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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2 Material and methods

A total of 263 tools, pieces of production waste and unfinished tools made from bone, antler and horn was found during the 1991-93 excavations at the Wijnaldum-Tjitsma terp. About 8000 m3 of soil was excavated. The soil from all features, except from the sod layers (tables 5 and 6), was wet-sieved using a 4 mm mesh, allowing the retrieval of small fragments (Gerrets 1999, 20). The largest proportion of tools (c.60%) was recovered using wet-sieving. These tools include rather small objects, such as bone needles, which are perhaps overlooked at excavations where less or no soil was sieved. 27% of the objects were collected by hand in 4x4 m squares after machines cleared the area, and the remaining 13% were found during metal detector prospection (Gerrets 1999, 19-20).

The bone and antler tools and the production waste are considered to be representative for all tools and waste once present in the excavated volume, because of the careful excavation and post-excavation procedures. The initial sorting of all find categories was carried out in Harlingen during the excavation season (Gerrets 1999, 21). No bone fragments, not even the smallest, were thrown away. This sorting out appeared to have been done very carefully, since only a few other tools and waste pieces were overlooked and found among the unworked animal remains.

The bone and antler tools were dated by the pottery and other finds in the features in which they were found (Gerrets & De Koning 1999). The largest numbers of bone and antler objects date to the Migration (n = 47), the Merovingian (n = 88) and the Carolingian periods (n = 49) (table 1). Bone and antler tools from the preceding Roman (n=12) and subsequent Ottonian (n=26) phases are less numerous (table 1). The variation in the numbers of tools corresponds to the excavated habitation areas, those from the Roman and Ottonian periods being much smaller than those from the other periods (Gerrets & De Koning 1999, figs 3-22). The Ottonian period, moreover, was shorter than the other periods (50-100 years against 100-200 years).

Over a span of 700 years, the location of the settlement shifted by c. 110m from the north (Roman) to the south (Ottonian) of the terp. This made the stratigraphy of the site quite complex, especially for the Migration and later periods (Gerrets & De Koning 1999, fig. 1). This is the reason that 41 bone and antler objects could not be dated to a particular period (table 1).

Table 1 Numbers of bone and antler tools, unfinished tools and production waste grouped into six categories of tools and a group of waste and unfinished tools from the five phases of the site of Wijnaldum-Tjitsma: Roman period (AD 175-300/350), Migration period (AD 425-550), Merovingian period (AD 550-750), Carolingian period (AD 750-850) and Ottonian period (AD 850-900/950).

Period

Roman

Migration

Merovingian

Carolingian

Ottonian

no phase

Tool type

total

%

fiber and skin working tools

1

9

30

11

6

7

64

24,3

pin beater

-

2

6

1

1

-

10

3,8

needle

complete

-

3

5

2

-

4

14

5,3

with eye

-

-

7

3

1

-

11

4,2

point

-

-

4

2

3

1

10

3,8

unfinished

-

-

-

2

-

-

2

0,8

awl

complete

-

1

1

-

-

-

2

0,8

unfinished

-

1

-

-

-

-

1

0,4

spindle whorl

disc shape

-

-

2

-

-

-

2

0,8

planoconvex

-

-

-

1

-

-

1

0,4

round

-

1

-

-

-

-

1

0,4

caput femoris

-

-

2

-

-

2

4

1,5

caput femoris, unfinished

-

-

1

-

-

-

1

0,4

polishing / rubbing instrument

1

1

2

-

1

-

5

1,9

personal utensils

0

24

34

22

14

18

112

42,6

1-sided composite comb

type 1

-

-

2

-

-

3

5

1,9

type 2

-

-

1

1

-

1

3

1,1

type 3

-

-

-

1

2

1

4

1,5

type 4

-

1

-

-

-

-

1

0,4

type 5

-

-

-

-

1

-

1

0,4

tooth plate

-

1

4

4

2

4

15

5,7

end tooth plate

-

2

1

2

2

2

9

3,4

side plate

-

7

9

13

3

5

37

14,1

2-sided composite comb

complete

-

1

-

-

-

-

1

0,4

tooth plate

-

-

3

-

-

1

4

1,5

side plate

-

-

2

-

1

-

3

1,1

fragment

-

1

2

-

-

-

3

1,1

comb

fragment

-

2

5

1

1

-

9

3,4

unfinished

-

4

-

-

1

-

5

1,9

pin (clothes/hair)

-

1

5

-

-

-

6

2,3

ring

-

3

-

-

1

1

5

1,9

bead, unfinished

-

1

-

-

-

-

1

0,4

amulets

8

5

6

4

1

3

27

10,3

amulet/pendant

-

-

2

1

1

-

4

1,5

amulet/pendant, unfinished

1

-

1

-

-

-

2

0,8

dice (also used in gaming?)

-

2

-

-

-

-

2

0,8

astragalus, used/decorated

7

3

3

3

-

3

19

7,2

musical instruments

0

0

2

2

0

1

5

1,9

flute

-

-

1

1

-

-

2

0,8

costa, sawn (musical instrument?)

-

-

1

1

-

-

2

0,8

tuning fork

-

-

-

-

-

1

1

0,4

household utensils

2

1

5

2

0

1

11

3,4

box

-

-

-

1

-

-

1

0,4

spoon

-

-

2

-

-

-

2

0,8

sieve

1

-

-

-

-

-

1

0,4

plate (inlay?)

-

-

1

1

-

1

3

1,1

handle

1

-

1

-

-

-

2

0,8

checker (used in gaming)

-

1

1

-

-

-

2

0,8

transport

0

2

4

4

5

3

18

6,8

skate

-

2

2

2

1

-

7

2,7

sledge runner

-

-

-

-

1

-

1

0,4

point / tip of skating stick

-

-

2

2

3

3

10

3,8

waste and unfinished tools

1

6

7

4

0

8

26

9,9

waste / unfinished, type unknown

1

6

2

-

-

4

13

4,9

waste of horn working

-

-

1

-

-

1

2

0,8

type unkown

-

-

4

4

-

3

11

4,2

Total

12

47

88

49

26

41

263

100,0