Mining or Ore-Processing Bone Tools? A Case Study from Eastern Ukraine

by Olga Zagorodnia
The British Museum, London, UK

Bone tools are present in tool collections of mining sites over a wide area during the Bronze Age. Mostly, researchers associate them with ore mining due to contextual analysis and the typological proximity to bronze wedges. The assemblage of the sources from the Kartamysh sites in Donets Basin (eastern Ukraine) critically posed the problem of what was the purpose of bone artefacts in this field. Kartamysh archaeological area included settlements, sites for ore-sorting and processing, copper mines and open pits which were exploited during the Late Bronze Age (XVI-XIII BC). In order to verify the functions of archaeological bone tools we carried out experiments using similar replicas in a variety of operations. Traces on the artefacts were identified in comparison with experimental items associated with argillite mining and ore processing (a gravitational process). As a result, a new functional type was singled out – tools for stirring ore in gravitational process (total 399 items). They were made from ribs, scapulas, and long bones. The functional type of scoops for raking ore, made from animal scapulas and pelvic bones, was also identified.
Similar tools have also been found in the other Bronze Age mining areas in Europe – Schwaz/ Brixlegg (North Tyrol), Great Orme (Wales) and Kargaly (Urals). They could have been used to sort ore or to scrape copper sandstone to extract ore. At the same time, we were interested to note that rather peculiar wedges from tubular bones, which are numerous in the other ancient mines, were not found on the eastern Ukraine sites. The database that was compiled on deformations and wear traces is suitable for comparing sets of tools in general and their individual parameters with data from other ancient mining complexes.

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