scraper;
pendant;
portable art
- Museum number
- Palart.850
- Description
-
Bone tool with notched edges made from the transverse process of a lumbar vertebra of a herbivore, possibly horse (Garrod 1926). The original, roughly ovoid shape is damaged by a sub-recent break probably caused by geological hammer used during excavation and a piece is missing.On the edge of the break, just off the centre of the surface, there is a small depressed fracture probably caused by the impact of the hammer. There is no engraved decoration, but a deckled outline produced by cutting 19 irregular V-shaped notches around the slightly chamfered edge of the object.
- Dimensions
-
Length: 5.40 centimetres
-
Thickness: 0.50 centimetres
-
Width: 2.90 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- The function of this artefact is uncertain. Although likened to a pendant, the surviving piece is not perforated for suspension and the circular depression on one side is due to recent damage. However, Garrod (1926) considered that there was probably a perforation through the missing end. There is no engraved ornamentation and the notched edges may be functional rather than decorative although they do not show any clear signs of use wear or damage. However, notched bone implements like this are known from more recent contexts in which they are described as 'fleshers' or scrapers used to clean animal skins. Cut-marked Arctic hare bones, as well as bone needle recovered in Church Hole offer an indication that skin processing took place there. Boyd Dawkins (1880,p.149) thought that the piece might be Aurignacian but Garrod correctly compared it to later Magdalenian finds.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2009 23 Jun-present, Nottinghamshire, Creswell Crags Museum, LT Loan.
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- Palart.850
- Additional IDs
-
Other BM number: +8165 (Christy Collection)
