{"id":"TORKSEY2026-001","label":"Torksey bone roarer","people_or_site":"Torksey Viking Camp archaeological project","country_current":"United Kingdom","historic_region":"Torksey Viking Camp / Lincolnshire","macroregion":"Europe","local_name":"","source_term":"bull roarer","source_language":"English","object_description":"Worked bone, 49.7 × 18.1 × 6.9 mm and 5.76 g, with an oval recess near one end and a second hole broken open at the other.","function_summary":"Not recorded.","attestation_type":"archaeological_find","source_key":"ads_torksey_2696535_2085","source_type":"archaeological_dataset","source_url":"https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/collections/view/object.cfm?object_id=2696535","page_or_plate":"ADS object 2696535; catalogue 2085; Other_467-1.jpg","map_confidence":"low","plot_status":"candidate_only","coordinate_basis":"Torksey Viking winter-camp area, OS grid reference SK 835805 published by Hadley and Richards (2016), converted from British National Grid to WGS84; project-area anchor, not the object findspot.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"The Viking Great Army wintered at Torksey on the Trent in AD 872–873, leaving a vast scatter of objects behind. This worked bone belongs to the collection recovered in the camp area. Less than five centimetres long, it has an oval recess near one end and a broken-open hole at the other. Its cataloguers set aside an old whistle identification and read it as a handle, or a bullroarer.","pull_quote":"Bone handle; previously identified as whistle but thought unlikely, but possibly bull roarer.","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"ADS object 2696535, description","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. AD 800–1000","date_qualification":"Viking-age camp horizon; the object is not separately dated.","date_basis":"broad_context","date_confidence":"low","date_citation":"torksey_viking_camp_2085, ADS object 2696535 and raster metadata row 2085; Richards, Hadley and Randerson 2025 dataset DOI 10.5284/1115932","sources":[{"citation":"Julian D. Richards, Dawn Hadley and Mark Randerson (2025), Torksey Viking Camp: Illustrated Artefact Catalogue, 2024, Archaeology Data Service, DOI 10.5284/1115932, catalogue no. 2085","url":"https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/collections/view/object.cfm?object_id=2696535","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20261013032236/https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/collections/view/object.cfm?object_id=2696535"}],"source_citations":"Julian D. Richards, Dawn Hadley and Mark Randerson (2025), Torksey Viking Camp: Illustrated Artefact Catalogue, 2024, Archaeology Data Service, DOI 10.5284/1115932, catalogue no. 2085","source_display":"Julian D. Richards, Dawn Hadley and Mark Randerson (2025), Torksey Viking Camp: Illustrated Artefact Catalogue, 2024, Archaeology Data Service, DOI 10.5284/1115932, catalogue no. 2085","date_citation_display":"ADS object 2696535 and raster metadata row 2085; Richards, Hadley and Randerson 2025 dataset DOI 10.5284/1115932","object_display":"Worked bone, 49.7 × 18.1 × 6.9 mm and 5.76 g, with an oval recess near one end and a second hole broken open at the other.","function_display":"Not recorded.","confidence_display":"low","attestation_label":"archaeological find","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"torksey viking","display_name":"Torksey bone roarer","image":{"full":"assets/objects/TORKSEY2026-001_ads_torksey_2085_bone_object.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/TORKSEY2026-001_ads_torksey_2085_bone_object_thumb.jpg","credit":"Julian D. Richards, Dawn Hadley and Mark Randerson, Torksey Viking Camp: Illustrated Artefact Catalogue, 2024, Archaeology Data Service (object 2696535, Other_467-1.jpg)","license":"CC BY 4.0","source_page":"https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/collections/view/object.cfm?object_id=2696535","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Four views of the worked bone: an oval recess near the wide end, and a circular hole broken open at the base."},"slug":"torksey2026-001-torksey-viking-camp-archaeological-project"}