Le Morin cave

rhombe

rhombe — French for "bullroarer," a slat whirled on a cord to produce a roaring or droning sound.

Etymology. From Greek rhombos (from rhembō, to whirl), the instrument spun on a string in the ancient mysteries and by boys as a toy.

A thin sliver of bone, 76 mm long and ground flat on both faces to an oval cross-section barely 2.5 mm thick, carries engraved silhouettes of bison running along each side. R. Deffarge pulled it from level AIII, the final Magdalenian, of the abri Morin at Pessac-sur-Dordogne in the Gironde, and its first publishers — Deffarge, Laurent and Denise de Sonneville-Bordes, in their 1975 study of the shelter's portable art — catalogued it simply as a pendant. Michel Dauvois later argued the proportions instead fit a rhombe, a whirled bullroarer, and grouped it with similarly bison-engraved examples from Lortet and Fontalès. Bison and aurochs bellow at a very low pitch, not unlike the droning whirr the instrument makes when spun.

El buen fragmento, de 76 mm de longitud … de lámina ósea delgada cuidadosamente pulida por ambas caras … recuperado por R. Deffarge en el nivel AIII (Magdaleniense final) del abri Morin (Gironde) con sendas representaciones grabadas de siluetas de bisonte a lo largo de sus caras, fue clasificado como simple colgante … aunque razonadamente se defiende ahora su adscripción a la categoría de rombo en hueso.

The fine fragment, 76 mm long … of thin bone lamina carefully polished on both faces … recovered by R. Deffarge in level AIII (final Magdalenian) of the abri Morin (Gironde), bearing engraved representations of bison silhouettes along its faces, was classified as a simple pendant … although its assignment to the category of bone bullroarer is now reasonably defended.

Barandiarán Maestu 2012, "Forma vs. función en tipología prehistórica: el caso de las bramaderas óseas magdalenienses," Veleia 29:320

Particulars

Object

Fragmentary decorated bone bramadera from AIII Magdalenian final level.

Function

Whirled-cord aerophone.