{"id":"LUND1998-002","label":"Kongemose bone bullroarer","people_or_site":"Kongemose / Kongemosen","country_current":"Denmark","historic_region":"Aamose / western Zealand","macroregion":"Europe / Northern Europe","local_name":"","source_term":"bullroarer (?) / brummer","source_language":"English / Danish","object_description":"Thin propeller-shaped worked-bone object, 11.1 cm long, from the Mesolithic Kongemose settlement.","function_summary":"Not recorded.","attestation_type":"archaeological_find","source_key":"lund1998_scandinavia","source_type":"archaeological_report","source_url":"https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-mesolithic-period/shamanism/what-is-a-bull-roarer/","page_or_plate":"Lund 1998 pp. 20-21; fig. 5; National Museum web page | Jorgensen 1956:34 fig. 8 nos. 3–4; Lund fig. 5","map_confidence":"low","plot_status":"candidate_only","coordinate_basis":"Aamose/western Zealand regional anchor for the Kongemose site; refine from excavation report before final map.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"In 1955, Danish archaeologists digging at Kongemosen on Zealand turned up a thin bone object about 11 centimeters long, shaped like a propeller, from a settlement some 8,500 years old. Nobody knew what it was for — a fishing tool, perhaps, or a utensil for weaving. Then, almost by chance, someone tied a string to one end and swung it through the air, and out came a strange rising and falling buzz. The piece was hailed as Denmark's oldest musical instrument and an organological sensation, and for decades it traveled through scientific publications and lectures as Scandinavia's oldest-known sound tool. But Cajsa Lund, who ran practical experiments in 1981 using an exact casting of the original, was unconvinced: the fact that an artifact can produce a sound does not prove it was ever used to make one. As she put it, a string fastened to a ruler, a key, or a rubber eraser will whir perfectly well, yet whirring is not their purpose.","pull_quote":"... the possibility also exists that the Kongemosen find is not a bullroarer at all!","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Lund 1998:20 (\"What is Wrong with Music Archaeology?\")","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. 6500 BC","date_qualification":"","date_basis":"site_horizon","date_confidence":"medium","date_citation":"lund1998_scandinavia, Lund 1998 pp. 20-21; fig. 5; National Museum web page | Jorgensen 1956:34 fig. 8 nos. 3–4; Lund fig. 5","sources":[{"citation":"Cajsa S. Lund, 'What is Wrong with Music Archaeology?' (1998), pp. 20-21, fig. 5","url":"https://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?file=1&id=4791","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20261013014834/https://popups.lib.uliege.be/3041-5527/index.php?file=1&id=4791"},{"citation":"Jørgensen, 'Kongemosekulturen,' Kuml (1956), p. 34, fig. 8 nos. 3-4","url":"https://doi.org/10.7146/kuml.v6i6.97286"},{"citation":"National Museum of Denmark, 'What is a bull-roarer?'","url":"https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-mesolithic-period/shamanism/what-is-a-bull-roarer/","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20260418172035/https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-mesolithic-period/shamanism/what-is-a-bull-roarer/"},{"citation":"Skalk 1968, no. 2, cited in the Kongemose source chain"}],"source_citations":"Cajsa S. Lund, 'What is Wrong with Music Archaeology?' (1998), pp. 20-21, fig. 5; Jørgensen, 'Kongemosekulturen,' Kuml (1956), p. 34, fig. 8 nos. 3-4; National Museum of Denmark, 'What is a bull-roarer?'; Skalk 1968, no. 2, cited in the Kongemose source chain","source_display":"Cajsa S. Lund, 'What is Wrong with Music Archaeology?' (1998), pp. 20-21, fig. 5; Jørgensen, 'Kongemosekulturen,' Kuml (1956), p. 34, fig. 8 nos. 3-4; National Museum of Denmark, 'What is a bull-roarer?'; Skalk 1968, no. 2, cited in the Kongemose source chain","date_citation_display":"Lund 1998 pp. 20-21; fig. 5; National Museum web page | Jorgensen 1956:34 fig. 8 nos. 3–4; Lund fig. 5","object_display":"Thin propeller-shaped worked-bone object, 11.1 cm long, from the Mesolithic Kongemose settlement.","function_display":"Not recorded.","confidence_display":"low","attestation_label":"archaeological find","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"kongemose","display_name":"Kongemose bone bullroarer","image":{"full":"assets/objects/LUND1998-002_natmus.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/LUND1998-002_natmus_thumb.jpg","credit":"Nationalmuseet, Denmark (asset do/4147)","license":"CC BY-SA","source_page":"https://samlinger.natmus.dk/do/asset/4147","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"The Kongemose bone bullroarer (bottom), shown by Denmark's National Museum as Mesolithic “shaman’s equipment”."},"slug":"lund1998-002-kongemose-kongemosen"}