Bird bone artefact from the Late Eneolithic / Early Bronze Age site of Zók (Hungary)

Abstract

Bird bones were rarely used for production of artefacts, due to various reasons – they were much smaller and thinner than bones of mammals usually selected for tool production; they also have specific shapes and fine structure, inadequate for the majority of common artefact types. They were occasionally used for some specific objects, such as flutes, pipes, needle cases, amulets, etc. When it comes to the Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age periods in south-eastern Europe, bird bone artefacts are rare; only few have been discovered thus far. In this paper, we will present one additional finding of a bird bone artefact, from the site of Zók–Gradina, situated in present-day Hungary. Excavations carried out in 1920 by the National Museum in Belgrade revealed a multi-period site, with major parts of the stratigraphic sequence belonging to the Late Eneolithic / Early Bronze Age Vučedol culture (2900–2500/2400 BC). Vučedol layers yielded relatively large quantities of worked bone, including one artefact produced from a bird bone, that will be presented here. The object in question was produced from the right radius of a Cygnus sp.; it is in the shape of an elongated tube; carefully cut at both ends. The function of this item is uncertain – it may have served as some sound-producing instrument (flute), or it was some sort of a handle or needle case. It is interesting to note that bird representations, in particular ornithomorphic vessels, are among the specific traits of the Vučedol culture; therefore, the choice of a bird bone for the production of this artefact may have had a certain symbolic significance as well.