Histria – Acropolă Centru-Sud. Date asupra artefactelor din materii dure animale (I) / Histria – Acropolis Centre-South. Data on bone and antler artefacts (I)

Abstract

The analysis of the artefacts from osseous raw materials discoveret in Histria – Acropolis Centre‐ South Sector is integrated in the series of extensive scientific valorisation of the artefacts from osseous raw materials recovered from archaeological sites located in Dobrudja – see the bibliography. Consequently, the common and significant presence of this kind of artefacts is documented in terms of quantities, types and data obtained from the inventory of the archaeological structures dated to the Roman and Roman‐ Byzantine periods in Histria – Acropolis Centre‐ South Sector. Their systematic recovery and study will continue to be a goal for the research team of this sector as part of the broader scientific objectives of the on‐ going project. The article offers the extensive primary research data of the assemblage obtained following the 2013– 2016 archaeological campaigns, comprising 31 pieces. The typological categories are quite various : tools, adornments, accessories, hafts, raw materials and debris. The local procurement of osseous raw materials (bone, deer antler, wild boar tusks) is taken into account. The artefacts have been made probably within mixt workshops (metal, wood, bone etc.), where various tools, accessories from different raw materials etc. have been produced. The technical solutions of manufacture have been defined using microscopic analysis. Artefacts are dated in the Roman and Roman‐ Byzantine periods (2nd– 6th century AD). Further chronological data cannot be formulated due to the disturbed context of last dwelling levels and standardised parameters of the artefacts. The piece HIS‐ ACS_ 15 (dated to the 6th century AD, Fig. 16) is a remarkable exception due to its ornamentation, which attests the use of dye that was exceptionally well preserved. Given the fact that the decoration of the bone item still preserves traces of black pigment, the team decided to conduct a compositional non‐ destructive analysis using a portable X‐ Ray Fluorescence spectrometer Innov‐ X Systems Alpha Series, with W anticathode tube, SiPIN diode, Peltier cooling effect. The analysis on Analytical mode was conducted on both the interior side (less finished, undecorated) and the exterior side (finely worked, decorated) in order to determine possible differences in the composition (Tables 6– 7, Graph 5). The analysis conducted on the upper (decorated) side indicates again the presence of iron and lead, but this time the latter in a very high amount (70.51% Pb). The presence of both lead and iron on the surface of the decorated object could be possibly explained in terms of the original use of two pigments of different origin, one based on iron (an iron oxide – ochre ?) and another on lead. These would have been either mixed to obtain a final desired colour or combined to obtain two different hues or nuances on the surface (for example, ground in one hue of red and the concentric circles in another). Another possible explanation is that the surface of the object was coloured in black using only a lead oxide, while the presence of iron indicates the prolonged contact of the bone object with an iron object. The fact that the amount of iron is much higher on the interior of the object, in combination with the presence of zinc and a small amount of lead, could serve as an argument in favour of the original use of the red deer item as a convex plaque for an iron object. Artefacts made of osseous raw materials which were studied on this occasion offer important typological and technological benchmarks for complex and extensive approach of civilisation and culture of the Histrian communities during Roman and Roman‐ Byzantine epoch.