Journal of Archaeology in the Low Countries 3-1 (November 2011)Wietske Prummel; Hülya Halici; Annemieke Verbaas: The bone and antler tools from the Wijnaldum-Tjitsma terp 1
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4 The contexts in which the bone and antler tools were found

The bone and antler tools and production waste were found in 14 types of contexts. The largest numbers come from refuse pits and ditches (17 and 16% of total NR of processed bones and antler (table 5)). Many of these were found in occupation and sod layers, originating from houses and sunken huts. Other contexts that delivered considerable numbers of bone and antler objects are wells, post holes, sunken huts, sod structures, pits and hearths. The context type of 26% of all bone and antler objects is unspecified, due to the complex stratigraphy of the site (table 5).

Table 5 The numbers of bone and antler tools, unfinished tools and production waste found in each context type in each period.

Period

Roman

Migration

Merovingian

Carolingian

Ottonian

no phase

total

%

post hole

-

2

-

1

1

2

6

2,3

sunken hut

-

6

3

1

-

-

10

3,8

sod structure

1

-

3

-

-

1

5

1,9

sod layer

-

4

16

4

-

2

26

9,9

hearth

2

-

1

-

-

-

3

1,1

well

-

2

5

-

5

-

12

4,6

small pit

-

-

-

1

1

-

2

0,8

large pit

-

-

2

2

-

-

4

1,5

refuse pit

1

8

10

19

2

4

44

16,7

occupation layer

2

11

6

6

3

1

29

11,0

ditch

-

4

30

4

5

-

43

16,3

arable layer

-

1

2

-

-

-

3

1,1

inhumation burial

-

-

1

-

-

-

1

0,4

cremation burial

-

1

-

-

-

-

1

0,4

top soil

-

1

1

-

-

4

6

2,3

context unspecified

6

7

8

11

9

27

68

25,9

Total

12

47

88

49

26

41

263

100,0

Bone and antler tools and waste from the Roman period were found in hearths, pits and house structures. The only finds from hearths are worn astragali and a piece of waste. Many tools and pieces of waste from the Migration period were found in occupation layers and sunken huts. The majority of the tools from the Merovingian period come from ditches and sod layers, whereas the finds from the Carolingian period mainly come from refuse pits. Tools from the Ottonian period were mainly found in wells and ditches (tables 5 and 6). Most bone and antler tools were thus found in habitation contexts (tables 5 and 6), showing that they were used in houses, sunken huts and yards and were lost or discarded there together with other waste.

Table 6 The numbers of bone and antler tools, unfinished tools and production waste in the various types of contexts of Wijnaldum-Tjitsma (combined for all periods).

Context type

post hole

sunken hut

sod structure

sod layer

hearth

well

small pit

large pit

refuse pit

occupation layer

ditch

arable layer

inhumation

cremation

.

top soil

context unspecified

Tool type

total

pin beater

-

1

1

2

-

-

-

-

1

2

3

-

-

-

-

-

10

needle, complete

1

1

-

3

-

1

-

1

2

1

-

-

-

-

2

2

14

needle, with eye

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

3

1

4

1

-

-

-

1

11

needle, point

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

-

2

1

3

1

-

-

-

2

10

needle, unfinished

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

1

2

awl

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

2

awl, unfinished

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

spindle whorl, disc shape

-

-

-

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

2

spindle whorl, planoconvex

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

1

spindle whorl, round

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

-

1

spindle whorl, caput femoris (fin.+unfin.)

-

-

-

3

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

1

-

5

polishing / rubbing instrument

-

1

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

3

5

1-sided composite comb, type 1

-

-

2

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

5

1-sided composite comb, type 2

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

3

1-sided composite comb, type 3

-

-

-

-

-

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

2

4

1-sided composite comb, type 4

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

1

1-sided composite comb, type 5

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

1

1-sided composite comb, tooth plate

1

-

1

1

-

2

-

1

3

2

1

-

-

-

-

3

15

1-sided composite comb, end tooth plate

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

2

3

1

-

-

-

1

2

9

1-sided composite comb, side plate

-

-

-

2

-

4

-

1

11

1

7

-

-

-

-

11

37

2-sided composite comb, complete

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

1

2-sided composite comb, tooth plate

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

2

-

1

-

-

-

-

1

4

2-sided composite comb, side plate

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

2

-

-

-

-

-

3

2-sided composite comb, fragment

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

2

3

comb fragment

-

1

-

1

-

1

-

-

1

-

5

-

-

-

-

-

9

comb, unfinished

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

3

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

5

pin (clothes/hair)

-

1

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

1

2

-

-

-

-

1

6

ring

-

1

-

1

-

-

-

-

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

1

5

bead, unfinished

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

1

amulet/pendant

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

2

-

1

-

-

1

4

amulet/pendant, unfinished

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

1

2

dice (also used in gaming?)

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

2

astragalus, used/decorated

-

2

-

1

2

-

-

-

3

4

1

-

-

-

1

5

19

flute

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

1

2

costa, sawn (musical instrument?)

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

2

2

tuning fork

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

1

box

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

1

spoon

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

2

sieve

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

plate (inlay?)

1

-

-

1

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

3

handle

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

2

checker

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

2

skate

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

-

2

3

-

-

-

-

1

7

sledge runner

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

1

point/tip of skating stick

1

-

-

2

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

6

10

waste/unfinished, type unknown

-

1

-

-

1

-

-

-

2

3

1

-

-

-

-

5

13

waste of horn working

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

2

type unkown

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

3

1

2

-

-

-

1

3

11

Total

6

.

10

.

5

.

26

.

3

.

12

.

2

.

4

.

44

.

29

.

43

.

3

.

1

.

1

.

6

.

68

.

263

The variation in the contexts in which the bone and antler objects were found largely corresponds to the frequency of these context types in each period (Gerrets & De Koning 1999, figs 3-22). There is no correlation between artefact type and context class. Sunken huts, for instance, only occurred in the Migration, Merovingian and Carolingian periods. Pits were common in the Carolingian period and wells in the Ottonian period, whereas ditches were found in all phases. For this reason the recovered bone and antler objects are considered to be representative for the use of bone and antler as tools during the occupation history of Wijnaldum-Tjitsma. The bone and antler objects from each period are not connected to particular houses, sunken huts, wells etc.

Two special contexts in which antler tools were found are a cremation burial and an inhumation burial of a young woman. A burnt antler spindle whorl was found in the cremation burial, which dates to the Migration period. A red deer antler amulet or pendant of a type named ‘Donar amulet’, was found in the inhumation burial of a young woman from the Merovingian period (fig. 21). The object was probably a fertility amulet. They are only found in women’s and children’s burials (Knol 1988, 122-124; also for an explanation of the name of this type of object). The inhumation burials of six young infants at the terp contained no grave goods (Cuijpers et al. 1999). These finds indicate that spindle whorls and amulets were valued personal belongings.