Later Acheulian Marking Motifs I - Bilzingsleben, Germany / q)blzstgf4

"Fig. 1. Bilzingsleben, object 182.32: detail with cut marks and location of the laser scans."
Laser microscopy analysis by L. Steguweit.

Object #3=260.55, a spall of an elephant extremity bone and a tool for woodworking, with extensive retouch on one edge, has one group of 5 "divergent lines" oriented to the pointed end of the object. All five lines are actually doubled lines, 4 with exactly parallel traces probably due to the engraving tool itself, while the fifth with not quite parallel traces appears to have been engraved over twice (Steguweit 1999). [A second group of three parallel marks at the opposite end, depicted in Mania and Mania (1988:fig. 5) and Bednarik (1995:fig1c and 2) is not mentioned by Steguweit 1999.]

Comment: While Bednarik and Steguweit characterize the design as a divergent line motif (DLM), since the lines converge on a point—the point of the medium itself--I interpret it as a convergent line motif (CLM). I believe the marking strategy stands in contrast to the more spread out stroke lines of Bilzingsleben Object #1 and, if accepted as intentional, the Stránská Skála DLMs, both of which radiate not from a point, but from a side, an extended edge of the medium. It would be helpful to have a closer microscopic examination of the 5 lines to determine, if possible, whether they are engraved out from or in to the object’s point.

Illustration © D. Mania. Steguweit, L. (1999). Intentionelle Schnittmarken auf Tierknochen von Bilzingsleben: Neue lasermikroskopische Untersuchungen. Praehistoria Thuringica 3:64-79. Figure 4.