Written in Bones Studies on technological and social contexts of past faunal skeletal remains

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1 Written in Bones Studies on technological and social contexts of past faunal skeletal remains edited by Justyna Baron Bernadeta Kufel-Diakowska Uniwersytet Wrocławski Instytut Archeologii Wrocław 2011

2 Institute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław, 2011 Editors Justyna Baron and Bernadeta Kufel-Diakowska Reviewers Arkadiusz Marciniak, Jarosław Wilczyński Layout Janusz M. Szafran, Jarosław Michalak Cover Justyna Baron Institute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław and individual authors 2011 ISBN Wrocławska Drukarnia Naukowa PAN im. Stanisława Kulczyńskiego Sp. z o.o Wrocław, ul. Lelewela 4

3 Contents Preface... 5 Methods and methodology Steven P. Ashby The Language of the Combmaker: interpreting complexity in Viking-Age Industry... 9 Elisabeth A. Stone The Role of Ethnographic Museum Collections in Understanding Bone Tool Use Materials and technology Aline Averbouh, Jean-Marc Pétillon Identification of debitage by fracturation on reindeer antler: case study of the Badegoulian levels at the Cuzoul de Vers (Lot, France) Bárbara Avezuela Aristu, Esteban Álvarez-Fernández, Jesús Jordá Pardo, Emilio Aura Tortosa The barnacles: A new species used to make a Gravettian suspended object from Nerja Cave (Málaga, Spain) Benjamin Marquebielle Mesolithic bone tools in Southwestern Europe: the example of the French site of Le Cuzoul de Gramat Stefan Pratsch Mesolithic antler artefacts in the North European Plain Marcin Diakowski Bone and antler artefacts from Pobiel 10, Lower Silesia, Poland. Are they really Mesolithic? Selena Vitezović The Neolithic Bone Industry from Drenovac, Serbia Erika Gál Prehistoric antler- and bone tools from Kaposújlak-Várdomb (South-Western Hungary) with special regard to the Early Bronze Age implements Peggy Morgenstern Typical hide working tools from the late Bronze Age of Moldova Corneliu Beldiman, Diana-Maria Sztancs, Viorica Rusu-Bolindeţ, Irina Adriana Achim Skeletal technologies, metal-working and wheat harvesting: ancient bone and antler anvils for manufacturing saw-toothed iron sickles discovered in Romania

4 4 Katrin Struckmeyer The bone tools from the dwelling mound Feddersen Wierde, Germany, and their functions Marloes Rijkelijkhuizen Dutch medieval bone and antler combs Hans Christian Küchelmann Whale Bones as architectural elements in and around Bremen, Germany Marloes Rijkelijkhuizen Large or small? African elephant tusk sizes and the Dutch ivory trade and craft Bernadeta Kufel-Diakowska The Hamburgian Zinken perforators and burins flint tools as evidence of antler working Social contexts Heidi Luik, Mirja Ots, Liina Maldre From the Neolithic to the Bronze Age: continuity and changes in bone artefacts in Saaremaa, Estonia Florentina Oleniuc, Luminiţa Bejenaru Preliminary Data Concerning the Manufacturing of Animal Raw Materials in the Chalcolithic Cucuteni B Settlement of Poduri-Dealul Ghindaru, Romania Manuel Altamirano García Bone industry from the Bronze Age in Central Iberia. The Settlement of La Motilla Del Azuer Justyna Baron Ritual contexts of animal bone deposits from the Roman Iron Age settlement at Magnice, SW Poland Felix Lang Activity not Profession. Considerations about Bone Working in Roman Times Magdalena Konczewska Bone, horn and antler working in medieval Wrocław Kamilla Pawłowska The remains of a late medieval workshop in Inowroclaw (Kuyavia, Poland): horncores, antlers and bones Authors Adresses

5 Peggy Morgenstern Typical hide working tools from the late Bronze Age of Moldova Excavations at the late Bronze Age site of Odaia/Moldova yielded a significant bone artefact assemblage dominated by bone points and rib scrapers. The site itself is located within a concentration of ash-heaps between the forest steppe and steppe zones on the western bank of the Dniestr. This analysis focuses on a specific tool from the Noua-Sabatinovka cultural complex. There is a little archeological evidence for its use in Moldova and Romania, especially in the late Bronze Age period. At these tools the scapula epiphyses had been notched. The notched teeth thus create a working edge, often displaying a high, glossy polish. Use-wear analysis has been undertaken to interpret the functional role of a sample of characteristic tools from Odaia. It is suggested here that these tools were used as scrapers for hide-working. Keywords: late Bronze Age, Moldova, Noua-Sabatinovka culture complex, ash-heaps, settlement artefacts Introduction The following text deals with an analysis of a bone tool, made from the scapulae of large mammals, which was prevalent in the steppe cultures of south eastern Europe (Fig.1). Over the past decades, scientists have ascribed many different interpretations concerning the origins and functions of this Fig. 1. A selection of several tools from the site of Miciurin-Odaia (Photo: P. Morgenstern)

