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<DIV>Hello Jonny,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I have recorded around 75 examples of axially-perforated cattle metacarpals
and c 100 perforated metatarsals from layers of late 7th to 9th century date at
Hamwic. Most of them have a single perforation, as in the illlustration, and all
of them have been worked, usually by removing the proximal and distal ends of
the bone. They have all been cut with a blade and none of them are drilled. I
agree with Francois that it is expedient to open up the marrow channel of the
bone in this way, but I also suspect that at Hamwic they were perforating the
bone in order to put a wooden rod through the proximal end, which provided the
bone worker with something to grasp when they were sawing the bone. Your objects
look a little more like skates, particularly with the roughening of the
surfaces, but the same basic procedure may also have applied: by putting a
wooden rod into the bone you make it easier to hold and to work. It could be
that some of your bones are the residue of a workshop and they had been prepared
for working, but had not reached any further stage.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I’m hoping to put some details of the Hamwic perforated bones into Selena’s
forthcoming volume, if all goes well. A couple of them can be seen in the
enclosed illustration,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Ian Riddler</DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=johnny.karlsson@ofl.su.se
href="mailto:johnny.karlsson@ofl.su.se">Johnny Karlsson</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Friday, November 21, 2014 2:44 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=bonetools@listserv.niif.hu
href="mailto:bonetools@listserv.niif.hu">bonetools@listserv.niif.hu</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> [Bonetools] Strange cattle bones with carved
holes</DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%'><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">Dear all, <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%'><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">I hope you can help me with some odd bone objects from
medieval <SPAN tabIndex=-1 id=misspelled t="0"
s="0">Sigtuna</SPAN></FONT><A></A><FONT face="Palatino Linotype"> in Sweden.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%'><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">During a research on medieval bone skates from the
town, I and a colleague came across some bones that seem to have another
function at least primary. It is only metacarpal bones from cattle and they have
two holes at the proximal joint, see photo. The holes are uneven and look carved
rather than drilled. Usually the holes reach the medullar cavity. In two cases
it is evident that the bones secondary have been used as skates, in two other
cases they exhibit transverse striations on the <SPAN tabIndex=-1 id=misspelled
t="0" s="1">diaphysis</SPAN></FONT><A></A><FONT face="Palatino Linotype"> (see
photo). But the majority of them show no sign of use at all except these two
proximal holes. We identified about twenty of them from one particular trench in
layers dating to the 12<SUP>th</SUP> century, but they do appear in smaller
numbers in other parts of town.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%'><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">Has anyone of you seen something similar? Does anyone
know their function?<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 7.5pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
lang=EN-GB
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-language: sv; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Palatino Linotype">Thank you in advance,<BR>Johnny <SPAN tabIndex=-1
id=misspelled t="0" s="2">Karlsson</SPAN></FONT><A></A></SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-language: sv; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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