The Bullroarer Atlas

TRUHELKA1904-001 - candidate identification

Donja Dolina perforated whetstones

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Donja Dolina pile-dwelling, Sava riverbed near Bosanska Gradiška - Europe

Archaeological datec. 1200–1 BCLate Bronze Age–La Tène site assemblage; exact Fig. 19 phase unresolved.

Function not recorded Candidate only

Donja Dolina perforated stone blade, published as a whetstone and later read as a possible bullroarer.
Donja Dolina perforated stone blade, published as a whetstone and later read as a possible bullroarer. · Public domain Image source

Wetzstein German (Truhelka); English (Galin)

Source term: Wetzstein / whetstone

Wetzstein — German for “whetstone.”

At the Sava-riverbed pile dwelling of Donja Dolina, a small hole near one end allowed this fine-grained stone blade to travel on a cord. Its broad, tapering body sits at the boundary between two possible lives: sharpening the edge of a knife or sounding through the air.

Zur zweiten Gattung gehören kleinere Wetzsteine aus feinkörnigem Material zum Schleifen von Messern und dergleichen. Einzelne darunter sind durchlocht und werden an Schnüren getragen (Taf. XXXVIII, Fig. 19).

The second class consists of smaller whetstones of fine-grained material for sharpening knives and similar things. Some among them are perforated and carried on cords (Plate XXXVIII, Fig. 19).

Ćiro Truhelka, "Der vorgeschichtliche Pfahlbau im Savebette bei Donja Dolina," Wissenschaftliche Mitteilungen aus Bosnien und der Herzegowina 9 (1904), p. 65
Object
A broad, elongated blade of fine-grained stone, rounded and gently tapering, with a small perforation near one end.
Function
Sharpening, per the excavator's original whetstone identification.
Map confidence
low - Donja Dolina village anchor (Wikipedia gazetteer, 45°08'N 17°25'E), Gradiška municipality, Republika Srpska; the pile-dwelling's own excavated riverbed position within the Sava is not given as separate coordinates in Truhelka 1904 beyond the village name.
Source location
Page references

Truhelka 1904, printed p. 65, Plate XXXVIII, Fig. 19; Galin 1988, p. 136 (no figure number assigned by Galin)

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