Bones and antlers production
Bones and antlers were very common materials in prehistory. They had an excellent chemical and physical properties. Objects made of bones and antlers were hard and at the same time resilient what made them more resistant and used very often. The production of such tools was relatively easy and it didn’t require specialist efforts.
Bone and horn tools played a very important role in life and farming of man of Eneolith and Early Bronze Age. It should be emphasized that most of these artefacts didn’t survive till our times because of adverse storage conditions. Unfavourable soil in which a given artefact was deposited resulted in total decomposition of its structure.
Organic materials mentioned above were used to produce various tools, weapon, ornaments and other objects of everyday use. The most common material was long bones (mainly ribs).
As opposed to bone - horn industry of Eneolith era, where most tools were made of farm animals’ bones, the production of Early Bronze Age was based mainly on the bones of wild animals. These kinds of human activities took place because of higher mechanical durability of mammal bones in comparison to the bones of farm animals. Low durability of farm animals bones was caused by gradual domestication.
Prehistoric man chose very specific bones to produce a given object . The rib bones were used to for production of smooth files, pins and scrapers, whereas metatarsus and metacarpal bones for production of awls. Hoes, flint tools and ornaments were made of antlers.
Production of objects made of bones and antlers entailed many technological activities such as splitting, breaking, chiselling,cutting planning, grinding and also chemical softening of material (total or fragmentary). The softening required soaking of material in water or urine, in a definite time, depending on the needs. It was a reversible process, that enable a given object to be softened, processed and after rinsing in water to regain its original hardness.
A fragment of antlers with visible cuts (FBC)
Incision
Drilling
A hole (not totally drilled) and marks after drilling
A shape made probably with a scraper
Carveing
Marks of processing with a flint tool - nacinanie
Incision also
Tools used for processing of bones and antlers were made of flint, stone, bones and copper. Material was cut by means of axes, chisels, gravers. Holes were made by bone or copper chisels, gravers and drilling rigs. Oblong grooves were engraved with gravers or filed. For grinding the processed objects, whetstones, smooth files and grindstones were used. The final phase was decorating and polishing of a given object by means of leather with ash, small-grained sand and fat. It is interesting to note that damage visible on some artefacts appeared as a result of using different tolls such as awls or needles in organic materials. Ornamentation was made by means of flint blades.
Long usage caused slight damages of walls and holes
All bone-horn artefacts can be assigned to three main categories: tools, weapon and ornaments. The first category: hoes, tools for digging, axes, smooth files, scrapers, hammers, chisels, awls, needles, pins and gravers.
- hoes - were made of antlers, their hilt is main rod, cut off 20-30 centimetres from its base, the working part is offshoot of trunk, their main use is aerating;
- hoe-like tools - in most casesthey were made of offshoot cut from main trunk, used for aerating soil, planting leguminous plants;
- tools for digging - made of surroyal antlers (16-28cm);
Digging tools from a fragment of deer antlers (SC)
- axes - made of grinded stag antlers, believed to be prototypes of stone axes;
- smooth file - – made of differnt kinds of bones, useful for smoothing and polishing pottery and also for fleshing;
Bone smooth files (FBC)
- scrapers - in most cases they were made of rib bones of stag or aurochs, used to put the finishing touches to the pottery (smoothing and polishing) and also for fleshing and debarking;
Bone scrapers (FBC)
- hammers - made only from stag antlers, multifunctional tools;
- chisels - produced from the core of long bones and also from antlers, used for woodworking and also for making holes;
Everyday use bone drills (FBC)
- awls - made of metatarsus and metacarpal bone of sheep, deer and stag, used for piercing holes in leather;
A fragment of bovine rib and an awl from ribs (FBC)
The front and back of awls made from bovine ribs
Awls made from humerus of sheep (FBC)
FBC people made awls from different raw materials
- needles - useful for sewing leather with other materials;
- pins - made of fragments of long bones and ribs, they could have been used to tie up hair;
- rylce - similar to awls (difference lies in blades – wide with blunt ending), used for making various chases and grooves in organic materials and pottery.
Second category: daggers, arrow heads and tips of a spear.
- daggers - made of bones;
- arrow heads - made of bones and antlers;
- tip of a spear - made of bone and antlers.
Bone spearheads (FBC)
Third category is connected with religion and cult and also with everyday life. This category include differnt kinds of amulets, pendants and charms made of wolves fangs, boar tusk or other material of animal origin.
Richly ornamented bone amulet (SC)
Burnt fragment of richly ornamented bone amulet (SC)
Amulet? calendar? meter? - a fragment of cut bovine long bone (FBC)
Ornamented bone beads (SC)
Drilled teeth of a dog or wolf (SC)
Bone hair-pin – a cut out fragment of a long bone and a tusk broke in half. (SC)
Unfinished pendant / toy? It probably presents an ax. (FBC)
Precise description of the functions of most of the bone and horn tools is impossible, because these were the tools of multifunctional use. For example, an awl could have been used as a tool for piercing hole in leather but also to decorate pottery. Scrapers from animal ribs could have been used not only to smooth the surface of clay vessels but also to remove the leather side in the process of tanning the hides.
Experimental archaeology and traceology are very useful in defining the function of a given artafact. Owing to this field of science we can learn a lot about the history of use of the objects from prehistory.
A bone repairer – a flinter’s tool (FBC)
