Raw Material Availability and Technological Choice: Modified Metapodia from an Early Bronze Age Site in Central Israel

Abstract

This paper explores the incongruous relationship between bone raw material availability and technological choice at the Early Bronze Age site of Horvat 'Illin Tahtit (HIT) in central Israel. At HIT, the worked bone assemblage is mostly comprised of minimally modified sheep and goat metapodia whose function(s) are enigmatic. Most specimens have longitudinally oriented scraping abrasions on at least one face, and of these, some have bilaterally symmetrical drilled perforations on the distal-posterior face. Furthermore, the distal epiphyseal plates of almost all worked metapodia are unfused, whereas unfused epiphyses are nearly absent from the general faunal assemblage. Worked goat metacarpals are significantly more common than sheep metacarpals or metatarsals of either species, despite the greater abundance of sheep over goat in the general faunal assemblage. This paper proposes that the desire to express specific visible attributes of the bone raw material was the key motivation in choosing unfused goat metacarpals over similar, more abundant choices. The analysis considers material properties such as bone mineral density and natural morphology and concludes that material properties between various choices were equivocal. This result suggests that social meanings attributed to specific animals and specific skeletal elements structured bone raw material procurement decisions.

Bones, sex, and dolls: Solving a mystery in Central Africa and beyond

“…Nevertheless, the striking parallel between all those caprine and gazelle metapodia suggests that they were all used as dolls, for play or for magic. In the Mediterranean basin, this will also explain why they are often from mortuary contexts and why they have polishing on their diaphyses (Allentuck 2011). It may also explain the preserved burned outlines of fiber bands noted by Allentuck (2011).…”

“…In the Mediterranean basin, this will also explain why they are often from mortuary contexts and why they have polishing on their diaphyses (Allentuck 2011). It may also explain the preserved burned outlines of fiber bands noted by Allentuck (2011). They may well be the traces of clothing that adhered to some of the metapodia when the village settlement of Horvat Illin Tahtit of the Levantine Early Bronze Age was burned down (Allentuck 2011).…”

“…It may also explain the preserved burned outlines of fiber bands noted by Allentuck (2011). They may well be the traces of clothing that adhered to some of the metapodia when the village settlement of Horvat Illin Tahtit of the Levantine Early Bronze Age was burned down (Allentuck 2011).…”

“…Nearby other anthropomorphic metapodia from tombs were reported from Salamis on Cyprus (Karageorghis 1970) but they are 2000 years younger. Their similarities are thus logically seen as the result of homology (Morris 1985: 164-165;Allentuck 2011). It is the same mental process that explains the similarities between those mysterious bone objects and the Kisalian and recent African dolls.…”

“…The complex process of raw material selection and modification has been studied in detail for a worked bone assemblage of perforated metapodia from the Levantine Early Bronze Age (Allentuck 2011). First discovered at the Gezer excavations between 1902 and 1909 (Macalister 1912a(Macalister : 286, 1912b, and then in Jericho (Garstang 1932;Kenyon 1960Kenyon , 1965Marshall 1982), those enigmatic objects excavated almost exclusively from graves were thought to be amulets, cult objects, or flutes.…”