Pg. 235 provides some archaeological evidence (with citations) for bone used as fuel for fire:
On the Role of Fire in Neandertal Adaptations in Western Europe: Evidence from Pech de l'Azé and Roc de Marsal, France.
Pages 216-242
Dennis M. Sandgathe, Harold L. Dibble, Paul Goldberg, Shannon P. McPherron, Alain Turq, Laura Niven, and Jamie Hodgkins
Flint
On Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 5:19 PM, Salima Ikram
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
ps I like the tick idea--a true cleansing by fire (or smoke)
Egyptology Unit HeadProfessor of Egyptology
American University in Cairo
P. O. Box 74, Road 90, Tagammu 5
New Cairo 11825, EGYPT
Fax: 20227957565
On 5 Nov 2012, at 12:07, Angela Perri wrote:
On a related note... I had always heard the driving of livestock through the bonfire was done to encourage the killing of ticks, fleas and other parasites to ensure the health of the animals as they were boarded closely together in the overwinter. I thought I had some references on this somewhere. I will dig around.
Angela
Angela Perri
PhD Researcher
Dept of Archaeology
Durham University
Sent from my iPhone
A seasonal query....
An idle conversation around a bon(e)fire watching fireworks drew my attention to the Wikapeida entry for bonfire (see below). A brief search of ZOOARCHIVES found that we have touched on this topic but does anyone have citations for Wikapedia 'facts'? Is there a zooarchaology of bonefires?
We have Scottish sub-floor animal cremations that could be autumnal....
In the ancient druid religions,[citation needed] bonfires were held between 31 October and 5 November[citation needed] to celebrate Samhain, a harvest festival where they used bonfires " bone fires"[citation needed] to burn the bones of the slaughtered livestock they had prepared and stored for the winter months. People and their livestock would often walk between two bonfires as a cleansing ritual,[citation needed] and the bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.[citation needed] Some modern day Druids and Pagans[who?] see bonfire night as a significant celebration to end the harvest festival.[citation needed]