The perhaps more typical calf weaner is a spiked collar that kept the calf from the milk source but allowed it to eat anything else, something that the wire object in question would not do.
Lyle Browning
On Apr 25, 2012, at 11:07 AM, Rachel Feit wrote:
> 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
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