{"id":"OMERZEL1998-003","label":"Potočka perforated mandible","people_or_site":"Potočka zijalka Aurignacian cave site","country_current":"Slovenia","historic_region":"Potočka zijalka / eastern Karawanks","macroregion":"Europe","local_name":"brnivka","source_term":"totemsko-magični zvočni amulet oziroma brnivka","source_language":"Slovenian / English","object_description":"Complete left cave-bear mandible, 33.5 cm long, with a deliberate round 6 mm perforation through the coronoid process about 20 mm from its edge.","function_summary":"Suspended, likely as a hunting trophy or totem; whirling as a sound-maker is unconfirmed.","attestation_type":"archaeological_find","source_key":"omerzel1998_potocka_cave_bear_mandible","source_type":"archaeomusicological_review","source_url":"https://www.etno-muzej.si/en/file/1716/download?token=JcGLxIhd","page_or_plate":"printed pp. 171 and 173","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"candidate_only","coordinate_basis":"Potočka zijalka cave entrance anchor; not an object find coordinate.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"A complete cave-bear jaw from Potočka zijalka, 33.5 centimetres long, was deliberately pierced through the coronoid process. Brodar read the hole as evidence that the mandible had hung from a cord, perhaps as a hunting trophy or totem. Mira Omerzel-Terlep proposed a more startling possibility: a brnivka, whirled as a totemic sound amulet carrying the voice or power of the adult bear. The proposal remains vivid but mechanically unproved — a whole jaw is heavy and irregular, and suspension alone does not show that it was ever spun.","pull_quote":"Pristavljam, da bi velika mandibula mogla biti tudi totemsko-magični zvočni amulet oziroma brnivka: instrument, ki simbolizira glas (moč?) odraslega medveda.","pull_quote_translation":"I would add that the large mandible could also have been a totemic-magical sound amulet or bullroarer: an instrument symbolizing the voice (power?) of the adult bear.","pull_quote_cite":"Omerzel-Terlep 1998:171","term_gloss":"brnivka: Slovenian bullroarer or whirring sound-maker; totemsko-magični zvočni amulet: totemic-magical sound amulet.","cls":"unknown","class_label":"Function not recorded","color":"#6B7884","is_candidate":true,"flags":["spirit_voice"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"f_archaeology":true,"archaeology_kind":"object","date_display":"c. 33,000 BC","date_qualification":"Published Potočka zijalka contextual estimate; the mandible is not directly dated.","date_basis":"cultural_phase","date_confidence":"low","date_citation":"omerzel1998_potocka_cave_bear_mandible, Omerzel-Terlep 1998 pp. 171 and 173","sources":[{"citation":"Mira Omerzel-Terlep, 'Prazgodovinska kamnita in koščena tolkala, drgala, samozveneči idiofoni, ropotulje in brnivke,' Etnolog 8 (1998), pp. 171 and 173","url":"https://www.etno-muzej.si/en/file/1716/download?token=JcGLxIhd","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20261013032026/https://www.etno-muzej.si/en/file/1716/download?token=JcGLxIhd"}],"source_citations":"Mira Omerzel-Terlep, 'Prazgodovinska kamnita in koščena tolkala, drgala, samozveneči idiofoni, ropotulje in brnivke,' Etnolog 8 (1998), pp. 171 and 173","source_display":"Mira Omerzel-Terlep, 'Prazgodovinska kamnita in koščena tolkala, drgala, samozveneči idiofoni, ropotulje in brnivke,' Etnolog 8 (1998), pp. 171 and 173","date_citation_display":"Omerzel-Terlep 1998 pp. 171 and 173","object_display":"Complete left cave-bear mandible, 33.5 cm long, with a deliberate round 6 mm perforation through the coronoid process about 20 mm from its edge.","function_display":"Suspended, likely as a hunting trophy or totem; whirling as a sound-maker is unconfirmed.","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"archaeological find","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"poto zijalka","display_name":"Potočka perforated mandible","image":{"full":"assets/objects/OMERZEL1998-003_potocka_cave_bear_mandible_p173.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/OMERZEL1998-003_potocka_cave_bear_mandible_p173_thumb.jpg","credit":"Mira Omerzel-Terlep, Etnolog 8 (1998), printed p. 173","license":"No open license stated; rehosted low-resolution figure for noncommercial research","source_page":"https://www.etno-muzej.si/en/file/1716/download?token=JcGLxIhd","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"The 33.5 cm Potočka cave-bear mandible, with the hole through its coronoid process at upper left."},"slug":"omerzel1998-003-potocka-zijalka-aurignacian-cave-site"}