Antler bone

Reindeer, Rangifer tarandus fennica, northwestern Russia 1986-90 Antlers Bone Teeth... 

Vertebrates Mammals Study skins, pelts, mounted specimens (taxidermy), whole or partial skeletons, teeth, wet-preserved animals, parts, or stomach contents, eggs, nests Ivory, ruminant horn, rhino horn, antler, bone, claws, skin (leather, vellum), hair (bristles, quills, fur) hooves... 

Antler is the name of the bony material that makes up a deciduous pair of protrusions shed every year known as "antlers" on the heads of animals of the deer family, for example, reindeer, elk, and fallow deer. Antler has a composition similar to that of horn. Like bone, antler is made up of a hard and compact outer layer surrounding a core of spongy tissue. Since it is regularly shed from the body of the animal, it differs morphologically from horn, which is not shed (O Connor et al. 1987). 

O Connor, T. P., K. Starling, K. Watkinson, and D. Watkinson (eds.) (1987), Archaeological Bone, Antler and Ivory, UK Institute for Conservation, London. 

In the past, natural resins served as universal adhesives for fixing stone points and blades to hafts of wood or antler, to glue feathers to arrow shafts and for repairing materials such as broken pottery and bone combs. As sealants, resins were used to coat the surfaces of pottery and basketry in order to provide an impermeable lining. Resins were also used to waterproof hunting equipment and fishing nets, as well as canoes and ships from Noah s Ark (Genesis 6 14) to... 

Philippines. Decoction of the dried seed hull in used in steam baths for postpartum care. Also, added to the bath are Paspalum scrobiculatum, monkey bones, deer antler, incense, Commophora myrrha, salt, and... 

Average F concentrations of archaeological bones, dentine and antler 271... 

Examples of bones, dentine and antler fragments from various archaeological (Neolithic and Palaeolithic) and even palaeontological sites are grouped in Table 2. The chemical composition and structure of all samples were investigated. The discussion of the results especially focuses on the F concentration profiles as a function of the geochemistry of the site and of the state of bone material prior to its abandon (e.g. burned bone). 

Table 2. Types and names of bone, ivory and antler samples ... 

Table 3. Fluorine concentration of bone, ivory and antler samples determined by TEM-EDX and PIGE. [- = not measured, n.d. = not detected, d. but n.q. = detected but not quantifiable. For PIGE, the relative error lies between 1% and 5%]... 

Anders are cranial bone growths that occur within the Cervidae, or deer family (Figure 6.12). Only the males of most species carry anders, with the exception of caribou and reindeer, where they appear on both males and females. Antlers are used by these animals for defense and for display, which... 

Ander bone is similar to skeletal bone in composition, but its rapid rate of growth produces a coarse structure with compact, hard material only around the outside and at the tine tips. The older an animal gets, the larger and more complex its antlers become. Ander growth is also affected by climate and available food, since the rapid growth of this much bone can tax an animal s metabolism. 

The hard parts of an animal s body, usually skeletal bone, are hard enough to be useful for making objects that will be subjected to impact and wear. Some teeth and antler may also be used in this way. 

MacGregor, A. (1985). Bone, Antler, Ivory and Horn The Technology of Skeletal Materials Since the Roman Period. Croom Helm Ltd., Beckenham, Kent, UK. 

Bone is a relatively ineaqtensive material and is fteely available, so it has not been necessary to imitate it. However, bone has itself been used ftequendy to imitate ivory. It also bears some resemblance to antler. 

Many types of bone and ivoty arc the same, creamy colour, while antler tends to be darker — pale grey or giey-browc. 

Since prehistoric times materials that were readily available, such as horn, bone, ivory and antler, have been put to every conceivable use by humans, including being used as building materials. 

The use of a lathe for bone was a Roman innovation. As well as using it to make turned objects, the Romans used bone to make hairpins, games, combs, spoons and some jewellery such as pendants. It was also used to adorn furniture. It was sometimes stained and coloured, and was polished with beeswax. The Romans in Europe used mostly cattle bone, but antler was also popular and today it is very difGcult to distinguish from which of the two materials any given piece was made. 

Ivory and antler were, together with horn, popular materials for stick dressing - the art of making handles for canes and umbrellas. Bone was less used in this format as it is hollow and therefore difficult to carve into a handle, but sections of round, hollow bone have frequently been used on the cane itself as a spacer between the handle and the stick. 

Antler is the fastest growing mammalian tissue, and is a type of bone. Antlers emerge from the frontal bone of the skull of an animal in the mammal family Cervidae. With the exception of reindeer or caribou, antlers are only carried by the males. 

Misunderstandings can arise because antler is sometimes called stag hom or harts horn although being osseous (made of bone), it has nothing to do with hom, which is keratinous (made of keratin). 

Chemically and physically antler is almost the same as bone, though the collagen content is higher. Unlike bone, antler is not hollow, but nor is it completely solid - a compact outer tissue encloses a centre... 

Bone. This would not be used as a simulant, but if the core has been removed from antler, it resembles bone, and may cause some confusion. For esample, the two materials were used equally in Roman times, and because they are both osseous, it can be difficult, with such old attefocts, to tell the two materials apart... 

Ultraviolet light. Antler shows less fluorescence than bone under UV light. 

In Roman Europe, bone and antler were used side by side. They were turned on a lathe or carved, and made into all sorts of small items such as spoons or hairpins. Two thousand years later it is difficult to tell whether a piece found at an excavation site is made from antler or bone. The antler used came mostly from red deer, and though the deer were, in later centuries, killed for their meat and the antlers taken as a secondary item, in Roman times only shed antler was used and the meat was not eaten. 

In more recent times, while bone lost favour and became a cheap substitute for ivory, antler became more valued in its own right. The attractive, ridged, outer surface of the material was usually incorporated in, or used as, part of the decoration. With the iimer core hollowed out, antler was made into powder horns, or pieces of it were mounted on gun butts, where they gave a good grip at the same time as being decorative. 

In the north, the Inuit regarded antler in much the same way as they regarded bone and ivory. The materials existed to be utilised, and little went to waste. The meat fix)m the animal was eaten, the skin tanned to make leather, fur provided clothes and bedclothes, and the bones, teeth and antlers were carved into anything from harpoon points and amulets to children s toys. 

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