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Bone and Shell Tools

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The Archaeologist’s Laboratory

Part of the book series: Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology ((IDCA))

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Abstract

Paralleling the previous three chapters, this one reviews the generalized chaînes opératoires of artifacts made from bone, antler, ivory and shell, including material properties and reduction techniques. It then describes the terminology used to describe some of the most common kinds of bone and shell tools, such as needles, projectile points, fishhooks, potting tools, beads, and musical instruments. However, these materials were also used for many other purposes, including toggles, buttons, and furniture inlay. The chapter concludes with a case study on a Structuralist interpretation of bone and ivory tools in the Thule culture of the Canadian and Alaskan arctic.

The pointed horn of the deer furnishes the ready-made dagger, lance-head, and harpoon; the incisor tooth of the larger rodents supplies a more delicately edged chisel than primitive art could devise; and the very process of fracturing the bones of the larger mammalia in order to obtain the prized marrow, produces the splinters and pointed fragments which an easy manipulation converts into bodkins, hair-pins, and needles

Wilson (1876: 96–97)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Edward B. Banning

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Banning, E.B. (2020). Bone and Shell Tools. In: The Archaeologist’s Laboratory. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47992-3_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47992-3_14

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