<html><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><META name="Author" content="Novell GroupWise WebAccess"></head><body style='font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #FFFFFF;'><div>Dear François,</div><div> I definitely think you are on to something here. However, I for one have trouble envisioning your wife's table leg. Is there no possibility of sending a picture 9a rough drawing) of what you mean. Are you thinking this was a closure for a large chest or something like that?</div><div> </div><div>Alice<br><br></div>>>> François Poplin<poplin@mnhn.fr> 09/11/13 4:50 PM >>><br> I would like to come back to that object - I am now back at the lab - with an experience and a remark<br> <br> The experience is : I changed (that spring) the bronze "lion paws" of a definitly british furniture of my wife (a "sewig table", i'd say), with 4 little weel under the 4 paws. Pegs (wood) and suckets (bronze) are rectangular in section (so as to prevent rotation). I had to file a little bit the wood ; it was a precise work.<br> <br> The remark, now : a significant difference with the Rõuge birds is the hole that these have through the body, for fixing them as litlle ivory eskimo figurines (seals, etc.) on kayaks etc. : they are brackets (rather than pendants).. The "tufted head" was bond by at least one end in a setting ; either an intermediate piece, or a piece setted by the "neck" and wearing a metal beak (reallistic or as a trumpet, as in some medieval images).<br> <br> But the regularity of the pegs, and their lightly reducing diameters towards the end are rather convinvcing that they were not definitive, "sleeping", but removable as for a clasp/fasterber/hasp. I would even suggest the the "bill" was mobile, and that a bond/tie.link was inserted in/through the section in front of the bill, and hooked/catched behind the tuft when the "thing" (the whole object) was closed. A simple action of a finger (thumb ?) was enough to pick up the tie and open. Wat do the traces of waer say about that ?<br> <br> Yoyur's sincerely.<br> <br> Le 23/08/2013 13:19, Tuukka Kumpulainen a écrit : <blockquote cite="mid:70A670CFA44D9B4F89B164C1B2D5A5C011E5D3B2@exch-mbx-01.utu.fi" type="cite"> <div> <p>Thank you all for your commentary - Brian, Francois, Alice & Heidi!</p> <p> </p> <p>The bird-pendant hypothesis is an intriguing one, and also proposed by our digging team. A swimming, tufted diver duck can be seen there. However, I wonder why the maker would have positioned the 'beak' in such an unrealistic angle if a bird image was called for? The 'beak' would be plowing water, in this case, and neither the non-existent 'neck' nor the straight, flat 'body' seem avian all that much if at all. Compared to the Rõuge bird pendants, for instance, this artefact is very angular and straight-lined, the 'head' is huge compared to the 'body', the 'eyes' even more so. Much skill and effort was put into the artefact, but to make it <em>less</em> bird-like and more tool-like, to my eyes: it is almost trigger- or clasp-like. At any rate, in the absence of analoguous functional finds, the bird pendant hypothesis remains, for now.</p> <p> </p> <p>Tuukka</p> <div> <div> <b>Lähettäjä:</b> <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:bonetools-bounces@listserv.niif.hu">bonetools-bounces@listserv.niif.hu</a> [<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:bonetools-bounces@listserv.niif.hu">bonetools-bounces@listserv.niif.hu</a>] käyttäjän Heidi Luik [<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:heidi.luik@mail.ee">heidi.luik@mail.ee</a>] puolesta<br> <b>Lähetetty:</b> 21. elokuuta 2013 10:33<br> <b>Vastaanottaja:</b> Mailing list for archaeologists of the research group for the study of object and waste of bone, antler. ivory and horn.<br> <b>Aihe:</b> Re: [Bonetools] A Mystery Bone Artefact from Tursiannotko, SW Finland<br> <br> </div> <div>Dear Tuukka,<br> <br> Francois Poplin's assumption about duck came to my mind also. Your bone object remind me some bird shaped pendants from the Viking Age site Rõuge and from some other sites in Southeast Estonia (last quarter of 1st millennium AD). But pendants from Rõuge have more rounded cross-sections. I add a page from my manuscript with drawing of these pendants, I do not have photos of these objects.