Boiling bones to extract grease is a well-known process. See for example:

http://www.echospace.org/articles/363/sections/1011.html  or

http://www.oldcrow.ca/recipe10.htm


On Sun, Dec 22, 2013 at 8:43 PM, adam heinrich <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear HISTARCH,
>
> I am trying to find any publications on soap making in the historic
> period, particularly anything dealing with faunal remains.  From my
> understanding, fats used in soap production would have been more likely to
> use subcutaneous fats like lard. I am trying to address an anonymous claim
> that bones would have been boiled for grease to make soap, but I am not
> familiar with such research.
>
> Thanks, Adam Heinrich
>
>
>
> > Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2013 06:31:10 -0500
> > From: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: pdf of John Witthoft's Gunflint article
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> >
> > Dear Everyone,
> > I know some of us have been hounding JV Beckum for the Witthoft paper
> from
> > PA Archaeologist, In the meanwhile - see the below citation -  i think
> > anyone interested in flint knapping and gunflints will find exceptional,
> > and since it is critical may be worth reading by anyone considering
> reading
> > the Witthoft paper, with all respects to Witthoft, whose individual
> > contributions to archaeology are many. - Like Mead when she had that
> > walking stick you could kill a horse with, we should be respectful of
> early
> > research - 50 years of hindsight is an exponential differential.  How's
> > that for a morning rhyme
> >
> > this should be available through on-line library database search - i
> > sourced through academia.com
> >
> > Post-Medieval Archaeology 46/1 2012 - 116-142 - 'State of the Art' of
> > British Gunflint Research with special focus on the early gunflint
> workshop
> > at Dun Eistean, Lewis
> > Sincerely,
> > kev
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 12:21 PM, Jon Van Beckum <
> [log in to unmask]>wrote:
> >
> > > Greetings everyone!
> > >
> > > Does anyone have a pdf of John Witthoft's 1966 "A History of Gunflints"
> > > article from the Pennsylvania Archaeologist, 36: 12-49 that they could
> > > share?   I would be greatly appreciated.
> > >
> > > Thank you!
> > >
> > > Jon Van Beckum
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------
> > > Jon Van Beckum
> > > [log in to unmask]
> > > ------------------------------------
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > kevin m. donaghy
> > graduate student
> > Temple University
> > Department of Anthropology
>