Rhineland-Palatinate)

Cranium, jrg. 7, no. 2, pag. 58-62, September 1990 A forked bone from Middle Palaeolithic Levels in the Wannen Volcano (Rhineland-Palatinate) Antje Justus and Elaine Turner Schloss Monrepos, Neuwied, BRD Summary The authors describe a distally forked bone foundduring the excavation of middle palaeolithic levels in the crater of the volcano finds have often been described ”arte- Wannen (Rhineland-Palatinate, West Germany). Similar as palaeolithic but be the result facts”, are now thought to of chewing by animals, probably by ungulates. Samenvatting De bot midden in auteurs beschrijven een distaal gevorkt dat gevonden is tijdens de opgraving van paleolitische lagen de krater de van Wannenvulkaan (Rheinland-Pfalz, BRD). Soortgelijke vondsten zijn dikwijls beschreven als paleolitische ”artefakten”. Tegenwoordig worden deze geacht veroorzaakt te zijn door het kauwen door dieren, waarschijnlijk door hoefdieren. 58 Figure 1.The forked horse metatarsus from the Wannen,a) anterior view, b) lateral view, c) distal end, anterior view, d) distal end,posterior view. Scale in centimeters. distaal Figuur 1. De gevorkte metatarsus van eenpaard van de Wannenvulkaan, a) anterieur, b) lateraal,c) eind, anterieur, d) distaal eind, posteri- eur. Schaal in centimeters 59 the and the and During Tertiary Quaternary periods region mm. on both the anterior and the posterior side re- known the Ei- the to the west of the Central Rhineland, as vealing marrow canal. Two "prongs" of bone have the of continuous volcanic In fel, was scene activity. the thus been formed, each being placed laterally on the around the Laacher known the area Lake, as East Eifel, specimen (Fig. la). When viewed from the side, the the of the extinct volcanoes are basaltic scoria bone the distal end The majority appears pointed at (Fig. lb). cones with a central crater. After eruption had ceased, points of the "prongs" both show signs of recent dama- the of these volcanoes filled craters were subsequently ge. The edges of the "prongs" are somewhat rounded with sediment, particularly loess deposited during the and the surface of the edge on the anterior face is in- Pleistocene cold stages. dented (Fig. lc). Two shallow grooves running parallel be the to the long axis of the bone can seen on posterior Re-exposure of these deposits during recent commerci- face of the bone. The grooves begin at the proximal end extraction has revealed evidence that al scoria man re- of the arch and continue along the bone for about 20 the craters of the volcanoes peatedly occupied during mm. on the right side and about 28 mm. on the left side the Late Middle Pleistocene and Late Pleistocene peri- (Fig. Id). ods (bosinski et al, 1986). The situation on top of the volcanoes, with their sheltered craters and a wide view Attempts to investigate the bone surface in more detail from the summit, must have been very attractive to early with a hand-held lens brought no results, as the speci- and rich horizons have been inves- had been modified the man, archaeological men already surficially by Hum- tigated at several localities, such as the Plaidter smooth, sinuous U-shaped channels typical of root-et- merich, the Tönchesberg, Schweinskopf-Karmelenberg ching. Root-etching is caused by the acids in rootlets and the Wannen (BOSINSKI, 1986). which attack the surface of the bone as it is being buried (COOK, 1986; SHIPMAN, 1981), and their presence on The first finds from the Wannen volcano discover- were the features described above indicates that the "forking" ed in 1985 the and collector K.- by hobby archaeologist of the specimen must have taken place before burial. H. Urmersbach. Excavations in the loess-filled crater of this volcano began in 1986, during the course of which The interpretation of modified animal bones, particu- five archaeological horizons, probably dating to the larly from Pleistocene deposits, has occupied scientists Saale Penultimate Cold identified for of this it or Stage, were (JUS- most century. However, was Raymond TUS el al., 1987; JUSTUS, 1988). Dart's claims in the 1950s for an "osteodontokeratic" culture (for example, DART, 1957) which brought sup- the summer of horizon 4 was excavated. such During 1986, port to the ideas of authors as BREUlL (1939), who The finds from this horizon consisted of number of a believed that certain patterns of bone breakage and stone artefacts and a amount of faunal remains large bone modification were the result of human action, and from such as wolf Canis Meles species lupus, badger other on the controversial inspired many publications horse rhinoceros Coelodonta meles, Equus sp., woolly subject of bone "tools". antiquitatis, red deer Cervus elaphus, reindeer Rangifer bovid and for descri- tarandus, a large Bos sp. or Bison sp. possibly Authors such as KITCHING (1963), example, chamois Rupicapra rupicapra (TURNER, 1989). In this bed in great detail the "Osteodontokeratic Outfit of the finds from horizon 4 more or less