{"id":"DAMRAK2024-001","label":"Amsterdam Damrak rib snorrebotten","people_or_site":"Damrak Spoor 777 assemblage","country_current":"Netherlands","historic_region":"Amsterdam / Damrak / Noord-Zuidlijn excavation","macroregion":"Europe / Low Countries","local_name":"snorrebot","source_term":"snorrebot / bullroarer","source_language":"","object_description":"Six blades cut from cattle ribs, pared flat and pierced at one end; four run 126–183 mm long and 26–28 mm wide, and one is scored with incised lines.","function_summary":"Whirled on a cord fixed at one end to produce a whirring roar; no social use recorded.","attestation_type":"archaeological_find","source_key":"rijkelijkhuizen_2024_damrak_snorrebotten","source_type":"archaeological_report","source_url":"https://www.academia.edu/126238327/Artefacten_van_bot_gewei_ivoor_schildpad_parelmoer_en_noot_osseous_and_keratinous_artefacts_from_the_North_South_Line_excavations_Amsterdam_","page_or_plate":"pp. 158, 254–255; Fig. 139","map_confidence":"high","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Damrak excavation anchor; not a context-level coordinate.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Butchers' waste, recut for noise: a cattle rib pared flat, pierced at one end, knotted to a cord and swung until the blade spun on its own axis and whirred — a snorrebot, a whirring bone. Six came out of a single deposit in the bed of the Amstel at the Damrak, opened up for Amsterdam's north–south metro line, where soft sand and peat swallowed dropped things whole and kept bone from rotting. Four run 126 to 183 millimetres; one is scored with incised lines.","pull_quote":"","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"","term_gloss":"snorrebot: Dutch 'whirring bone,' from snorren, to whirr or buzz, and bot, bone — the standard Dutch name for these rib blades.","cls":"unknown","class_label":"Function not recorded","color":"#6B7884","is_candidate":false,"flags":[],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"f_archaeology":true,"archaeology_kind":"assemblage","date_display":"c. 1200–1700 AD","date_qualification":"Catalogue context ranges for the six rib whirring bones; contextual, not direct object dates.","date_basis":"stratigraphic_contexts","date_confidence":"medium","date_citation":"rijkelijkhuizen_2024_damrak_snorrebotten, §13.3, pp. 158, 254–255; fig. 139, cats. 167–170","sources":[{"citation":"Rijkelijkhuizen 2024 §13.3, Fig. 139, cats. 167–170","url":"https://www.academia.edu/126238327/Artefacten_van_bot_gewei_ivoor_schildpad_parelmoer_en_noot_osseous_and_keratinous_artefacts_from_the_North_South_Line_excavations_Amsterdam_","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20261013034003/https://www.academia.edu/126238327/Artefacten_van_bot_gewei_ivoor_schildpad_parelmoer_en_noot_osseous_and_keratinous_artefacts_from_the_North_South_Line_excavations_Amsterdam_"}],"source_citations":"Rijkelijkhuizen 2024 §13.3, Fig. 139, cats. 167–170","source_display":"Rijkelijkhuizen 2024 §13.3, Fig. 139, cats. 167–170","date_citation_display":"§13.3, pp. 158, 254–255; fig. 139, cats. 167–170","object_display":"Six blades cut from cattle ribs, pared flat and pierced at one end; four run 126–183 mm long and 26–28 mm wide, and one is scored with incised lines.","function_display":"Whirled on a cord fixed at one end to produce a whirring roar; no social use recorded.","confidence_display":"high","attestation_label":"archaeological find","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"damrak spoor","display_name":"Amsterdam Damrak rib snorrebotten","image":{"full":"assets/objects/hunt_2026_10_03/DAMRAK2024-001_nzd1_00442fau027.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/hunt_2026_10_03/thumbs/DAMRAK2024-001_nzd1_00442fau027_thumb.jpg","credit":"Monumenten en Archeologie, Gemeente Amsterdam, NZD1.00442FAU027; photo: Harold Strak (Below the Surface)","license":"Below the Surface, Gemeente Amsterdam: non-commercial use with source acknowledgement (photo: Harold Strak).","source_page":"https://belowthesurface.amsterdam/nl/vondst/NZD1.00442FAU027","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Rib-bone blade with a bored hole at one end and crossing incised lines, Damrak, Amsterdam.","additional":[{"full":"assets/objects/hunt_2026_10_03/DAMRAK2024-001_nzd1_00099fau025.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/hunt_2026_10_03/thumbs/DAMRAK2024-001_nzd1_00099fau025_thumb.jpg","credit":"Monumenten en Archeologie, Gemeente Amsterdam, NZD1.00099FAU025; photo: Harold Strak (Below the Surface)","license":"Below the Surface, Gemeente Amsterdam: non-commercial use with source acknowledgement (photo: Harold Strak).","source_page":"https://belowthesurface.amsterdam/nl/vondst/NZD1.00099FAU025","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Longer rib-bone blade with a bored hole near one end, Damrak, Amsterdam."}]},"slug":"damrak2024-001-damrak-spoor-777-assemblage"}