Viking whalebone plaque from Lilleberge, Norway, 9th-century.[1]Grazing caribou made in Alaska c. 1910 - Linden Museum
Bone carving is creating art, tools, and other goods by carving animal bones, antlers, and horns. It can result in the ornamentation of a bone by engraving, painting or another technique, or the creation of a distinct formed object. Bone carving has been practiced by a variety of world cultures, sometimes as a cheaper, and recently a legal, substitute for ivory carving.[2] As a material it is inferior to ivory in terms of hardness, and so the fine detail that is possible, and lacks the "lustrous" surface of ivory. The interior of bones are softer and even less capable of a fine finish, so most uses are as thin plaques, rather than sculpture in the round.[3] But it must always have been much easier to obtain in regions without populations of elephants, walrus or other sources of ivory.
It was important in prehistoric art, with notable figures like the Swimming Reindeer, made of antler, and many of the Venus figurines. The Anglo-Saxon Franks Casket is a whale bone casket imitating earlier ivory ones.[4] Medieval bone caskets were made by the Embriachi workshop of north Italy (c. 1375–1425) and others, mostly using rows of thin plaques carved in relief.[5]
A face carved on a piece of curved bone. The face is framed by hair and part of a winged head-dress remains. Coptic
Flat bones were also used by artists and craftsmen to try out their designs, especially by metalworkers. Such pieces are known as "trial-pieces".
In July 2021, scientists reported the discovery of a bone carving, one of the world's oldest works of art, made by Neanderthals about 51,000 years ago.[6][7]
Both whalebone (baleen) and the normal skeletal whale bones were often carved, especially for scrimshaw and in the Middle Ages.
^"plaque / food-tray / culinary equipment / chopping-board". British Museum. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
^Sims, Margaret E.; Baker, Barry W.; Hoesch, Robert M. (2011). "Tusk or Bone? An Example of Ivory Substitute in the Wildlife Trade". Ethnobiology Letters. 2: 40–45. doi:10.14237/ebl.2.2011.27. JSTOR 26419931.
^Osborne, 145
^Osborne, 145
^"Casket", Art Institute of Chicago
^Feehly, Conor (6 July 2021). "Beautiful Bone Carving From 51,000 Years Ago Is Changing Our View of Neanderthals". ScienceAlert. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
^Leder, Dirk; et al. (5 July 2021). "A 51,000-year-old engraved bone reveals Neanderthals' capacity for symbolic behaviour". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 594 (9): 1273–1282. Bibcode:2021NatEE...5.1273L. doi:10.1038/s41559-021-01487-z. PMID 34226702. S2CID 235746596. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
Bonecarving is creating art, tools, and other goods by carving animal bones, antlers, and horns. It can result in the ornamentation of a bone by engraving...
Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material. The technique can be applied to any material...
and carvings done in bone or ivory. Typically it refers to the artwork created by whalers, engraved on the byproducts of whales, such as bones or cartilage...
Kholmogory bonecarving (Russian: Холмогорская резная кость) is a traditional handicraft practiced in the villages of Kholmogorsky District, Arkhangelsk...
the oracle bones or accompanying documents, as a few of the oracle bones found still bear their brush-written divinations without carving, while some...
Ivory carving is the carving of ivory, that is to say animal tooth or tusk, generally by using sharp cutting tools, either mechanically or manually. Objects...
The Ishango bone, discovered at the "Fisherman Settlement" of Ishango in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a bone tool and possible mathematical...
have been used for making bone tools. They have further been used in bonecarving, already important in prehistoric art, and also in modern time as crafting...
The Lebombo bone is a bone tool made of a baboon fibula with incised markings discovered in Border Cave in the Lebombo Mountains located between South...
Toi whakairo (art carving) or just whakairo (carving) is a Māori traditional art of carving in wood, stone or bone. Timber was formed into houses, fencepoles...
island of Borneo. In July 2021, scientists reported the discovery of a bonecarving, one of the world's oldest works of art, made by Neanderthals about 51...
humans in Europe. In July 2021, scientists reported the discovery of a bonecarving, one of the world's oldest works of art, made by Neanderthals about 51...
sticks first appear as animal bones carved with notches during the Upper Palaeolithic; a notable example is the Ishango Bone. Historical reference is made...
Hardstone carving, in art history and archaeology, is the artistic carving of semi-precious stones (and sometimes gemstones), such as jade, rock crystal...
Permit # A-6052, and Survey Permit # A-6057 staff, T. O. I. "Scientists: Bonecarving found in Israel could be earliest human use of symbols". www.timesofisrael...
radius bone perforated with five finger holes, and dates to approximately 35,000 years ago. Several years before, two flutes made of mute swan bone and one...
least 20,000 years. In July 2021, scientists reported the discovery of a bonecarving, one of the world's oldest works of art, made by Neanderthals about 51...
traditions of folk art - in particular, wooden architecture, wood and bonecarving and painting. Due to its remoteness, the rural parts of Russian North...
New Zealand. They were carved from a solid piece of either wood or whale bone or made from individual teeth lashed together. They were used by men to fasten...
Rosenthal – Tony Smith – Vito Acconci – William G. Tucker – Wolf Vostell – Bonecarving – Butter sculpture – Collage – Costuming – Doll making – Dynamic textures...
distally to Hole 3, a portion of the cortical bone is abraded. On this spot, a longitudinal fibrous bone structure is exposed. Near the proximal edge of...
EM85;151B in Rundata, also known as DK SJy39) is a section of human skull bone inscribed with runes and unearthed in 1973 in an archaeological excavation...
type-site of the Magdalenian culture, which produced many fine small carvings in antler or bone. Created sometime between 20,000 and 12,000 BP (15,000 BP according...
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