6 166 Peggy Morgenstern The site of Miciurin-Odaia tool type. Here the worked bone material of the late Bronze Age site of Miciurin-Odaia will be discussed in light of an analysis of use-wear. As the result of cooperation between the Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology of the Free University of Berlin and the Section of Ethnography and Art History of the Moldovan Academy of Science, research on a site of the Noua-Sabatinovka culture was carried out. Excavations at the settlement site of Miciurin-Odaia took place between 2003 and The late bronze age site in the north of Moldova yielded numerous artefacts made from bone and antler. The settlement site of Miciurin-Odaia is located in the northern part of Moldova (Fig. 2). The steppe landscape has a very arid climate. The site itself consists of 25 ash-heaps, situated at the edge of a southern slope, which forms the bank of a stream (Kaiser, Sava 2006: ). The mounds do not appear to have any kind of a discernible pattern. Four of these mounds were examined over four campaign seasons (Fig. 3). The excavation of the ash-heaps revealed numerous pits and stone concen- Fig. 2. The north Moldovian site of Miciurin-Odaia (after Kaiser, Sava 2006) Fig. 3. Miciurin-Odaia. Topographical map of the site (after Kaiser 2007) 1 1 Special thanks to the excavators of Miciurin-Odaia E. Kaiser and E. Sava for this map.

7 Typical hide working tools from the late Bronze Age of Moldova 167 trations which yielded ceramic shards and objects made from bone, antler, clay, flint, stone and bronze. The assemblage of bone artefacts was dominated by bone points and chisels, polished ribs, femora with perforated epiphyses, ground astragali and notched scapulae (Morgenstern in press). The archaeological culture The Noua-Sabatinovka culture dates to the second half of the second millennium BC and comprised a territory that reached from the Carpathian Mountains in the West to the Dnieper River in the East and from the upper Dniester River in the north to the lower Danube River in the South (Fig. 4). The culture is characterized by non-fortified settlements with semi-subterranean houses with a wood- Fig. 4. Distribution of the Noua-Sabatinovka-Culture (after Florescu 1964) Fig. 5. Miciurin-Odaia. Ash-heaps in spring 2005 (Photo: E. Kaiser)

