Late Roman bone anvils from Viminacium

Abstract

Among faunal material from the Roman city of Viminacium, two peculiarly marked cattle bones, a mandible and a distal metatarsal bone, were noted. he surfaces of the bones were covered with regular rows of triangular marks – a characteristic use wear marks which, according to recent ethnographic studies, identify bones used as anvils to create teeth on blades of iron sickles. Based on the context of the ind it was possible to date both inds back to the late Roman period, i.e. to the 4th century AD. It is notable that a large number of known bone anvils date back from the Middle ages to the modern times and that they are mostly found in the western Mediterranean region. As the Roman period bone anvils were only recorded in the north-western coast of the Black sea, and there is a single ind in Southern Italy, specimens from Viminacium certainly complement these inds in Europe. In this paper we will discuss the process of making and utilizing Viminacium bone anvils: from the butchers’ to the blacksmiths’.