Round bone ornament
Montastruc, Bruniquel, France.
Bone
Length: 7.9 cms
The British Museum
Palart.618
This ornament is made on a very thin bone disc skilfully excised from an animal shoulder blade. It is one of the largest known and is plain but for the denticulate circumference and an incised herring bone pattern that runs vertically from the top to the bottom of the piece. The notch at the bottom of the edge was probably originally matched by a projection, possibly perforated, allowed the disc to be suspended.
Circular ornaments such as this are known from a number of French sites dating to between 14,000 and 13,000 years ago. They are sometimes perforated through the middle to be attached to clothing by means of a knotted thread but where they are decorated on both sides they may have been threaded so that they could be spun round to animate the image of an animal or transform a pattern. .
Close