Osseous Artefacts Research Articles

Osseous artefacts from the Church of St James in Toruń as a source of information on the production and use of everyday bone objects in Poland from the 14th to the 18th centuries

The article presents the results of typological and traceological analyses that involved seven objects made of osseous raw materials found around the church of Saint James in Toruń. Owing to technological analysis, it was possible to reconstruct the methods applied for working osseous materials by craftsmen of past times, whereas the analysis of use-wear traces allowed us to formulate conclusions regarding the function of the examined specimens. The objects were compared to other analogous finds in an attempt to recreate the techniques used for making them, the context in which they were used, and the role they could have played in the past.

New insights into Magdalenian subsistence at Petersfels (Hegau Jura, southwestern Germany)

At Petersfels (Hegau Jura, southwestern Germany), one of the most prolific Magdalenian sites in Central Europe, nearly one hundred years of excavation and research has revealed an exceptional record of human occupation from 15,000 years ago. Unstudied faunal remains (n = 3256) from a 16 m2 area in front of the cave (P6 excavation area) provide an opportunity to assess the site from a modern perspective. Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) dominate the assemblage followed by hare (Lepus sp.), horse (Equus ferus), and ptarmigan (Lagopus sp.). The faunal remains are well-preserved and exhibit abundant cut marks, impacts, and green breaks, attesting to the highly anthropogenic nature of the assemblage. Carnivore damage is also present, although to a lesser extent, and suggests that fox- and wolf-sized carnivores gained secondary access by exploiting human garbage. Evidence for the transport of reindeer limbs, osseous artifacts, and other remnants of material culture indicates hunter-gatherers used P6 for habitation and the secondary processing of faunal remains, especially butchery, marrow extraction, and tool production. Overall, our results support prior interpretations of the site as a fall-winter aggregation camp and provide new information on human subsistence practices, the role of carnivores, and the use of space by Magdalenian people.

Garnys: An underwater riverine site with delayed Neolithisation in the southeastern Baltic

This paper presents the first results of both dryland and underwater investigations at the multi-period Garnys riverine site situated on the Žeimena River in eastern Lithuania. There, during 2017–2020 a professional diver and amateur archaeologist collected hundreds of Mesolithic-Neolithic archaeological finds made of wood, bone, antler, stone, and ceramic from the riverbed and on its bank. Moreover, in eroded places of the riverbed, the wooden remains of several fish weirs were observed. In 2021 professional archaeologists continued the research, including field investigations followed by various laboratory analyses. These included AMS 14C dating of 16 various ecofacts, artefacts and wooden constructions, wood and animal taxa determinations, and the results of traceological analysis of the flint and osseous artefacts. Our research demonstrates that the site was intensively used for hunting, gathering and fishing during the Mesolithic and subsequent Subneolithic and Neolithic. Intriguingly, there was no evidence for agriculture, while the numerous Neolithic ceramics largely follow the Subneolithic traditions. The Garnys site is therefore unique and a clear example for delayed Neolithisation in a forested and lacustrine area in the eastern Baltic region. During the Metal Ages, the site had been used exclusively for stationary fishing.

A world of reindeer: A technological and functional reassessment of the Last Glacial Maximum osseous industry from Cotu Miculinți (northeastern Romania)

Processing of osseous materials was an important component of the repertoire of technological innovations throughout the Palaeolithic. The study of hard animal materials assemblages therefore provides crucial information regarding hominin adaptational ranges and cultural evolution. In contrast to the wide array of studies published on this topic in western and central Europe, the Palaeolithic osseous industries from Romania received comparatively limited attention. The organic industry recovered from Cotu Miculinți, a Late Glacial Maximum (LGM) site located in the Prut Valley (northeastern Romania), provides a case at point. The present study proposes a throughout reassessment of the collection of osseous artifacts from this site, covering several key aspects – raw materials, chaîne opératoire, and the functionality of the assemblage – in an attempt of setting the site’s osseous industry into the wider context of LGM cultural adaptations in the area east of the Carpathians.The results of our analysis reveal an assemblage predominantly made of reindeer antler and document a standardization of the technical transformation scheme, by use of both segmentation and extraction. This resulted in the production of two types of blanks: segmentation produced massive pieces that were transformed into hammers or perforated batons, and extraction by grooving led to standardized rods on flat blanks used to produce barbed points or smoothers. The finished pieces were used in domestic activities (processing of hides, bark, and wood) and for hunting. The assemblage of osseous artifacts from Cotu Miculinți displays many features in common with contemporaneous sites in the area, in particular Cosăuți (Moldova), which is strongly indicative for a similar cultural and adaptive background.

