SF262: A Triangular Headed Bone Pin from the West Stow Archaeological Site
SF262 is a triangular headed bone pin from the West Stow archaeological site in modern day East Anglia. While the original purpose of SF262 is unknown, it can be presumed to have either been used in weaving or as a fastener, as it was found buried in a 6th century sunken featured building around Hall 2 of the West Stow site along with other needles and implements. Bone as a material served a variety of important uses within early Medieval England, both more durable than wood but easier to manipulate and craft with than stone. As a readily available material after the slaughter of animal for foodstuffs or other craft goods, bone was ubiquitous throughout cultures of our time period. However, much of it has decayed and been lost since our period, so this specific object can tell us a lot about the material world of the time. Similarly, wood has rarely survived from the early medieval period through to the modern day, and, as the materials both have similar construction with grains and natural elements, both bone and wood can be used relatively interchangeably for small scale objects and tools. This gives the study of bone crafts significant weight, as wood was crucial for making in early medieval England, and seems to have served as the primary material for most crafts and constructions. Overall, this pin, along with many other bone crafts, provides both researchers and reenactors with important evidence to construct their own versions of the past and build thesis for the ways people would have lived in the early medieval, post-Roman period. My recreation of this pin sought to follow the practices, stylistic techniques, and processes of Anglo-Saxon bone work, through the use of hand tools and some traditional methods.
