The Bullroarer Atlas

DAMRAK2024-001 - archaeological find

Amsterdam Damrak rib snorrebotten

Netherlands - Amsterdam - Damrak - Noord-Zuidlijn excavation - Europe - Low Countries

Archaeological datec. 1200–1700 ADCatalogue context ranges for the six rib whirring bones; contextual, not direct object dates.

Function not recorded

Keyserkerk rib-bone snorrebot, 13.5 cm long, fig. 34.
Representative — not this record’s object. · Keyserkerk rib-bone snorrebot, 13.5 cm long, fig. 34 · CC BY 4.0 Image source

snorrebot

Source term: snorrebot / bullroarer

snorrebot: Dutch 'whirring bone,' from snorren, to whirr or buzz, and bot, bone — the standard Dutch name for these rib blades.

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.

Object
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
Whirled on a cord fixed at one end to produce a whirring roar; no social use recorded.
Source
Rijkelijkhuizen 2024 §13.3, Fig. 139, cats. 167–170
Source location
Page references

pp. 158, 254–255; Fig. 139

Source confidence
high Damrak excavation anchor; exact context coordinate not in packet.

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