Forum 06 Area 1, SF #568, ctx 334 2nd C AD

A wedge-shaped piece of bone measuring 82.2mm x 24.8mm x 16.1mm, probably a piece from towards the end of a very large long bone as the wide end shows remnants of cancellous bone on what would have been the internal surface and the end on view also shows cancellous bone. It has been worked on all surfaces, photos show what I guess are file or saw marks, but at the wider end enough remains of the original external surface to show that it was slightly concave. It has quite a dense heft in the hand though not as much as ivory. Whatever animal it comes from is not represented in the bone assemblage recoered so far from 12 years of excavation at Butrint.

Initial question on zooarch was :

Dear all,

I am currently at Butrint in Albania and have come across a piece of worked bone from late Hellenistic (probably) deposits, it is wedge-shaped, and appears to be a blank worked on a long bone shaft near one of the ends as there are remnants of the cancellous bone. The cortical bone thickness at this point is 14.5mm and the external surface of the bone shaft has a slightly concave profile so I suppose the piece is from a tibia or radius or metapodial rather than a femur or tibia. The cortical thickness is too great for any of the domestic mammals and I’m strongly tempted to suggest elephant. I’m told Pyrrhus of Epirus was famous for keeping Indian elephants but this would be the first specimen from Butrint except some finished ivories. Does anyone have any suggestions of what else it might plausibly be? Is it too great for aurochs? Would it be possible to speciate by looking at a thin section? Does anyone know of any other specimens around this period from the Mediterranean? I can send pictures to anzone who is interested

Cheers,

Adrienne