Koštana spatula – lenjir iz Naisa

Abstract

The paper deals with a technological-typological analysis of the finding of a bone spatula – ruler, discovered in a closed unit from the first half of the 2nd century CE in the suburbium of Naissus – Niš (the site of Trg Oslobođenja). It was made of a flat segment of a larger rib of a large mammal, most probably cattle (Bos taurus). The processing technology used and the choice of raw material (Bos bone) represent common traits of bone items production in the Roman period. The registered use-wear traces indicate that the item was most probably used as a spatula to flatten the wax on writing tablets (tabulae ceratae).