Data regarding the experimental manufacture of Roman objects made of domestic herbivores horns

Abstract

Processing hard animal materials in Roman times was an important occupation. In any Roman settlements there were certainly workshops where objects were being made out of the bones and horns of domestic animals. One such workshop was found on Insula 3 of the ancient Roman town named Colonia Dacica Augusta Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, and a similar case was registered in Histria. The workshop provided residual bone ends, cut segments, finished items, in the process of being made or discarded. Upon closer analysis, I found that the horny part of the cattle, sheep and goat horns are lost in time as they are 100% organic nature, this being the reason why in the Roman sites there are no artefacts made out of these horn parts. Experimental archaeology has helped to restore some parts of the bovine and goat horns, to see differences or similarities with antlers, in terms of processing. Thus, I made a comb, different chips for games, a hair pin, a pendant and a dagger button of bovine horn, as well as a dice and a needle of goat horn. After processing the horns of domestic animals, I could see that they can be altered by heat (so they can be shaped), that they are as suitable for making items as the horns of wild animals, that they have a pleasant translucent appearance and that they were certainly used by the Romans in making different types of objects.