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Whalebone knife

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From Vallay, North Uist, Outer Hebrides

Whalebone knife
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This whalebone knife was found at Vallay on North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. It was possibly used as a skinning or dehairing knife, sometime between 200 BC and 800 AD.

The knife was carefully shaped from a piece of whalebone.

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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