Exploitation of Osseous Materials During the Mesolithic in the Iron Gates

Abstract The Mesolithic settlements on the left bank of the Danube in the Iron Gates have yielded numerous artefacts made of osseous materials. Products and sub-products of the chaîne opératoire are present, suggesting in situ manufacturing of the finished items. Among a restricted range of artefact types, the most characteristic ones are bevelled tools made of antler, pointed tools of bone, and boar tusk scrapers. Our research has focused on identifying both the manufacturing processes applied to the various raw materials and the marks left by use, which are key indicators of the function of the artefacts. We were also interested to know if a unitary technological scheme could be identified throughout the Iron Gates, or if there are features specific to individual sites. Our findings suggest that despite a general unitary pattern, it is nevertheless possible to identify elements that are characteristic of individual sites but whether these were the result of economic or cultural factors is more difficult to assess. The results of this combined approach suggest wood processing and hunting were among the main activities performed with osseous artefacts. Contrary to some previous interpretations, there is no evidence for their use in connection with plant cultivation.

A 39,600-year-old leather punch board from Canyars, Gavà, Spain

Puncture alignments are found on Palaeolithic carvings, pendants, and other fully shaped osseous artifacts. These marks were interpreted as abstract decorations, system of notations, and features present on human and animal depictions. Here, we create an experimental framework for the analysis and interpretation of human-made punctures and apply it to a highly intriguing, punctured bone fragment found at Canyars, an Early Upper Palaeolithic coastal site from Catalonia, Spain. Changes of tool and variation in the arrangement and orientation of punctures are consistent with the interpretation of this object as the earliest-known leather work punch board recording six episodes of hide pricking, one of which was to produce a linear seam. Our results indicate that Aurignacian hunters-gatherers used this technology to produce leather works and probably tailored clothes well before the introduction of bone eyed needles in Europe 15,000 years later.

Animals as a remarkable source of raw material: Osseous artifacts manufacture in 2nd millennium BC Southern Iberia

Animals have played a basic role within human groups since the origins of humankind, being used as a source of very different elements, such as meat, milk, wool or bone. The aim of this paper is to approach the importance of animals as a source of hard raw material in human technology during the 2nd millennium BC. Our main goal is to spotlight the careful selection of the bones to manufacture specific items, focusing on the ancient beliefs and myths that human groups might have had towards some animal species and how they could have influenced that choice. Thus, an assemblage of 830 items from four archaeological sites located in the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula: Motilla del Azuer (Ciudad Real), Motilla de las Cañas (Ciudad Real), Peñalosa (Jaén) and Cerro de la Encina (Granada). The discussion involves aspects such as the use of especial raw materials, labor investment, use-wear patterns, as well as curation and maintenance. Thus, it can be pointed out the presence of certain manufacturing traditions for some type of objects whose morphology has remained almost unaltered since the Chalcolithic.

Towards understanding the influence of Neolithisation for communities using the Zvejnieki cemetery, Latvia: A technological and functional analysis of the osseous artefacts discovered in the Late Mesolithic burial no 57 and Neolithic burial no 164

The results of traceological (technological and use-wear) studies of osseous artefacts discovered in the Mesolithic burial no 57 and Neolithic burial no 164 from the cemetery in Zvejnieki, Latvia are discussed. This research identified significant differentiation in the techniques used to make animal tooth pendants deposited in the Mesolithic grave and, by contrast, identified relative uniformity in the methods used to make those from the Neolithic grave. In addition, use-wear traces were observed on many of the Mesolithic pendants and were absent from almost all Neolithic ones, indicating the Neolithic examples were probably made for funerary purposes. This research also identified that the bone points from both graves were made in a similar manner and had been used. The technological and functional similarities and differences between the artefacts from the Mesolithic and Neolithic burials are discussed in the context of their probable origin and on observations made on other collections of similar chronology in the region.

Neolithic bone tool technology and typology from the region of four lakes, Western Macedonia, Greece

In the last twenty years the Archaeological Service of Florina has conducted extensive surface surveys and large-scale excavations in the Prefecture of Florina, situated in Northwestern Greece. This research has identified the establishment of a great number of prehistoric settlements in the area of the four lakes (Lake Chimaditis, Lake Zazari, Lake Vegoritida and Lake Petron) that date back from the Greek Early Neolithic (6700/6500-5800/5600 BC) to the Greek Late Bronze Age (1700/1500-1100 BC). One of the extended settlements of the region is the former lakeside settlement Anarghiri IXb which was situated on the north-eastern shore of Lake Chimaditis and was inhabited almost uninterruptedly from the middle of the 6th millennium BC to the end of the 5th millennium BC. Extensive investigation so far yielded thousands of wooden piles, thousands of figurines, chipped stone tools as well as antler and osseous artifacts. The bone tool assemblage from the Neolithic layers of the settlement forms one of the numerous assemblages in Greece and the Balkans. The present study of the material seeks to assess the raw material preferences, the typology and the technology of the osseous tools which seem to have played a significant role in the everyday activities inside and outside of the settlement.

