MORGANTINA, SICILY: THE WORKED BONE AND IVORY OBJECTS 459 B.C. TO THE FIRST CENTURY A.D. By CYNTHIA M. JACOB A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Art History written under the direction of Prof. Archer St. Clair Harvey, Ph.D. and approved by New Brunswick, New Jersey MAY 2012 © 2012 Cynthia M. Jacob ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION MORGANTINA, SICILY: THE WORKED BONE AND IVORY OBJECTS 459 B.C. TO THE FIRST CENTURY A.D. By CYNTHIA M. JACOB Dissertation Director: Prof. Archer St. Clair Harvey, Ph.D. The purpose of this dissertation is to prepare a publishable catalog of more than six hundred unpublished worked bone and ivory artifacts unearthed in successive archeological excavations of the second city of Morgantina, Sicily, beginning in 1955 and continuing until the present time. To accomplish this, it was necessary to examine all these bone and ivory objects, to assess them in terms of relationship to the larger Greek koine of the Mediterranean basin, to categorize and describe them in detail, and to photograph them. Morgantina, an inland Greek colony dating from the second quarter of the sixth century B.C., flowered after destruction by fire in 459 B.C. at the hands of an indigenous leader, Ducetius, and continued to flourish during the Hellenistic era. The city was captured in 211 B.C., during the Roman invasion and conquest of Syracuse. The city survived in diminished form from 211 B.C. to the mid-first century A.D. Most of the ii bone and ivory objects cannot be dated more closely than the period 459 B.C., the date of the destruction by fire, to the first century A.D., when the city disappeared. The Morgantina artifacts which are the subject to of this dissertation consist largely of items for daily use, such as utensils for personal grooming and jewelry for personal adornment, implements for writing, tools for a variety of purposes, handles, hinges and other structural and decorative components for furniture, game pieces, and miscellaneous pieces of uncertain application. From study of these objects, one can conclude that all conform substantially to similar worked bone and ivory objects found throughout the wide geographical area constituting the Greek world prior to the first century A.D. The Morgantina objects evidence strong connections to that Greek world, even with locales which could be considered far-flung geographically and temporally. They do not, however, demonstrate the cultural flowering which other categories of artifacts from the city reflect. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ....................................................................................... ii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION, HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND EXCAVATION HISTORY .............................................................................................................1 A Brief History of Morgantina ............................................................................................2 Dating ...................................................................................................................................4 Other Issues in Assessing the Objects .................................................................................7 CHAPTER 2: THE OBJECTS AND THEIR HISTORIES ..........................................................14 I. Bone or Ivory? .......................................................................................................14 II. Items for Personal Use ...........................................................................................15 Cosmetic or Medicinal Spoons and Spatulas .........................................................15 Combs ....................................................................................................................18 Jewelry ...................................................................................................................19 Amulets ......................................................................................................19 Beads and Plaques......................................................................................20 Pins ........................................................................................................21 III. Objects with Undetermined Functions...................................................................26 Rings ......................................................................................................................26 Eyelets/Reinforcements .........................................................................................30 Disks ......................................................................................................................33 Points......................................................................................................................36 A Stylus and Probable Styli .......................................................................37 iv Simple Points at Both Ends, Bulging in Midsection..................................38 Points With Beveled or Tapered Ends .......................................................39 Points With Indented Tips .........................................................................39 Points With Elongated Tips .......................................................................39 Small Slender Points ..................................................................................40 IV. Tools ......................................................................................................................40 Tools for Use in Ceramics and Leather Production ...............................................41 A Probe ..................................................................................................................44 Awls/Punches .........................................................................................................45 Tools for Scraping..................................................................................................46 V. Furniture Components and Accessories.................................................................47 Hinges ....................................................................................................................47 Socket .....................................................................................................................53 Handles ..................................................................................................................54 Furniture Mounts and Decorative Accessories ......................................................55 Decorated Worked Cylinders .................................................................................55 Other Furniture Components .................................................................................59 Furniture Appliqués and Veneers ..........................................................................60 Finials .....................................................................................................................62 V. Miscellaneous ........................................................................................................64 Gaming Pieces .......................................................................................................64 Sculptural Pieces ....................................................................................................65 A Miniature Spindle Whorl ...................................................................................67 v Toggles/Bobbins ....................................................................................................68 Unknown ................................................................................................................69 CHAPTER 3: WHAT THE OBJECTS TELL US ........................................................................70 CATALOG ....................................................................................................................................75 I. ITEMS FOR PERSONAL USE.........................................................................................76 A. Ogival and Oval Cosmetic or Medicinal Spoons ...................................................76 B. Round Cosmetic Spoons ........................................................................................78 C. Small Cosmetic Spatulas........................................................................................79 D. Combs ....................................................................................................................80 E. Amulets ..................................................................................................................81 F. Beads and Plaques..................................................................................................82 G. Pins .........................................................................................................................84 1. Complete or Nearly Complete Round-Headed Pins ..................................84 2. Oval-Headed Pins, Largely Complete .......................................................86 3. Round and Oval-Headed Pins, Incomplete ................................................88 4. Pins with Decorated Finials, Complete and Incomplete ............................90 II. OBJECTS WITH UNDETERMINED