New finds from Lincoln Eastern Bypass dig

Archaeologists working prior to the construction of the Lincoln Eastern Bypass, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, revealed an intriguing artefact from the site, which is a tool made from the leg bone of a sheep.

Intriguing bone artefact (by Lincolnshire Live)

Last year archaeologists have found more than 150 skeletons and nearly 40000 artefacts dating back even 12000 years, from every major time period, including Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Medieval, and Post-Medieval. The recently revealed bone artefact is made of sheep’s leg bone, with the style of decoration suggesting that this is a Late Medieval, or Post-Medieval (1500-1800 AD) object. According to archaeologists the tool was found at the bottom of a well that would have been used as a source of clean water, and may date from the monastic grange, where monks lived, farmed and reared animals, or perhaps later, when the grange became Sheepwash Grange Farm.

Overview of the site (by Lincolnshire Live)

Researchers believe that the tool of this type may have been used for coring apples, but it might also have been made as a scoop for measuring out cooking ingredients or powdered medicines, or as a tool known as a “fid“, used by sailors and sailmakers to separate strands when splicing ropes, or even as a basket-making tool.

Saxon burial (by Lincolnshire Live)

(after Lincolnshire Live)

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