<br> <br> Best wishes,<br> Heidi<br> <br> Heidi Luik<br> Institute of History, Tallinn University<br> <br> At 16:31 20.08.2013, you wrote:<br> <blockquote type="cite">It let me thing of a tufd duck, maybe <i>Aythya fuligula</i> - swimming. <br> <br> <br> Le 19/08/2013 17:00, Tuukka Kumpulainen a écrit : <br> <blockquote type="cite">Dear Alice,<br> <br> An osteologist has not yet examined the artefact, so I can't tell, for now, if antler or bone is in question. Let's call it 'osseous' for now, which it is. The vast majority of previous osseous finds from the site are made from cattle, horse or moose bone, but moose and reindeer antler is also present. <br> <br> This is an absolutely complete object - both ends are intentionally shaped and intact, and the dirt-laden hole in the 'head' is a precise 5 mm bore hole right through the object, reminding a perforation for an axle of some sort. The end closest to the perforation is precisely cut into a rectangular shape. There is no macroscopic wear on the most intriguing areas of the artefact, that is, the rectangular end mentioned and the 'lip' or 'hook' at the other side of the 'axle hole'. <br> <br> Tuukka <br> <b>Lähettäjä:</b> <a href="mailto:bonetools-bounces@listserv.niif.hu" moz-do-not-send="true"> bonetools-bounces@listserv.niif.hu</a> [<a href="mailto:bonetools-bounces@listserv.niif.hu" moz-do-not-send="true"> bonetools-bounces@listserv.niif.hu</a>] käyttäjän Alice Choyke [<a href="mailto:choyke@ceu.hu" moz-do-not-send="true">choyke@ceu.hu</a>] puolesta<br> <b>Lähetetty:</b> 19. elokuuta 2013 15:26<br> <b>Vastaanottaja:</b> Mailing list for archaeologists of the research group for the study of object and waste of bone, antler. ivory and horn.<br> <b>Aihe:</b> Re: [Bonetools] A Mystery Bone Artefact from Tursiannotko, SW Finland<br> <br> Dear Tuukka,<br> Two question - is it really made of bone or is this antler? Second, is this an absolutely complete object or are the ends broken. Third where are the designs worn? - this may help you decide whether it was held in the hand or attached to something else. Finally - is that a hole in the 'head' of the object or just dirt?<br> <br> Best,<br> Alice<br> <br> <br> On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 10:11 AM, Tuukka Kumpulainen <<a href="mailto:thkump@utu.fi" moz-do-not-send="true">thkump@utu.fi</a>> wrote:<br> <dl> <dd>Hello all,<br> <br> </dd> <dd>Recently, a mysterious bone artefact was found from Tursiannotko, Southwestern Finland, during rescue excavations on a multi-period site. Preliminary contextual evidence concerning this find points to a Late Iron Age (c. AD 800 - 1200) dating.<br> <br> </dd> <dd>The artefact is of such a complex and detailed design and execution, that I think mere ornamental explanations won't suffice - to me, the find reflects precise functionality, yet I have not encountered anything like this before, and our entire crew is at a loss as to the find's ID. Any parallels of this type of artefact, or suggestions of its function, would be more than welcome. I'm keeping my few own interpretations to myself, for now :)<br> <br> </dd> <dd>Thank you,<br> <br> </dd> <dd>Tuukka Kumpulainen<br> </dd> <dd>University of Turku<br> </dd> <dd>Finland<br> <br> </dd> <dd>_______________________________________________<br> </dd> <dd>Bonetools mailing list<br> </dd> <dd><a href="mailto:Bonetools@listserv.niif.hu" moz-do-not-send="true">Bonetools@listserv.niif.hu</a><br> </dd> <dd><a href="https://listserv.niif.hu/mailman/listinfo/bonetools" moz-do-not-send="true">https://listserv.niif.hu/mailman/listinfo/bonetools</a><br> <br> </dd> </dl> <br> <br> <br> <br> <pre>_______________________________________________Bonetools mailing list<a href="mailto:Bonetools@listserv.niif.hu" moz-do-not-send="true">Bonetools@listserv.niif.hu</a><a href="https://listserv.niif.hu/mailman/listinfo/bonetools" moz-do-not-send="true">https://listserv.niif.hu/mailman/listinfo/bonetools</a></pre> </blockquote> <br> <br> <br> <pre>-- François POPLIN Directeur honoraire de l’UMR 7209 Archéozoologie, Archébotanique :sociétés, pratiques et environnements Responsable du Séminaire d'Anthropozoologie Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle CP 56 Ancien Laboratoire d’Anatomie comparée 55, rue de Buffon 75005 Paris 01 40 79 33 11 fax ------ 33 14 francoispoplin.blogspot.com</pre> _______________________________________________<br> Bonetools mailing list<br> <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Bonetools@listserv.niif.hu">Bonetools@listserv.niif.hu</a><br> <a href="https://listserv.niif.hu/mailman/listinfo/bonetools" moz-do-not-send="true">https://listserv.niif.hu/mailman/listinfo/bonetools</a></blockquote> </div> </div> </div> <br> <fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset> <br> <pre wrap="">_______________________________________________Bonetools mailing list<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Bonetools@listserv.niif.hu">Bonetools@listserv.niif.hu</a><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://listserv.niif.hu/mailman/listinfo/bonetools">https://listserv.niif.hu/mailman/listinfo/bonetools</a></pre> </blockquote> <br> <br> <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- François POPLIN Directeur honoraire de l’UMR 7209 Archéozoologie, Archébotanique : sociétés, pratiques et environnements Responsable du Séminaire d'Anthropozoologie Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle CP 56 Ancien Laboratoire d’Anatomie comparée 55, rue de Buffon 75005 Paris 01 40 79 33 11 fax ------ 33 14 francoispoplin.blogspot.com</pre> </body></html>