Bone
Art and objects carved, inlaid or assembled from animal bone, one of the oldest materials people have shaped.
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About
Bone is hard, fine-grained and widely available, so people have carved it since the Palaeolithic. Some of the earliest known musical instruments are flutes made from bird bones, found in caves in southern Germany and dated to about 40,000 years ago. Arctic peoples worked bone, antler and walrus ivory into tools, figures and toggles, and in China the inscribed ox shoulder blades and turtle shells of the Shang dynasty, known as oracle bones, carry the earliest substantial body of Chinese writing.
Because it takes fine detail and polishes well, bone long served as a cheaper alternative to ivory for combs, handles, buttons and inlay. In the 20th century the material gained new charge: Georgia O'Keeffe painted bleached animal skulls in New Mexico, and the jeweller and sculptor Jennifer Trask combines found bones with gilding and antique frames. Look for the tiny pores and dark flecks that distinguish bone from ivory.
