The Bullroarer Atlas

DAVIDSON2017-001 - archaeological find

Pig Bay bone kōrorohū

New Zealand - Pig Bay - Motutapu Island - Hauraki Gulf - Oceania - Polynesia

Archaeological datec. 1400–1500 ADPig Bay occupation range from radiocarbon dates; object came from a disturbance in Layer 8.

Play / practical Candidate only

Fig. 9 of Pig Bay bone and shell items; the candidate is no. 1, the flat bone blade captioned as possibly a kōrorohū (child's bull roarer).
Fig. 9 of Pig Bay bone and shell items; the candidate is no. 1, the flat bone blade captioned as possibly a kōrorohū (child's bull roarer). Image source

kōrorohū

Source term: probable bull roarer / kōrorohū

kōrorohū: Māori term used by the excavators for a child's bullroarer

Among Pig Bay's adze-making debris lay a carefully shaped piece of bone that looked like a child's kōrorohū. Its attachment was the puzzle: instead of drilled cord holes, the maker had cut only shallow notches. Those might never have held a whirling cord, and the object came from disturbed soil. It is a tantalising likeness, not a secure instrument.

In size and shape it resembles a kōrorohū, or child’s bullroarer.

Davidson and Leach 2017:17
Object
Carefully made flat bone object from a disturbance in Layer 8, square B101; its size and outline resemble a child's kōrorohū, but shallow edge notches replace the expected cord perforations.
Function
A possible child's kōrorohū: the excavators compare the bone blade to a toy bullroarer, while doubting that its shallow end notches could hold the cord.
Source
Janet Davidson and Foss Leach, Archaeological excavations at Pig Bay, Records of the Auckland Museum 52 (2017), with exact object description and figure
Source location
Page references

printed p. 17; Fig. 9.1

Source confidence
low Approximate Pig Bay site anchor on northwestern Motutapu Island; not a square-level find coordinate.

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