Some colleagues and I have been working on a prehistoric tool made of a long bone diaphysis about to be published. So far we have found other published cases worldwide, but references are never are too much. Any suggestion will be much appreciated! Thanks.
It seems a very interesting topic. I hope you serve these references:
http://www.pnas.org/content/110/35/14186.full
http://forost.org/seminar/Meza_2007.pdf
http://www.cienciorama.unam.mx/a/pdf/215_cienciorama.pdf
There is a human ulna shaped into a point from "The Cutts", a river bed site in Northern Ireland, directly dated to the Mesolithic. The details are in my paper with Peter Woodman on Irish dates in Mesolithic Miscellany 22(1) for 2012. This lists the original publication which has a photo. The article listed as in prep by Peter Woodman has not yet been published.
I have attached the MM volume; see page 27.
Chris Meiklejohn
Ethnographically, other than crania, human bone is an uncommon raw material for any regular implements among hunter-gatherers and small-scale agricultural societies. Bone as a tissue that is surrounded by moist muscle is often not a sturdy raw material except for short-term use, and that is why external bony tissue (i.e., antler, ivory) is more common in curated or re-used tools such as projectile points. Occasional references have been made to warfare artifacts, i.e., the following: The Jivaro (Shuar) of Ecuador are alleged to have made some lance blades from human femora (war lances?), although this is an observation recorded by Stirling (pg 86) that was made by a Catholic missionary and may have been either a confused or prejudiced statement (Stirling records informant statements that they used jaguar leg bones until recently, he believes these may have been used with spear throwers, a technique long unused by Jivaro people). Chonta palm lances were much more common for at their close contact raiding warfare spears (to kill and sever heads). Some references have been made to human bones employed in various "witchcraft" events, I am unclear whether any secure identification of the bone as human has been made in most cases. However, see Meggitt's discussion of Walbiri sorcery about the use of human arm bones in a range of sorcery related events, including the commonly reported desert aboriginal practice of "bone-pointing" (pp. 327-328).
Stirling, M. W., 1938. Historical and ethnographic material on the Jivaro. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 117. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Meggitt, M. J., 1962. Desert People: A Study of the Walbiri Aborigines of Central Australia. University of Chicago PRess, Chicago.
some evidences has been found in the Iran, Mesopotamia and Eastern of Levant, that may be useful for your research. I don't know exactly, what you have found?
SMITH, P. 1986. Paleolithic archaeology in Iran (The American Institute of Iranian Studies Monograph 1). Philadelphia (PA): The University Museum, University of
Pennsylvania
CHURCHILL S.E. and FORMICOLA V.
1997 A case of marked bilateral asymmetry in the upper limbs of
an Upper Palaeolithic male from Barma Grande (Liguria),
Italy. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 7 : 18-38.
Lechtman, H., and A. Steinberg
1979 The History of Technology: An Anthropological Point
of View. In The History and Philosophy of Technology,
edited by G. Bugliarello and D. Doner, pp. 135-160.
University of Illinois Press, Urbana.
SKINNER J.H.
1965 The Flake Industries of Southwest Asia : A Typological
Study. New York : Columbia University, Ph.D. Dissertation.
COON C.S.
1951 Cave Explorations in Iran 1949. Philadelphia : University of
Pennsylvania Press, University Museum (Museum Monographs).
AKAZAWA T.
1975 Preliminary notes on the Middle Palaeolithic assemblage
from the Shanidar Cave. Sumer 31 : 3-10.
Thank you very much for your help, Rusty and Behzad!
I’m really sorry to bother you guys further, but some of those older local publications are difficult if not impossible to find for someone abroad (my case). Do you guys happen to have any of those titles in PDF format, please?
Again… you suggestions are much appreciated, thanks! J
Claudia
Spennemann, D.H.R., 1987, A human bone thatching needle from Vanuabalavu Island, Fiji, Domodomo vol 2 p. 47-49.
Clunie, F., 1987, Rokotui Dreketi's human skull Yaqona cup, Domodomo vol 2 p. 50-52
Hi Claudia,
More from Fiji:
Clunie, F., 1986, Yalo i Viti a Fiji Museum Catalogue p. 120-2. Includes a photograph of sailmaking needles made from slivers of cortical bone.
Cheers,
Geoff
I am from Holguín, Cuba.I am interested in the same topic, but bone in general. I will be very grateful if you contribute with me in same form. Thank you
Check out Kris Hedman and Eve Hargraves edited volume:
2015 Transforming the Dead: Culturally Modified Bone in the Prehistoric Midwest, edited by Eve A. Hargrave, Shirley J. Schermer, Kristin M. Hedman and Robin M. Lillie, University of Alabama Press in Tuscaloosa.
Dear Claudia,
This is occasionally encountered in the Southeastern United States. One modification that has been of particular interest is the post-mortem modification of a cranium that was engraved and has been interpreted as a parietal rattle. I am attaching a few links with the publications that these are in - you can do a quick search and view the pages through Google Books. I am also attaching a paper in which Scott Speal writes about the "Postmortem Skeletal Modifications of the Pre-Columbian North American Mid-Continent" - in this latter case - there are several mentions of perforated long bones and other modifications that may be of interest to you.
Best of luck,
Andrew
https://books.google.com/books?id=c7PGcrZSjKYC&pg=PA66&lpg=PA66&dq=human+parietal+rattles+from+pinson+mounds&source=bl&ots=aawf4-SkEF&sig=W24nSVSJ3M_vyOl9Gq9icsc3AVw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAWoVChMIrrWNhb2hyAIVR5qACh3VoQ9g#v=onepage&q=human%20parietal%20rattles%20from%20pinson%20mounds&f=false
https://books.google.com/books?id=jiJLCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA124&lpg=PA124&dq=human+parietal+rattles+from+pinson+mounds&source=bl&ots=pGHEn4Yu-l&sig=q1D43eA_G3Kic50_h32DmWAHrCA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAmoVChMIrrWNhb2hyAIVR5qACh3VoQ9g#v=onepage&q=human%20parietal%20rattles%20from%20pinson%20mounds&f=false
https://www.academia.edu/5757623/Postmortem_Skeletal_Modifications_of_the_Pre-Columbian_North_American_Mid-Continent
Last year, I organised 10th meeting of Worked bone research group and there were two papers on modified human bones: http://wbrg.net/images/stories/meetings/2014_beograd_prog_abstracts.pdf.
best, Selena
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