Вone-Carving Craft of Medieval Azak according to Materials of Archaeological Excavations at Lermontov St., 27 and Petrovsky Boulevard, 5 and 7 in 2012–2013

Abstract

The article presents short characteristic of bone-carving craft of medieval Azak according to materials of archaeological excavations in 2012–2013. It also suggests criteria for identifying bone-carving workshops at archaeological sites and lists some related difficulties. In the article is given the description of used raw materials and listed range of products. It is noted that quantity of manufacturing wastes on the one hand and blanks and products on the other is incommensurable. Some production techniques are reconstructed based on the traces of processing preserved on waste and blanks. For the first time for Azak a workshop where bone coin scales were produced is discovered. The conclusion is made about rather high qualification of local bone-carvers and it is noted that the ratio of bones from different animals among production wastes is proportional to meat consumption wastes.