Dear all,
At Liberchies (Belgium) a large collection of Roman bones was found, which
are now in the process of publication. The characteristics of the collection
point towards the industrial processing of skeletal material for the
production of secondary bone fat, bone glue, etc (in the sense of the
publication of Paul Stokes in the Durham AEA conference proceedings, Oxbox
Monographs). Furthermore, the bones show that horn working was taking place
at the site. The cultural archaeological material indicates the presence of
tanning activities but this is not corroborated (but also not contradicted)
by the bone assemblage. Conclusion: the site seems to represent a
concentration of crafts based on the processing of animal material. Such
concentration seems logic because it implies that transport efforts are
minimal (horns from tannery to horn worker, bones and hides coming from the
same slaughterhouse).
Our question now is whether there are good published examples from such a
concentration of crafts in Roman sites? Of course, we know of bone glue
processing sites (Paul Stokes' article) and are aware of published Roman
tanneries, but it's the combination of crafts we are looking for.
Any hint would be most appreciated,
Yours sincerely,
An Lentacker & Anton Ervynck
Institute of the Archaeological Heritage
of the Flemish Community
Doornveld 1 box 30
B-1731 Zellik-Asse
Belgium
tel. ++ 32 2 481 80 38
fax ++ 32 2 481 80 56
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