The newly discovered bone object was probably used for piercing soft materials or possibly as a projectile tip.
The 4000 year old Murrawong bone tip. Image Credit: Flinders University.
The old bone tip was found at the site of Murrawong near the lower Murray River in the Ngarrindjeri country in southern Australia.
The artefact was located in the archaeological layer dating between 5,303 and 3,875 years ago.
“The point was probably made of a macropod – kangaroo or wallaby leg,” said Dr. Christopher Wilson and Professor Amy Roberts of Flinders University.
“It was probably used for piercing soft materials – for example, as a pin on a coat of fur – or possibly as a projectile tip.”
While stone objects and shells usually appear on the surface, bone objects are mostly exposed during excavations.
“The last similar one was discovered in the Lower Murray River Gorge in the 1970s,” the researchers said.
“Even one species of this species offers us the opportunity to understand the use of bone technologies in the region and how such artifacts are adapted to a river environment,” said Dr. Wilson, a man from Ngarrindjeri, said.
“There was the same amount of study of bone artifacts missing compared to artifacts made of stone. Therefore, each discovery reminds us of the diverse material culture used by the indigenous peoples in this country,” Professor Roberts added.
The team’s paper was published in the magazine Australian Archeology.
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Christopher Wilson et al. Analysis and contextualization of a Holocene bone tip from Murrawong (Glen Lossie), Lower Murray River Gorge, South Australia. Australian Archeology, Published March 16, 2021 online; doi: 10.1080 / 03122417.2021.1886893