6.1 Roman period
Eight of the 12 worked bones from the Roman period are divination or playing tools. Seven of them are cattle and sheep astragali that are worn and polished from use. This is the largest number of used astragali in any of the five phases (tables 1 and 4). The other object connected with ritual or symbolic use is an unfinished red deer antler amulet or pendant.
Only one tool from this period may be connected with fibre or skin processing. It is a cattle metatarsus that is worn at the proximal end and has shiny surfaces as a result of handling and the contact with soft materials.
A unique find is a round sieve (diameter 7.9 cm; thickness 0.3 cm) made from the flat part of a cattle scapula (fig. 31). It was found in a sod structure in which metal working was done, but was probably unrelated to that. It has no traces of contact with fire and sieves are not normally used in metal working (S. Pelsmaeker, pers. comm.). So it is likely that this sieve had a domestic use. The last bone tool from the Roman period is part of a handle made out of a horse metatarsus.