Craftsmanship in early modern Gdańsk: insights from bone and antler artefacts from the excavations at 1 Sadowa Street

The subject of this study is 22 modern bone and antler objects (17th/18th century) excavated during archaeological investigations carried out in 2009-2010 at Sadowa Street No. 1 in Gdańsk (Poland). The artefacts were found in the mulch layer, within a wooden-brick outbuilding. The collection was subjected to typological, functional, raw material and traseological studies, which contributed to the evaluation of crafts developing in modern Gdansk. Finished products were distinguished, including a needlepoint, a fragment of a musical instrument, a lace block, a bookbinding cube, a bead, a nut or pawn, a needlepoint nut and a button, as well as semi-finished products and production waste. The objects were made from long bones, including bones of the metapodial segment of mainly cattle, less frequently sheep or goat and deer antlers. Traces of technological processing such as sawing, drilling, chopping and grinding were observed on the artefacts, as well as utilitarian traces, mainly disordered linear marks and polishes.