iden- Mousterian Man" based his aspect were (KITCHING, 1963, p. 45) on tical with those recovered from the other horizons at interpretation of bones found in the Pin Hole Cave in the site, in other words a Palaeolithic assemblage asso- Derbyshire, England. Kitching furnished Mousterian ciated with the remains of animals hunted and with wide of bone from by man Man a range implements "rip- indicative of environment. a cold, predominantly open ping tools" to "scoops or cups and tankards". However, the form of one particular bone from this ho- Although Mousterian Man in England did not rizon, a metatarsus or foot-bone from horse, attracted appear "forked" the attention of the excavators. to possess the technology to produce bones, Palaeolithic man in Crete, according to KUSS (1969), The specimen is a left metatarsus or rear foot bone of a certainly did. Kuss described bones and antlers of horse number: Wa deer cretensis from the island of (Equus sp.) (Registration 97/50, pygmy Cervus Crete, 56. Fig. 1). The proximal end of the bone is complete, which he considered to have been converted into arte- distal the finds although slightly damaged during excavation; the facts by Palaeolithic man. Amongst were se- 206 joint is missing. Thebone is preserved to a length of veral "forked" bones including metapodia, and Kuss of horse from ho- mm. A complete metatarsus the same concludedthat "cretean palaeolithic man mostly formed rizon measured 275 mm. in length, which indicates that forklike tools" (KUSS, 1969, p.137). not only the distal joint, but also the distal part of the The similarity between bones and antlers bone-shaft or diaphysis of the specimen from horizon 4 gnawed by and other to human "artefacts" is missing. deer ungulates and par- first ticularly "forked artefacts" was pointed out by SUT- The distal end of the shaft has a wide arched opening at CLIFFE (1973). The abnormal chewing of bone, known its base penetrating the bone to a depth of about 30 as osteophagia, is often a sympton of phosphorus defi- 60 reindeer, muntjac deer, camels, giraffes, wildebeest, The Wannen horse metatarsus, with its well-developed kudu, gemsbok, sable antelopes and nyala antelopes distally "forked" end and laterally placed, slightly surfi- (SUTCLIFFE, 1973; 1977). BROTHWELL (1976) recorded cially pitted, "prongs", is identical to the recent and fos- bones apparently chewed by sheep from the island of sil specimens of ungulate chewing described by SUT- this island feed and and in this North Ronaldsay, Orkney. The sheep on CLIFFE (1973; 1977) KUSS (1969), aspect mainly from phosphorus-rich seaweed which, as SUT- also appears to have been an object ofungulate interest. that in this the the the towards CLIFFE (1977) points out, suggests case However, two grooves on posterior face is of deficiency that causes osteophagia of some other sub- the distalend the bone (Fig. 1) do not appear to have stance. parallels amongst the examples illustrated in the litera- ture. Bones and antler chewed by ungulates often have "forked" ends resulting from the way in which the object is Forked horse bones, similar to the one from the Wan- chewed, and it is known that red deer, reindeer, nyala also been described nen, have as human artefacts by this antelope and, apparently, sheep can produce kind Lanser (in BOSINSKI (ed.), 1982, Fig. 25). The two horse of modification (BROTIIWELL; 1976; SUTCLIFFE, 1973; metapodia were recovered from bore-holes taken prior 1977). Deer, cattle, antelopes and sheep do not possess to renovation work on the Rhine-Herne canal near Es- incisors and therefore have their upper to use opposing sen-Dellwig (Nordrhein Westfalen). Fossils from Es- cheek teeth to chew. In those cases where chewing has sen-Dellwig include the remains ofmammoth Mammut- actually been observed, the behaviour appears to be hus primigenius, woolly rhinoceros Coelodonta The antler held aslant constant. bone or is lengthwise, antiquitatis, red deer Cervus elaphus and stone artefacts. in the mouth, where a sideways chewing movement of of the They are thought to date to the end Last Intergla- is the cheek teeth applied. The upper and lower part cial the ofthe Last (Eemian) or beginning or Weichseli- are thus removed until the marrow cavity or antler core date an Cold Stage (HEINRICH, 1987); a at the end of sides intact form the of is reached, leaving the to prongs the Penultimate or Saalian Cold Stage is also possible the "fork" (SUTCLIFFE, 1973; 1977). (KAIILKE, 1975 & SCHMITZ, 1988). describes and red deer Sutcliffe figures recent metapo- The specimens from Essen-Dellwig (a metatarsus and a dials, chewed by red deer (1977, Fig. 3). In each case metacarpus) show the typical surficial pitting and sco- the distal "fork" has its prongs placed laterally. The ed- ring resulting from chewing or gnawing by animals ra- of the rounded and show ges "prongs" are occasionally ther than modification by man (SCHMITZ, 1988).

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