{"id":"DIET2016-003","label":"Hasankeyf Höyük elongated bone plaque","people_or_site":"Hasankeyf Höyük","country_current":"Turkey","historic_region":"Upper Tigris / Batman region","macroregion":"Near East / Anatolia","local_name":"","source_term":"elongated perforated bone plaque / possible bullroarer comparison","source_language":"English","object_description":"Trapezoidal elongated bone plaque with a single terminal perforation and scorpion-like geometric carving.","function_summary":"Not recorded.","attestation_type":"archaeological_find","source_key":"dietrich2016spatulae","source_type":"archaeological_report","source_url":"https://jensnotroff.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ii-17_35_neolithics-1_bone-spatula-from-gc3b6bekli-tepe.pdf","page_or_plate":"Neo-Lithics 1/16 pp. 27-29; Appendix object 4","map_confidence":"low","plot_status":"candidate_only","coordinate_basis":"representative coordinate; source passage does not warrant a precise findspot","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"At the early Neolithic settlement of Hasankeyf Höyük on the Upper Tigris, excavators recovered an elongated bone plaque, trapezoidal and tapering to one end, pierced by a single hole at its narrow tip and carved with geometric lines that the excavator Yutaka Miyake read as a scorpion. Oliver Dietrich and Jens Notroff placed it among thirteen similar perforated bone \"spatulae\" from Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites in southeastern Turkey and the Levant — Göbekli Tepe, Körtik Tepe, Nahal Hemar — objects with a flattened, leaf-shaped form, a hole at the narrow end for a cord, and frequently incised animal or geometric decoration. The whole family of finds resembles bullroarers, the cord-swung noisemakers known from Palaeolithic France onward, though a bullroarer with one broad end usually carries its cord-hole there rather than at the narrow tip; a hardwood replica built to the same dimensions \"produces a deep vibrato sound.\" At Körtik Tepe these objects turn up as grave goods.","pull_quote":"Elongated bone plaque, trapezoidal, tapering towards one end. Single terminal perforation at smaller end. Not completely preserved. Carving of geometric forms and lines, interpreted as depiction of a scorpion.","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Dietrich and Notroff 2016, Neo-Lithics 1/16:29, Appendix 1, no. 4 (after Miyake 2013:45, Fig. 3)","term_gloss":"","cls":"unknown","class_label":"Function not recorded","color":"#6B7884","is_candidate":true,"flags":[],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"f_archaeology":true,"archaeology_kind":"object","date_display":"c. 9600–8800 BC","date_qualification":"Site occupation range; object not directly dated.","date_basis":"site_horizon","date_confidence":"medium","date_citation":"dietrich2016spatulae, Neo-Lithics 1/16 pp. 27-29; Appendix object 4","sources":[{"citation":"Oliver Dietrich and Jens Notroff, Neo-Lithics 1/16 (2016): 22-31, Appendix 1 no. 4, after Miyake 2013: 45, fig. 3","url":"https://jensnotroff.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ii-17_35_neolithics-1_bone-spatula-from-gc3b6bekli-tepe.pdf","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20250730031103/https://jensnotroff.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ii-17_35_neolithics-1_bone-spatula-from-gc3b6bekli-tepe.pdf"}],"source_citations":"Oliver Dietrich and Jens Notroff, Neo-Lithics 1/16 (2016): 22-31, Appendix 1 no. 4, after Miyake 2013: 45, fig. 3","source_display":"Oliver Dietrich and Jens Notroff, Neo-Lithics 1/16 (2016): 22-31, Appendix 1 no. 4, after Miyake 2013: 45, fig. 3","date_citation_display":"Dietrich 2016, Neo-Lithics 1/16 pp. 27-29; Appendix object 4","object_display":"Trapezoidal elongated bone plaque with a single terminal perforation and scorpion-like geometric carving.","function_display":"Not recorded.","confidence_display":"low","attestation_label":"archaeological find","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"hasankeyf","display_name":"Hasankeyf Höyük elongated bone plaque","image":{"full":"assets/objects/DIET2016-003_diet2016-003-hasankeyf-miyake-fig3.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/DIET2016-003_diet2016-003-hasankeyf-miyake-fig3_thumb.jpg","credit":"Yutaka Miyake 2013; reproduced by Marion Benz in Neolithic Corporate Identities","license":"No open licence stated; source photograph copyright retained, rehosted for non-commercial research","source_page":"https://www.exoriente.org/docs/00100.pdf","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Hasankeyf incised bone plaque, Miyake 2013 Fig. 3, reproduced by Benz."},"slug":"diet2016-003-hasankeyf-hoyuk"}