Quite a substantial portion of the Neolithic cattle and red deer astragali
from Gomolava (also in Serbia) seem to have been flattened on the anterior
surface, with the four most prominent points worn/chopped down to the same
plane. I'd be interested to know what people make of this kind of
modification. David
>There was one worked cattle astragalus at
>Selevac, in Serbia, along with a number of other
>ruminant astragali, mostly roe deer.
>
>Russell, Nerissa
>1990 The bone tools. In Selevac: A Neolithic
>Village in Yugoslavia. R. E. Tringham and D.
>Krstic, eds. Pp. 521-548. Los Angeles: UCLA
>Institute of Archaeology.
>
>Nerissa Russell
>
>At 11:18 AM +0100 12/5/06, Stéphanie Bréhard wrote:
>>Dear Zooarchers,
>>
>>I am working on Middle Neolithic assemblages
>>from open air sites located in the South of
>>France.
>>Several Bos taurus astragali from these sites
>>had been manufactured. Some had been perforated
>>(in different ways), some had been scratched
>>(accumulation of lines on the posterior side)
>>and some have a side that had been flattened.
>>In Europe, I know only two examples of worked
>>astragali from prehistoric contexts (Remouchamps
>>cave & Varna) and it concerns only caprine.
>>In eastern Mediterranean, it seems that bovine
>>astragali were sometimes used from Chalcolithic
>>(Gilmour 1997, Oxford Journal of Archaeology),
>>but I did not find earlier data.
>>
>>Would anyone know examples and references about
>>worked bovine astragali from Neolithic contexts ?
>>
>>Thank you in advance.
>>Stéphanie Bréhard
>>
>>
>>Stéphanie Bréhard
>>Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle
>>Département "Écologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité"
>>UMR 5197 "Archéozoologie, Histoire des sociétés
>>humaines et des peuplements animaux"
>>case postale N° 56
>>F-75231 Paris cedex 05
>>Tél. : 01 40 79 35 86
>>Fax. : 01 40 79 33 14
>
>
>--
>Nerissa Russell
>Department of Anthropology
>Cornell University
>Ithaca, NY 14853 USA
>(607) 255-6790
>fax (607) 255-3747
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