Dear Fiona,
Just as a counterpoint, transversely pierced cattle phalanges are
absent from early medieval contexts in Ireland. Although there are a
number of pierced functional objects, the vast majority are made from
whole bones of sheep/goat or pigs, and as far as I can ascertain, none
are made from cattle bones. The most commonly pierced objects are bone
scoops or shuttles, over 90% of which are made from sheep/goat
metapodials with a dished, scooped end on one side and often a
transversly pierced hole on the other, most likely for suspension.
There are also five objects which I’ve classified as toggles, which
are slightly more diverse in form, a transversely pierced pig
metacarpal from Ballynamintra Cave, a pierced pig metatarsal from
Rathmullan, a sheep/goat metacarpal from Dooey, sheep/goat metacarpal
and sheep/goat tibia from Carraig Aille 1. All have the distal and
proximal ends removed and are pierced roughly midway along the length
of the bone.
Hope this helps somewhat,
Jim Boyle
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