The Antler, Ivory, and Bone Artefacts from Maszycka Cave (Southern Poland). New Signals from a Late Upper Palaeolithic Key Site

The well-known Late Upper Palaeolithic cave site of Maszycka (southern Poland), excavated in the end of the nineteenth century as well as in the 1960s, furnished a collection of 89 osseous artefacts manufactured from cervid antler, mammoth ivory, and mammal long bone. The great majority are finished tools, mostly projectile points, while raw material blocks, pre-forms, and production waste are represented by only a few pieces. Based on the presence of the characteristic double-split antler tools, distinct projectile morphologies, and recurring ornaments, the assemblage from Maszycka can be assigned to the early Middle Magdalenian facies à navettes which dates to around 19 - 17.5 ka cal. BP. Compared to the western European sites, which also belong to this facies, Maszycka is characterised by a high proportion of ivory tools, reflecting the abundance of this favourable raw material in eastern central Europe, as well as an unusually high proportion of decorated tools, which may relate to an increased need for symbolic communication within the small and geographically isolated Magdalenian group. Both the remarkable typo-technological similarities of the bone industry from Maszycka to contemporary assemblages in France and the gap in the central European archaeological record between 22 and 19 ka cal. BP speak in favour of a direct immigration of Magdalenian hunter-gatherers from western Europe immediately after the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. Their relations to the bearers of the Epigravettian adjacent to the east and south remain to date poorly understood.

Initial Upper Paleolithic bone technology and personal ornaments at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria)

The expansion of Homo sapiens and our interaction with local environments, including the replacement or absorption of local populations, is a key component in understanding the evolution of our species. Of special interest are artifacts made from hard animal tissues from layers at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria) that have been attributed to the Initial Upper Paleolithic. The Initial Upper Paleolithic is characterized by Levallois-like blade technologies that can co-occur with bone tools and ornaments and likely represents the dispersal of H. sapiens into several regions throughout Eurasia starting by 45 ka or possibly earlier. Osseous artifacts from the Initial Upper Paleolithic are important components of this record and have the potential to contribute to our understanding of group interactions and population movements. Here, we present a zooarchaeological, technological, and functional analysis of the diverse and sizable osseous artifact collection from Bacho Kiro Cave. Animal raw material sources are consistent with taxa found within the faunal assemblage including cervids, large bovids, and cave bears. A variety of bone tool morphologies, both formal and informal, indicate a diverse technological approach for conducting various on-site activities, many of which were focused on the processing of animal skins, likely for cold weather clothing. Technological flexibility is also evident in the manufacture of personal ornaments, which were made primarily from carnivore teeth, especially cave bear, though herbivore teeth and small beads are also represented. The osseous artifacts from Bacho Kiro Cave provide a series of insights into the bone technology and indirectly on the social aspects of these humans in southeast Europe, and when placed within the broader Initial Upper Paleolithic context, both regional and shared behaviors are evidently indicating widespread innovation and complexity. This is especially significant given the location and chronology of the site in the context of H. sapiens dispersals.

Knapping tools in Magdalenian contexts: New evidence from Gough's Cave (Somerset, UK).

Our knowledge of the recolonization of north-west Europe at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum depends to a large extent on finds from Gough's Cave (Somerset, UK). Ultra-high resolution radiocarbon determinations suggest that the cave was occupied seasonally by Magdalenian hunters for perhaps no more than two or three human generations, centred on 12,600 BP (~14,950-14,750 cal BP). They left behind a rich and diverse assemblage of Magdalenian lithic and osseous artefacts, butchered animal bones, and cannibalised human remains. The faunal assemblage from Gough's Cave is one of the most comprehensively studied from any Magdalenian site, yet new and unexpected discoveries continue to be made. Here, we record previously unrecognized flint-knapping tools that were identified during a survey of the Gough's Cave faunal collection at the Natural History Museum (London). We identified bones used as hammers and teeth manipulated as pressure-flakers to manufacture flint tools. Most of the pieces appear to be ad hoc (single-use?) tools, but a horse molar was almost certainly a curated object that was used over an extended period to work many stone tools. This paper explores how these knapping tools were used to support a more nuanced understanding of Magdalenian stone-tool manufacturing processes. Moreover, we provide a standard for identifying minimally-used knapping tools that will help to establish whether retouchers and other organic stone-working tools are as rare in the Magdalenian archaeological record as current studies suggest.

