Sea cow used for Iban hilts

tom hyle · 7th July 2011, 02:02 AM

The second hilt shown seems to show some irregularities of the original substance surface, between pommel and grip, that look like those of an antler. The denseness of the porous core is more suggestive of antler than of bone to me. It looks like antler.
BTW, elk is only solid at the tips. All antlers and horns are solid at the tips, though for varying lengths.
Different types of bone can be better or worse for these uses. Sheep bone is, for instance, flaky and peely.
Cattle, camel, and jiraffe are especially favoured for traditional bone goods. No camels or giraffes on Borneo, of course.
Given the fairly immediate obviousness of digesting beef, I often speculate that the popularity of humans associating with cattle has more to do with their particularly useful hides, bones, and horns than their meat.
Point is that there's a lot more to which bone to use than availability. Bones of animals can vary similarly to bones of trees, from specie to specie.

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7th July 2011, 02:02 AM	#32
tom hyle Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Houston, TX, USA Posts: 1,254	The second hilt shown seems to show some irregularities of the original substance surface, between pommel and grip, that look like those of an antler. The denseness of the porous core is more suggestive of antler than of bone to me. It looks like antler. BTW, elk is only solid at the tips. All antlers and horns are solid at the tips, though for varying lengths. Different types of bone can be better or worse for these uses. Sheep bone is, for instance, flaky and peely. Cattle, camel, and jiraffe are especially favoured for traditional bone goods. No camels or giraffes on Borneo, of course. Given the fairly immediate obviousness of digesting beef, I often speculate that the popularity of humans associating with cattle has more to do with their particularly useful hides, bones, and horns than their meat. Point is that there's a lot more to which bone to use than availability. Bones of animals can vary similarly to bones of trees, from specie to specie.