What animal did these bones come from?

Answer

Hi Carlo,

What you have found are so-called ‘horn kernels’, from goats and cattle. The two pieces on the left (top and bottom) come from goats, the other four from cattle. It may be archaeological material from a place where animal products were processed.

The horn kernel is the bony outgrowth on the skull of goats, cattle, sheep,… around which the horn is located (see the attached picture). Horn is a material that is easy to work with. By heating it, it can be folded and it is easy to cut. Horn was used to make objects such as forks and spoons, but the windows of lanterns also consisted of thinly polished flat pieces of horn.

In archeology, horn kernels can therefore sometimes be found on the spot where a horn worker was working. But much more often you will find them in large concentrations in waste packages near tanneries. In the past, from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, the skins of cattle and goats were transported from the slaughterhouse to the tannery with the horns (ie the horn with the horn core in it) still attached. The horn workers would then come to buy the horns from the tanners. They often already loosened the horn from the horn core by soaking the pieces in water. The tissue between the horn and the horn core rotted away and one easily separated from the other. The horn kernels were then left behind as waste in the tannery.

I once wrote an overview of such sites in Flanders (see attached text, but in English) and to supplement that story it would be interesting to know where your finds come from. Could you please email me the street, number and municipality (anton.ervynck@rwo.vlaanderen.be)? Even more fantastic would be if you fill out the find notification form at this link:

https://www.onroerenderfgoed.be/nl/digitaal-vondstmeldingsformulier

The Flemish government asks finders of archaeological material to report this to our agency, so that we can keep an inventory of it. You will find all the explanations on the website.

One last thing: if it were indeed a tannery, there might also be remains of large wooden tubs in the ground. Did you notice such a thing?

best regards, and many thanks in advance for your cooperation,

Anton Ervynck

Real Estate Agency