“Poor” archeological levels not to be forgotten: units of Middle and early Upper Magdalenian age in El Mirón Cave (Ramales de la Victoria, Cantabria, Spain)

This succinct contribution focuses on description and preliminary interpretation of “minor” occupations of the large, strategically located El Mirón Cave on the edge of the Cantabrian Cordillera in eastern Cantabria (Spain) during the Middle and early Upper Magalenian that followed upon the massive, culturally rich, faunally dense, functionally complex deposits of the Initial and Lower Magdalenian. The ten levels analyzed here date to the Late Glacial, c. 15.5-12.5 uncal kya BP. At a time when the classic Middle Magdalenian of the nearby French Pyrenees developed and major residential sites with clear social links to it (via the key site of Isturitz) were occupied in the lowland coastal zone of Cantabria and Asturias (e.g. La Garma, Llonín, La Viña), El Mirón had reverted for the most part to the role of a short-term, special-purpose, perhaps logistical campsite, rather than as a long-term, large-scale hub residential base. It is tempting (and indeed traditional) to focus on levels with large numbers of lithic and osseous artifacts, as well as works of portable art and personal ornaments, which are so characteristic of the most famous Magdalenian occupations. However, in hunter-gatherer subsistence systems, the “minor” locations played a significant role in the human exploitation of territories (especially ones with such complex, high relief as Cantabrian Spain). The levels in question here include some that can be interpreted as hunting camps (suggested by high percentages of worked and unworked bladelets and some antler points within the small assemblages), partially reminiscent of the use to which the cave may have been put during pre-Initial Magdalenian times, notably during the Solutrean, which was relatively rich in stone points.

Bone artifacts from Riwi Cave, south‐central Kimberley: Reappraisal of the timing and role of osseous artifacts in northern Australia

AbstractHere, we describe eight bone artifacts recovered from Pleistocene and Holocene contexts at Riwi, a cave site located in Mimbi country of the south‐central Kimberley. These artifacts reflect a range of activities occurring at the site—including the manufacture of plant‐fiber items, the processing of spinifex resin, and fish or bird hunting. As the oldest four artifacts were found within the Pleistocene deposit and therefore date to older than 35,000 cal. BP, these tools represent some of the most ancient bone technologies thus far identified in northern Australia. Such rare finds are helping to rewrite stories surrounding the innovation and use of osseous technologies on the Australian continent.

Un bastón multiperforado de la ocupación del Magdaleniense Final de la cueva Aizkoltxo (Mendaro, Gipuzkoa)

La cavidad de Aizkoltxo se encuentra junto a la orilla del río Deba, próxima a otras cavidades con ocupaciones del Magdaleniense Superior-Final (Agarre, Ermittia, Praileaitz I y Urtiaga). A consecuencia de la actividad de furtivos se decidió realizar un sondeo para evaluar la estratigrafía del yacimiento y contextualizar los restos recuperados. En el curso de dichos trabajos se identificó un nivel atribuible al Magdaleniense Superior-Final, cuyo proceso de formación es poco habitual. En él, además de una abundante industria lítica y ósea datada en 14864-14160 cal BP se localizó el bastón que describimos, que conserva al menos cuatro perforaciones y que está profusamente decorado con motivos figurativos (un ciervo en visión frontal, y dos astas de ciervo además de dos équidos o, quizás, lepóridos) y signos (trazos simples, ahusados, Vs embutidas, Vs paralelas, etc.). Este excepcional objeto, junto a otros frecuentemente señalados, corrobora la estrecha relación de los yacimientos de la Cornisa Cantábrica con los del Golfo de Bizkaia, Pirineo Occidental y Central.

Worked bone and teeth from Orokolo Bay in the Papuan Gulf (Papua New Guinea)

Ethnographic records show that people from Orokolo Bay in the Papuan Gulf (Papua New Guinea) made, used, and exchanged artefacts made from bone and teeth during the twentieth century. Archaeologically, these kinds of artefacts are poorly documented, partly because osseous materials tend to decay rapidly in exposed tropical rainforest sites. Where these artefacts have been found in the Papuan Gulf, only a few have been reported in detail. Here we contribute detailed analyses of eight osseous artefacts from the past village site of Popo which date to within the period 770–220 cal BP. We describe a modified shark tooth, a drilled or pierced dog tooth ornament, several bone points, and a trapezoidal section of modified bone. An ochred bone point shows that people applied pigment to material culture in the period 540–285 cal BP; the item is the only known archaeological evidence for pigment use on bone in the Papuan Gulf. Our analyses provide a starting point for historicising the use of osseous artefacts in this part of the Papuan Gulf.