8 168 daub superstructure (Sava 1998:271). In the western part of the territory there are also surface wattle and daub buildings that sit on the ground surface with stone foundations. A special feature of Noua-Sabatinovka settlement sites are the so-called Zol niki (ash-heaps). These are circular or oval discolorations of light-grey soil, which was visible as a mound before the intensification of agriculture (Fig. 5). The ash-heaps, which are arranged in clusters of up to 40 mounds, contain settlement remains such as ceramic shards, faunal remains and artefacts. These ashheaps have been interpreted as fireplaces, remains of dwelling houses or ritual places. Biochemical studies Peggy Morgenstern The tool type of the sediments have demonstrated that the material of Miciurin-Odaia are not ash-remains. The functional role of the mounds remains is still not known. In accord with the arid climate of the steppe lands in the eastern part of the Noua-Sabatinovka culture distribution area, the faunal remains from the settlement sites are characterized by teeth and bones from cattle, sheep, goat and horse (Sava 2005:145). Pigs appear to be very rare in this arid zone. However, sites in the forestlands of the Carpathians, with a greater abundance of food was much better, with a higher proportion of pig remains as well as wild mammals (Sava 2005:147, Fig.2). Twelve fragments of notched scapulas were recovered from the faunal remains of Miciurin-Odaia. The tools are made of cattle and horse scapulae and are generally badly fragmented and with weathered surfaces. These scapula-tools have a notched pattern along the distal epiphyses, forming a halfmoon shape (Fig. 6). The notched edges, like worn down teeth, were regularly located on the edge opposite the Tuber scapulae, that is, on the dorsal edge. Distribution of the tool The distribution of this kind of artefact, concentrated in the ash-heaps, comprises the same territory as the distribution area of the late Bronze Age Noua- Sabatinovka culture. The map shows the distribution of the finds (Fig.7). The tools are known from numerous settlement sites such as Cobîlnea (Levitsckii, Sava 1993, Fig. 13; Sava 1998:274), Petruşeni La Cigoreanu (Leviţkii, Sava 1995:173, Fig. 5), Lupşanu, Cavadineşti, Rusenii Noi, Gîrbovăţ, Tanacu (Florescu 1991:287, Fig. 115), Sabatinovka, Valea Lupuliu Iaşi, Andieşeni, Ušalka, Nicoleni (Florescu 1964:160, Fig. 11), Peresadovka (Pogrebova 1960:83, Fig.7,5), Bîrlad (Haimovici 1964:225, Fig. 1), Novoselickovo Zol nika (Černikov 1985:87, Fig. 40) and Stepovoje (Berezanskaja, Šarafutdinova 1985:497, Fig. 135). Fragments of notched tools may already be found in the worked osseous assemblages of a few middle Bronze Age settlement sites, such as Doamnei and Otopani, of the late Wietenberg and Tei cultures (Andriţoiu 1992:66; Leahu 1963:340, Fig. 7,3). These sites were located in the southwestern part of the distribution area. With the findplace of Nikolaevskoe Poselenie, there is also evidence on the eastern edge of this tool type in the middle Bronze Age Srubnaja culture (Privalova, Privalov 1987:106). The development of the tool must therefore have begun in the transition from the middle to late Bronze Age, from BC. According to E. Sava, the wide range of bone tools in the culture of Noua-Sabatinovka shows the influence of eastern cultures (Sava 1998:277). Therefore, it can be assumed that the tool-type was developed in the area of the eastern steppe cultures. The use-wears Previously, notched scapula-tools have been described as tools used for the decoration of pottery. A short while ago, the Ukrainian and Russian archaeologists V.B. Pankovs kij and G.F. Korobkova have come to regard the connection of these tools with leather processing (Pankovs kij 2003: ). After an analyse of use-wears they came to suggest that these scapula-tools were used as punches in the leather decoration. Following my own microscopic examinations using a 100x magnification, the assessment of the level of tooth wear on four of twelve tools indicates the presence of a high, glossy and invasive polish (Fig. 8). Invasive polish means that the whole surface and the striations within are covered by the polish. At a magnification of 200x the surface appeared very smooth nearly without marks and only a few scratches

9 Typical hide working tools from the late Bronze Age of Moldova Fig. 6. Miciurin-Odaia. Notched scapula-tools made from cattle and horse scapulas Fig. 7. The circles showing the distribution of the scapula-tools (after Pankovs kij 2003) 169

10 170 Peggy Morgenstern Fig. 8. Tool 124/37 100x magnification (Photo: P. Morgenstern) Fig. 9. Tool 199/60 200x magnification (Photo: P. Morgenstern) (Fig. 9). The osteons, the holes of nutriant canals, were visible. This indicates that the working surface was coming into intensive contact with soft moist materials such as fur, skin, meat and fat. The functional appearance of the tool and clusters of traces suggests how the notched scapulae might have been used. The functional role Based on these wear patterns, these objects were used as defleshers to remove meat, fat and connective tissue remains from the back of fresh hides in the first step of leather production. In medieval tanneries after soaking, they removed any remaining flesh and fat by using scratchers and fleshing knifes although the later historic use of such notched tools is unknown (Fig. 10). There is another well-known example of such tool use from the last century. North American Indians used a similarly notched tool for softening tanned skins (Feustel 1980:17). The tools were normally made from cervid metatarsi (Fig. 11). Northe also offered another kind of flat scapulatools with a notched working edge from late Neolithic and early Bronze Age settlement sites of Fig. 10. Hide-working (A. Schweitzer around 1800)

