Achaeometrical Research in Hungary II., 1988

ANCIENT TECHNOLOGY - László BARTOSIEWICZ: A quantitative assesment of red deer antler as raw material

Table 1 The number of individual measurements available for study Variable Length measurements: Units used Number of individuals (after Bán and Fatalin 1986) lateral beam length cm 18,273 eye tine length cm 18,263 bez tine length cm 15,767 trez length cm 18,079 Circumferences: burr circumference cm 18,272 lower beam circumference cm 18,259 upper beam circumference cm 17,999 Other quantitative traits: number of points in crown n 17,811 antler weight kg 18,243 As may be seen in this tabulated summary, the large body of data selected from the set of measurements taken on trophies between 1956 and 1977 (BÁN and FATALIN 1986) included four length dimensions and three circumferences in addition to the weight of the antler as well as the number of points in its crown. Of these, circumferences are most likely to survive in worked antler assemblages. Gross estimates of overall antler size (characterised by beam length in this study) can be carried out by simply studying the ratio between beam length and individual length/circumference measurements. The coefficients thus calculated (Results: Table 2) are simple to use: multiplying the measurement of an archaeological specimen with its respective coefficient results in the beam length estimate, based on almost twentythousand (!) modern individuals. It was also hypothesised, however, that the relative growths of antler traits chosen for the purposes of this analysis display various curvilinear relationships that express sizedependent changes in proportions. Typically, this rather theoretical aspect of size estimations cannot be studied using but small sets of archaeological data. The opportunity, therefore was seized, and allometric studies of antler measurements were carried out using the quantitative characteristics of modern trophies. In this paper, measurements were studied as a function of lateral beam length in order to outline the growth dynamics of antler parts. Relative growth functions thus obtained set aside the time factor, thus minimising the manifestation of environmental effects on the large but heterogeneous, nationwide collection of antler measurements (FÁBIÁN 1969: 10). Calculations were carried out following a (decimal) logarithmic transformation that was aimed at reducing the heteroscedasticity in the original data set (BARTOSIEWICZ 1987: 356). Using this method as well as the (by archaeozoological standards) tremendous size of the reference material guarantee the reliability of relationships outlined in this paper. A very special artifact, an Iron Age fibula fragment decorated with segments of antler was chosen for illustrating how theoretical/biometric results of this paper can be applied in archaeological practice. This archaeological specimen was found at the site of Vaĉe in Slovenia (Inventory number: P 188 Narodni Muzej, Ljubljana). The spectacular fibula 218