The Upper and Final Gravettian in Western Slovakia and Moravia. Different approaches, new questions

This paper presents a discussion of Late and Final Gravettian assemblages from Western Slovakia and Moravia (25,500/24,000 – 22,000 uncal BP). Shouldered points and Kostienki knives have historically been widely used as fossiles directeurs for these assemblages and have been seen as the most reliable features for cultural attribution. Nevertheless, recent studies of lithics, osseous artifacts (from bone, antler and ivory) and subsistence strategies demonstrate significant variability. The main aim of this paper is to discuss the heterogeneity of the “post-Pavlovian” sites, based on studies of selected localities, namely Milovice I, Petřkovice I, Moravany-Lopata II, Moravany-Žakovská and Trenčianske Bohuslavice-Pod Tureckom. Additionally, we propose a description of artifacts which might become new lithic fossiles directeurs (Petřkovice bi-truncated elements). Finally, we discuss the effectiveness of traditional fossiles directeurs in the description of this period and in studying analogies with Eastern Europe

A snapshot of Late Mesolithic life through death: An appraisal of the lithic and osseous grave goods from the Castelnovian burial of Mondeval de Sora (Dolomites, Italy).

The Late Mesolithic in Southern Europe is dated to the 7th and the first part of the 6th millennia BCE and is marked by profound changes which are mostly evident in the technical know-how and tool-kit of the last hunter-fisher-gatherer societies. The significance of this phase also relates to the fact that it precedes the Early Neolithic, another period of major transformations of human societies. Nonetheless, the Late Mesolithic still remains a poorly known age in this area. A burial discovered at Mondeval de Sora (Northern Italy) in 1987, represents a unique window into this period. In this paper, we provide a detailed analysis of more than 50 lithic and osseous artifacts associated with this burial. We highlight important contextual data regarding the techno-economic dimension and the notion of personal burial possessions. Based on the association and location of some items, we propose a new interpretation of the social status of this individual and the possible impact of technological innovation on the social organization and symbolic sphere of Late Mesolithic groups.

Lithic perspectives on the Late Upper Palaeolithic in the French Pyrenees

This work deals with Late Upper Palaeolithic (Azilian and Laborian) lithic industries in the French Pyrenees. Assemblages are compared at an interregional level in order to contextualize and clarify this period. Since its discovery at the end of the 19th century, the Azilian was characterized by its specific lithic industry (backed points), osseous artefacts (harpoons) and artistic remains (painted pebbles). However, new discoveries have shed new light on our understanding the Azilian. Six lithic assemblages were examined in this study: Rhodes II (Ariège), Troubat (Hautes-Pyrénées), La Tourasse (Haute-Garonne), Le Poeymaü (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), Gouërris (Haute-Garonne) and Pagès (Lot), allowing us to investigate the evolution of the Azilian and Laborian technocomplexes and to comparatively evaluate this process at the scale of Western Europe. The beginning of the Azilian in the Pyrenees differs from what is observed in the northern Aquitain Basin; the Magdalenian seems to persist until 14 200 cal. BP, while the Early Azilian is only observed in the Basque Country. However, during the recent phase some common traits are identified at a larger scale (France, Pyrenees, Cantabria), most notably a technological simplification. Still, the Pyrenean Azilian (between 14 200 and 12 500 cal. BP) preserves its regional lithic signature, defined by the presence of double backed points, small scrapers and the use of bipolar reduction on an anvil. The Laborian, sporadically present in the Pyrenees, may indicate a later technical reinvestment, characterized by a more regular and straight production of lamino-lamellar blanks, which is a trend that appears to be observed in the whole Western Europe around 12 500 cal. BP.

Stone Age technologies and human behaviors as reflected in decoration of osseous artefacts from the northern part of East-Central Europe

This article presents the results of traceological studies of ornaments observed on selected prehistoric osseous products from Poland and Lithuania. Included are unique artefacts from this region dated to the Late Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic, or which are connected to Subneolithic communities. The article presents the results of analyses focused on interpreting the applied decorative techniques and tools employed in making the ornaments. In some cases, the use of metal tools, rare or unknown in a given area, is suggested, which presents a significant impact on the interpretation of the socio-cultural nature. An attempt is also made to identify the roles of symbolic features hidden in the way the ornaments were created or how they were treated afterwards. For the analysis of the artefacts, stereomicroscopes, SEM, computed tomography and optical coherence tomography (OCT) have been used.