Sea cow used for Iban hilts

fearn · 2nd July 2011, 04:56 PM

Actually, David, you'd be surprised.

For one thing, you have both the spongy inner core (trabecular bone) and the outer dense cortical bone.

So far as I can tell, it's not carved out of a cylinder, so it's not from the middle of a long limb bone. You can see that because the hilt is curved, but the trabecular bone is only on one corner. Assuming this is a correct observation, the bone came from a bone with a more complex shape, such as the head of a thigh or the vertebra of a very large animal.

The nice thing about bones with complex shapes is that they tend to be distinctive. This means they can be identified.

Without measurements, I can't tell whether this hilt could have been made from a human thigh (my guess is not). However, if you have a bunch of bones to compare it to, you can ask whether the hilt would fit within a particular bone. By process of elimination, you can get an ID.

Additionally, there may be clues in the texture of the bone that will allow it to be identified.

Were I the person with a mystery bone hilt, I'd approach a museum and say that I'm trying to determine the identity of the bone so that I can properly document it for CITES, or some such.

It's always possible that it can't be identified. However, if there's a later question about the identity of the bone (say from customs), you can whip out a letter that says that you took it to a museum, and Dr. Bone-Genius couldn't figure out what it was, except that there's no evidence it's from a CITES covered species, and it's too old to be covered anyway.

Either way, you get something from the exercise.

Best,

F

2nd July 2011, 04:56 PM	#22
fearn Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,247	Actually, David, you'd be surprised. For one thing, you have both the spongy inner core (trabecular bone) and the outer dense cortical bone. So far as I can tell, it's not carved out of a cylinder, so it's not from the middle of a long limb bone. You can see that because the hilt is curved, but the trabecular bone is only on one corner. Assuming this is a correct observation, the bone came from a bone with a more complex shape, such as the head of a thigh or the vertebra of a very large animal. The nice thing about bones with complex shapes is that they tend to be distinctive. This means they can be identified. Without measurements, I can't tell whether this hilt could have been made from a human thigh (my guess is not). However, if you have a bunch of bones to compare it to, you can ask whether the hilt would fit within a particular bone. By process of elimination, you can get an ID. Additionally, there may be clues in the texture of the bone that will allow it to be identified. Were I the person with a mystery bone hilt, I'd approach a museum and say that I'm trying to determine the identity of the bone so that I can properly document it for CITES, or some such. It's always possible that it can't be identified. However, if there's a later question about the identity of the bone (say from customs), you can whip out a letter that says that you took it to a museum, and Dr. Bone-Genius couldn't figure out what it was, except that there's no evidence it's from a CITES covered species, and it's too old to be covered anyway. Either way, you get something from the exercise. Best, F