011 at 5:27 PM, Alice Choyke <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:h13017cho@iif.hu">h13017cho@iif.hu</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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<div>Dear Julie,</div>
<div> What do you think the chances are that this was a multi-holed flute that broke and was remodified into some kind of a whistle? And do you know what species of bird the object was made from?</div>
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<div>Alice<br><br></div></font>
<div class="gmail_quote">
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<div class="h5">On Thu, Jun 23, 2011 at 8:31 PM, Julie Byrd <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:byrdjulie@gmail.com" target="_blank">byrdjulie@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br></div></div>
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<div class="h5">Dear all,<br><br>I have a mystery object for you. I hope some of you can share some ideas or sources with me about possible functions. <br><br>This modified bird bone is from a Middle Archaic (circa 5,000 BP) site in Florida. During this time groups were fishing, hunting, gathering, and collecting shellfish. They were somewhat sedentary but had seasonal camps. <br>
<br>The object is intentionally cut on both ends, but one end is broken. It is only 28 mm long and 8 mm wide. There is a perforated hole close to the unbroken end. A partial hole (a semi-circle) is bisected by the cut end. At almost 4 mm, the partial hole is slightly larger than the full hole (just under 3 mm). Most of the surface has evidence of lithic shaving.<br>
<br>Similar sites have produced hollow bone beads. Most of the beads are either incised or undecorated. I don't know of any with asymmetrical perforations like this one. I have not come across any other archaeologists noting whistles or duck calls from coeval sites, but my leading hypothesis is some type of whistle. I plan to replicate this object to recreate it without the broken end and then use my guitar tuner to see what pitch it makes as a whistle. If anyone can lead me to literature on hunting calls or whistles or other simple wind instruments I would appreciate it.<br>
<br>I've attached some pictures. <br><br>I hope someone has some ideas! Thanks.<br><font color="#888888"><font color="#888888"><br>Julie Byrd</font> </font><br></div></div>
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