LATE BRONZE AGE BONE CRAFTING IN THE EASTERN BALTIC: STANDARDIZATION OF ARTEFACT TYPES AND INDIVIDUAL INGENUITY

Abstract

Introduction The Late Bronze Age (about 1300/1100-500 BC) was the time when fortified settlements first appeared as part of the settlement pattern in the eastern Baltic region (Fig. 1). At many of these settlements no traces of significant fortifications have been discovered, but in such cases they have been built in places with natural defensive qualities (Lang 2007a, 55 ff.; 2007b, 39 ff.). The oldest fortified settlements in the Baltic countries come from Lithuania, where they were already established in the last quarter of the 2nd millennium BC; in Latvia they appeared at the end of the 2nd millennium BC (Lang 2007a, 67). The fortified settlements in Estonia date to the first half of the 1st millennium BC (op. cit., 57 ff.). Fortified settlements are indicators of important social and economic changes that took place in the eastern Baltic region at that time. They were centres of authority, as well as of trade and crafts, and played an important role in the organization of bronze circulation (Lang 2007b, 77 ff.). The most important craft was probably bronze casting, witnessed by numerous clay moulds and their fragments found at such settlements (Vasks 1994, pl. XV, XVI; Grigalaviciene 1995, 102 ff.; Sperling 2006, 37 ff.; 2011, 90 ff.). Pottery-making was also of great importance, lots of fragments of both coarse-grained and fine-grained ceramic vessels have been found (Vasks 1994, pl. XVIII ff.; Grigalaviciene 1995, 202 ff., figs 117 ff.; Sperling 2006, 42 ff.; 2011, 157 ff.; Lang 2007a, 125 ff., fgs 58 ff.). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Bone and antler artefacts constitute the most numerous find group after ceramic vessels and clay moulds. The large number of bone and antler artefacts among the finds from the Bronze Age sites demonstrates the importance of bone and antler as raw materials in the society of the period. Although simple ad hoc tools are represented among them, a certain standardization of selected material and shape is characteristic of many bone tool types in the period under discussion. Such artefact types were e.g. bone arrow- and spearheads, harpoon heads and hoes or ard points made of antler, awls of goat/sheep metapodials, antler spoons and handles (e.g. Luik & Maldre 2007; Luik 2011; 2013; Luik et al. 2011). Such standardization probably reflects some degree of organization and control in bone and antler-working. Some foreign bronze artefacts have been replicated in more easily available local materials--bone and antler. For example double buttons imitating Scandinavian bronze double buttons and tutuli were made from antler (Luik & Ots 2007). Bone has been used to make decorative pins in shapes resembling bronze specimens spread across Scandinavia and central Europe. Some of these imitations are carved very skilfully, requiring certain skills and experience from their producer (Lang & Luik in print). People never copy things blindly; copying often involves the idea that the copy gains some power from the thing copied (Hodder 2012, 123). Imitations made in other substances have been regarded as characteristic of periods when important social changes took place in the society (Choyke 2008). Presumably a new social rank arose whose needs such replicated artefacts met and therefore craftspeople with necessary skills were also needed (Luik 2007). But sometimes an ancient craftsman tried to make local standardized artefacts from some other available substance. The aim of the article is to discuss some exceptional finds among Late Bronze Age bone and antler artefacts in the eastern Baltic region and to seek an answer to the question of why artisans chose different raw materials. Standardized artefact, unusual material Three case studies from the fortified settlement sites in the eastern Baltic region are presented where an artefact that usually has a very standardized shape and material was made from another skeletal element for some reason or other. …