11 Typical hide working tools from the late Bronze Age of Moldova 171 Fig. 11. A deflesher formerly used in hide cleaning by Plains Indians (after Feustel 1980) Fig. 12. Recent tools used by taxidermists in Halle (Photo: P. Morgenstern) central Europe (Northe 2001: ). Use-wears indicate that several of them could be used for hide-working. It seems quite reasonable that cattle, sheep and goat hides were worked by such scapular defleshers with dull teeth in the Late Bronze Age as well. A more recent analogy for this kind of tool may be found in the laboratory of the Museum of Domestic Mammals in Halle/Saale in Germany (Fig. 12). Taxidermists generally remove flesh, fat and other connective tissues from the skins of mammals, birds and snakes with just such a deflesher. Conclusions Considering the use-wear analysis, the twelve scapula-tools with a notched pattern on the distal epiphysis from the north Moldovian settlement site of Miciurin- Odaia are used as tools for hide-working. Nearly all remains of this tool type are known from the Noua- Sabatinovka culture complex in the late Bronze Age period. Fragments of this tool are already appeared on a few sites of the late Wietenberg and Tei culture and the Srubnaja culture. Therefore the development of the tool must have begun in the middle Bronze Age. References Andritoiu, I Civilizaţia tracilor din sud-vestul Transilvaniei în epoca bronzului, Biblioteca Thracologicã II, Berezanskaja, S.S. and I.N. Šarafutdinova Sabatinovskaja kul tura, Archeologija Ukrainskoj SSR 1,

12 172 Peggy Morgenstern Černjakov, I.T Severo-Zapadnoe Pričernomor e vo vtoroj polovine II tys. do n. ė., Kiev: Naukova Dumka. Feustel, R Neolithische Gerberwerkzeuge aus Knochen, Alt-Thüringen 17, Florescu, A Contribuţij la cunoaşterea culturii Noua, Arheologia Moldovei 2-3, Florescu, A Repertoriul culturii Noua-Coslogeni din România. Aşezări şi necropoli, Cultura şi civilizaţia la Dunărea de Jos 9, Haimovici, S Studii aspra resturilor de faună descoperite în aşezările aparţinind culturii Noua de la Bîrlad şi Piatra Neamţ, Arheologia Moldovei 2/3, Leahu, V O nouă fază în evolutia culturii Tei: faza Fundenii Doamnei, Cercetãri Arheologice în Bucureşti 1, Leviţkii, O. and E. Sava Aşezarea culturii Noua Petruşeni La Cigoreanu (inestigaţii de şantier în 1991), Cercetãri Arheologice în aria nord-tracã 1, Levitsckii, O.G. and E.N. Sava Nouvelles recherches des l établissements de la culture Noua la zone comprise entre le Prout et le Nistru, Culture et civilisation au Bas Danube 10, Kaiser, E. and E. Sava Die Aschehügel der späten Bronzezeit im Nordpontikum. Erste Ergebnisse eines Forschungsprojektes in Nordmoldavien, Eurasia Antiqua 12, Morgenstern, P. in print. Knochen- und Geweihartefakte aus den spätbronzezeitlichen Aschehügeln von Odaia einem Fundplatz der Noua-Sabatinovka-Kultur, In: E. Kaiser and E. Sava (eds.) Die Siedlung mit Aschehügeln von Miciurin/Odaia, Moldawien. (Archäologische und naturwissenschaftliche Untersuchungen), Biblioteca Tyragetia, Chisinau. Northe, A Notched Implements made of Scapulae Still a Problem, In: A. Choyke and L. Bartosiewicz (eds.) Crafting Bone: Skeletal Technologies through Time and Space Proceedings of the 2nd meeting of the (ICAZ) Worked Bone Research Group Budapest, 31 August 5 September 1999, BAR Intern. Series 937, Oxford: Archaeopress, Pankovs kij, V.B Pro Priznačennja Zybčastich Lopatok, Archeologija 3, Pogrebova, N.N Peresadovskoe poselenie na Ingule, Sovetskaja Archeologija 4, Privalova, O.Ja and A.I. Privalov Poselenie ėpochi pozdnej bronzy vozle s. Nikolaevka v Severnom Priazov e, In: O.G. Šapošnikova (eds.) Drevnejšie skotovody stepej juga Ukrainy, Kiev: Naukova dumka, Sava, E Die Rolle der östlichen und westlichen Elemente in der Genesis des Noua-Sabatinovka- Kulturkomplexes. (Nach den Materialien des Pruth-Dnestr- Zwischenstromgebiets), In: B. Hänsel and J. Machnik (eds.) Das Karpatenbecken und die osteuropäische Steppe. Nomadenwege und Kulturaustausch in den vorchristlichen Metallzeiten ( v.chr.), München & Rahden/ Westf.: Marie Leidorf, Sava, E Viehzucht und Ackerbau in der Noua- Sabatinovka-Kultur, In: B. Horejs, R. Jung, E. Kaiser and B. Teržan (eds.) Interpretationsraum Bronzezeit, Universitätsforschungen zur Prähistorischen Archäologie 121,