John, et al.
Please don't laugh, but my immediate reaction upon looking at the photographs of the unidentified artifact from the Tristan de Luna site was that the object is the mouthpiece for a bagpipe. The problem is, I don't play the bagpipe or even have one close at hand for comparison. According to Wikipedia though, the Galician gaita was popular in Galicia and northern Portugal from the 9th century on. Now that I've gone way out on a limb, I'd love to know what your unidentified object really is.
Cheers,
Dedie Snow
-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Worth
Sent: Friday, August 25, 2017 7:57 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Artifact ID question: Luna settlement site, Pensacola
I'd like to request help or suggestions regarding an unusual copper-alloy
object that was found in general midden context at the Tristan de Luna
settlement site in Pensacola, Florida, and which may therefore date to the
mid-16th century (and would thus join our substantial and growing
assemblage of Spanish materials from the expedition). However, it might
also derive from 20th-century occupation in the same vicinity, possibly
resulting from bioturbation from above. The object is thick-walled and
heavy, perhaps cast bronze, and has a narrow hole at the ball-shaped tip,
as well as two narrow holes just below the tip at different positions on
opposite sides. It also has a larger hole off-center in the base, which
seems broken off, and which has localized corrosion traces around the
base. Despite its appearance, my impression is that it is too light and
small to be a nautical sounding weight, and it is too heavy to be some sort
of whistle (two of the suggestions that have been made).
The object is pictured in the album here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/johneworth/albums/72157685583409904
Thanks in advance!
--
John E. Worth, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Anthropology
University of West Florida, 11000 University Parkway, Pensacola, FL 32514
Phone: (850) 857-6204 Fax: (850) 857-6278 Email: [log in to unmask]
Home Page: http://www.uwf.edu/jworth/index.htm
Luna Settlement Project: http://lunasettlement.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/lunasettlementproject/
<http://www.uwf.edu/jworth/teaching.htm#Advisement>
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