EMAP_2012_Report_6_1.pdf (7.3 MB) - The Heritage Council

handles, some smoothed and undecorated and others with cross-hatching or ring-and-dot
ornamented motifs (Edwards 1990, 86). Fragments of sawn antler indicative of comb-making
were also uncovered in the Scotch Street excavations in the same city (Lynn & McDowell
1988b, 60). In the ‘New Graveyard’ at Clonmacnoise, excavations uncovered an abandoned
well filled with antler waste, including shavings, partly sawn fragments and cut antler points
and indicate the presence of an antler workshop in the vicinity (King 2009, 339). Cut antler
pieces were also uncovered in two different areas near St. Ciaran’s National School to the
southwest of Clonmacnoise (Ó Floinn and King 1998, 124; Murphy 2003, 2). The coastal site
at Dooey produced a large quantity of antler waste in the form of cut, sawn and partly
worked tines. Incomplete lathe-turned bone spindle-whorls and bone pins were also found at
various stages of manufacture comprising partially-shaped bones from which the pins were
worked; roughed-out pins; and pins which had yet to be polished (Ó Ríordáin and Rynne
1961, 61; Edwards 1990, 83).
Numerous other ‘rural’ sites have produced evidence for antler off-cuts, waste fragments
(including tines) and worked pieces which included at least 34 other sites (Appendix 1.3).
Many of these sites have revealed small numbers of fragments however significant
assemblages have been found at places like Castlefarm where twenty fragments were found
in a range of contexts (Riddler & Trzaska-Nartowski 2009c, 1-4) and Killoteran with 27
fragments (Owen 2011, 79). This can be contrasted with sites like Deer Park Farms with six
fragments (Hurl et al 2011, 258), Raystown with four fragments (Seaver 2010, 35-36). While
no waste antler was found at Killickaweeny, two antler picks were found within the ditch and
an antler spindle whorl was also found on site (Walsh 2008, 48-49). In Scandinavian Dublin,
antler workshops were located on High Street as well as Christchurch Place. Antler combs
were made on an industrial scale and many motif pieces were found in this area (Murray
1983, 54; Wallace 1984, 123-4). The excavations at Christchurch Place, for example,
produced evidence for comb making in the form of antler waste and unfinished tooth plates,
while single-sided decorated combs and one example of a double-sided comb –possibly made
of whale bone – were also found (Ó Ríordáin 1971, 75; 1974). In Scandinavian Waterford,
quantities of antler and bone waste including modified antler tines and horn cores were
recovered from late-eleventh and twelfth-century deposits in the defensive ditches and
extramural dumping areas (Hurley 1997a, 650). Concentrations of antler tines and off-cuts
were uncovered in two house plots at the western end of Peter Street in association with
comb-making materials (Hurley 1997e, 898; 1997d, 681). In Scandinavian Cork, a fragment
of modified antler tine was recovered from a later twelfth century layer inside a sill-beam
house at Hanover Street (Cleary & Hurley 2003, 344). A range of artefacts, including bone
combs from 11-13 Washington Street (Cleary & Hurley 2003, 335) and 40-48 South Main
Street/Old Post Office Lane (Ní Loingsigh 2003), and cut bone hollow cylinders, from Hanover
Street (Cleary 2003, 38) and Washington Street (Kelleher 2002), indicate twelfth century
bone-production elsewhere. Similar evidence for the working of antler and bone, in the form
of finished and unfinished articles such as combs, was forthcoming in Wexford (Bourke 1995,
36).
Ivory/whale-bone
There is less evidence for horn- or ivory-working. A ram horn-core cleanly chopped at its base
was retrieved from millpond of mill 2 at Nendrum and it is likely that the horn had been
removed from its core for some form of industrial processing (Murphy 2007, 270-1). The
partially cut and broken tip of a sheep or goat horn was recovered at Knowth (Eogan 1974,
103); a perforated and polished boar’s tusk was found at Rathgurreen (Comber 2002, 174);
sawn antler off-cuts and chopped cattle horn-core were noted at the ecclesiastical enclosure
at Moyne (McCormick 1987); an unfinished horn handle was discovered at the
settlement/cemetery at Johnstown I (Clarke 2010, 69) and a number of knife handles, made
of horn, were identified at Moylarg (Buick 1894, 324). A bracelet made of three joined pieces
of boar’s tuck was recorded at Ballinderry II (Hencken 1942, 56). Horn cores were recovered
from late eleventh and twelfth century contexts in Scandinavian Waterford (Hurley 1997d,
650), and Scandinavian Wexford produced evidence for worked goat horn-cores (Bourke
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