Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 44 (3) 2016   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2016.44.3.087-092

Annotation:  The Middle Paleolithic of the Levant Faunal Remains from the Early Complexes of the Sagan-Zaba II Multilayered Habitation Site (9120–7880 Wooden Saddle-Trees from Yaloman II in the Altai: An Interdisciplinary Analysis A Scythian Age Sword from the Forest-Steppe Altai Above-Ground Frame Buildings in Western Siberia: Archaeological and Ethnographic Parallels New Evidence on the Early Saka Horse Harness from Eastern Kazakhstan “Caster’s Cache” from Tartas-1, Late Krotovo (Cherno-Ozerye) Culture, Baraba Forest-Steppe Modeling the Deformation of Bone Points: Archaeological and Experimental Data Woven, Knitted, and Wattled 17th–18th Century Textiles from Tara Fortress, Western Siberia Ceramics from Novoilyinka III, a Chalcolithic Site in Kulunda, Western Siberia Shatra and Jurt: The “Return Address” in the Altaian Ritual The Distribution of Bashkir Tribes Before and During their Integration into the Russian State Mythological Characters of the Domestic Space in Russian Folk Beliefs: Lexicographic and Ethnographi Dental Anthropology of the Mesolithic and Neolithic Populations of the Eastern European Forest-Stepp An Upper Paleolithic Human Mandible and a First Cervical Vertebra from Afontova Gora II   

Modeling the Deformation of Bone Points:
Archaeological and Experimental Data

A.P. Borodovsky and A.V. Tabarev

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

Bone and antler tools are a highly informative category of artifacts. Variously sized and shaped projectile (spear, harpoon, arrow, and dart) points spanning the periods from the Paleolithic to recent centuries are of special importance. In this article, we review the most noteworthy directions in Western (European and North American) experimental research performed in the 20th and early 21st century, outline the results of our own experiments in using bone points, and discuss parallels among Siberian and Eastern European prehistoric cultures. In our experiments with the use of an archery bow, special attention was paid to fastening the arrowhead to the shaft and to properties of the material (bone and antler). Most experimenters believe that deformation of bone points is a reliable indicator of their artifi cial nature and of the ways they were used in hunting (as projectiles or for preparing animal skins), warfare, or ritual activities. The latter include symbolic shooting at rock drawings before hunting and at landscape features such as crevices and trees, as exemplifi ed by a ritual practiced by the California Indians.

Keywords: Archaeology, experiment, projectiles, bone points, deformation, hunting, ritual.

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