Bone skates from the medieval site of Crkveno Brdo (Serbia)

Abstract

The paper presents the results of the analysis of six worked bones discovered during archaeological excavations of the medieval settlement at the site of Crkveno Brdo. The site is located in the municipality of Senta, in the vicinity of the village of Gornji Breg, at a distance of about 1.5 km to the south-west of the village centre. During the archaeological excavations in 2019, part of the settlement dated from the 11th to the 13th century was excavated. Additionally, the existence of cultural layers, dated in a wider chronological range between the 11th and the 15th century, was revealed. The results of the analysis of the worked bones indicate that bones of the most important economic species, mainly horse and cattle, were used as a raw material between the 11th and the 13th century. Out of the total number of finds, five specimens represent skates with identical macro and micro traces of manufacturing and use, while the sixth finding can be interpreted as a pointed tool with rough production traces.