Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 23. 1984-1985 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1987)

Tanulmányok – Abhandlungen - Biró Mária, T.: Gorsium bone carvings. p. 25–63.

frequent and several kinds are used. The favourite is the so-called three-eye pin which was fixed with the help of a string being not so much an ornament, rather used as our buttons to keep pieces of a garment firmly together. The other kind of dress pin was also known to them; it was worn exposed with a bronze chain threaded through the eye. The three-eye pins disappeared after the Markomann wars. The sudden disappearance of dress pins can probably be explained by the appearance of cheap fibulae in great quantities. The other part of our bone articles are hairdressing accessories. There are many ornamental hair pins carved in a great variety, acus crinalis and the small sized ornamental comb, curvum Crinale are the characteristic wear of this era. Hair pins — with the exception of acus crinalis

— lent themselves well to pin up veils or other sort of haircovers. An ornamental comb was only worth wearing at places where the fashion in hair-do made it visible. This fact has to be stressed because women of the original inhabitants are always represented with their heads covered. Probably this is the reason of the scarcity in combs on the settlement in this early period. In addition to their daily wear, a broad scale of bone articles was used in daily cosmetics, beauty treatment. Scholars of the antiquity distinguishe several sorts of ointment boxes, narthecium and from the excavations we know at least three types of spatulae used to put up ointment. Three side fragments of a bone jar, two jar lids, ajar bottom and two spatulae are known from Gorsium. A favourite form of game, entertainment was to play dice. Originally it was permitted only on Saturnalis day; during the Empire age it had become generally permitted at any time. They could play the so called five dice game with the astragalus made of sheep or pig anklejoint. There exists a representation of it at Herculaneum ; the alternation of wavy and flat sieds indicated the value of the cast. Such an astragalus is known from Gorsium as well. The six faced tessera lusoria is frequent among the dice, the four faced talus has not occurred yet in the find material. From the many kinds of discs the smooth, concava and convex discs may have been used for games. The game duodecim scripta could have been played with them. Two chess-like figures of ludus latronculorum are to be seen in the bone material collected on the site of the building from the age of Severus; the small figures were probably not made locally. Of music instruments only a single one was found, a small whistle also from this fresco decorated building. Tools are also rare, the thin tool handle, a knife, some undeterminable cylinders, two spindle knobs (one of them is certainly of the fourth century). I have already mentioned the use of discs at games, but throughout my paper I have reverted neveral times to their important role in counting. The specimens bearing a distinguishing mark can also be dated to this early period. They must have played an important role in commerce, business life but they could have been used in the offices at the concilium prouinciae as well. A stilus fragment found in building VII. In this period nice, turned carvings are frequently found. They become rarer in the fourth century. Not to count modern bone carving, in every age and almost among every people we find the motives of spot-circles or concentric circles on their carvings. Consentric circles appear also at Gorsium in the course of the first century, this motive can be seen on several ornaments of the crepundia. There are cases where traces of painting can also be seen, such a carving is known from Aquincum. Concentric circles follow closely the progress of bone industry; they are used, independently of form, in each phase of the Roman Empire. We find them on the bone pions of early origin of Intercisa, but they will become the most fashionable in the fourth century, when bone bracelets are decorated with them in numerous variations. No human portrayal, as the frequent female or male bust on bone pins has become known from Gorsium yet. Although representations of animals, more precisely birds, pigeon, cock, magpie are frequent. Here, too, taken from a wealth of motives related to tombstones pinea head shaped, respectively hand-shaped hair pins are frequent. There are also many globular headed pins, a great part of them deriving from the shops at the Forum. Probably a bone workshop had been manufacturing at Gorsium at that time, too, the great mass of indistinctive pins may have been produced locally; however, I am unable cither to prove it or to point out specific local features. The settlement had considerable commercial relations, several turned bone articles, Intercisa type bone carvings could have reached it through commerce or they may have been personal objects of travellers passing through. In may opinion, such a personal object of a soldier or an eastern merchant must have been the Indian comb fragment being a rare find. The lid of the box or casket with the Amor representations was not made locally, either. Period II In the late period the dress pins disappear. There arc more ornamental pins and fewer globular headed pins excepting the large-sized globular headed pins, which become fashionable at that time. Combs become more frequent than in the former period, however, it is not the ornamental comb but the dens densus, used for hair grooming. There are no articles for cosmetics, no spatulae or narthecium. A new instrument appers, however, probably a device for cosmetics, the ring-ended, figurative stick. Its employment is uncertain. May be, they were pincers used to warm up ointment jars. A new find is the carved, slightly deepened bone spoon. Characteristic of the fourth century material are the deep set dots between concentric circles or independent of them, which were probably made by burning. A new technique is the incised-cross-hatching. It his a primitive solulion, indeed, rather scratched than engraved. However, this is the technique that co-ordinated for me the manufactured articles of the fourth century workshops and joins the cemetery and the shops of the settlement, its buildings and people together. New forms are also appearing, these were not made locally. Human portrayal appears, on the ring-ended stick, found in the cemetery, the foot of the portrayed female figure is still to be seen. The secondary use of the pins with animal figures is characteristic. A new shape is the cylind60