http://www.enasco.com/c/farmandranch/Calf+Rearing/Weaners/

Rachel seems to be right on this.
 
 
 
Mark Howe 

"Life is how you make it, the future is how you leave your past." 




> Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:07:24 -0500
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: FW: Artifact ID
> To: [log in to unmask]
> 
> I think this could be a calf-weaner (everyone keep your lecherous
> sniggers in check).  It looks a little bent and out of shape, not
> surprising if it is 250 year old, but you would have put the round part
> around a calf's nose with the spikes sticking out.  It prevents them
> from nursing by poking the mother when they try to suckle.  These were
> not uncommon implements on a farm, and I have come across a few in my
> work in Texas.  This looks a little different from the ones I have seen,
> but I think people devised a wide variety of apparatuses to wean calves.
> 
> Rachel Feit
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> King, Julia
> Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2012 5:17 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Artifact ID
> 
> Dear HistArchers,
> 
> One of our students, Andreas Lutz, is in an Archaeology Practicum class
> at St. Mary's College where he along with his colleagues is cataloging,
> analyzing, and interpreting materials from the Addison Plantation site
> (18PR175; aka Oxon Hill) located in Prince George's County, MD. He has
> come across several iron artifacts, and links to images of one of these
> objects are posted below. Andreas has shown these to archaeologists at
> various institutions around the region, with some tentative -- but still
> unsatisfying -- identifications. The context is cellar fill believed to
> date to c. 1730s. Later disturbance is possible but not likely.  I told
> Andreas about the "hundreds of years of experience" represented by
> HISTARCH; colleagues, if you have suggestions for Andreas, we would both
> be grateful for your assistance!  Here are the links:
> 
> http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o289/knifetrader/Addisson%20Artifacts
> /18PR17503.jpg
> 
> http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o289/knifetrader/Addisson%20Artifacts
> /18PR17501.jpg
> 
> Julie King
> St. Mary's College of MD