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Bone lid

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From Foshigarry, North Uist

Bone lid
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This bone lid was found at Foshigarry on North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. It was used sometime between 200 BC and 800 AD.

The lid was carved from a vertebral disc (a segment of the spinal column) of a sea mammal such as a whale or dolphin. In a rough line across its longest axis, four small holes whose purpose is not clear have been drilled.

People collected bone from stranded carcasses of whales, porpoises and dolphins. In the largely treeless north and west, whalebone was used as a substitute for wood. It was strong, dense and resilient, and came in very large sizes.

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