Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jasrep “Seal scrapers” from Šventoji – In search of their possible function Grzegorz Osipowicz a, ⁎ , Gytis Piličiauskas b , Giedrė Piličiauskienė c , Mariusz Bosiak d a Institute of Archaeology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Szosa Bydgoska 44/48 street, 87-100 Toruń, Poland b Archaeology Department, Lithuanian Institute of History, Kraziust, 5, 01108 Vilnius, Lithuania c Vilnius University, Departament of Archaeology, 7 Universiteto, 01513 Vilnius, Lithuania d Faculty of Chemistry, Nicolaus Copernicus University, ul, Gagarina 7, 87-100 Toruń, Poland ARTICLEINFO Keywords: Šventoji Use-wear Traceology SEM-EDX Bone tool Subneolithic Ochre Hide ABSTRACT During the excavations carried out at the complex of Subneolitic-Neolithic sites in Šventoji, coastal Lithuania (sites 1, 4, 6 and 23), 27 unique bone products have been discovered. Due to the character of the use-wear and technological traces which are macroscopically readable on their surface they have been defned as scrapers. Dated to ca. 3000calBC, these tools are made of harp seal tibia, about 75% of them from right side bones. This article describes the procedure that was conducted in order to interpret the technology of production, ways of use and possible functions of these tools, and includes the experimental program directed to the activities which could have been carried out with such products within the specialized camps of Šventoji, such as processing of animalhides(includingseal)withadmixtureofochreorashand fshscraping.Thebasis fortheinterpretationsis the results of traceological and chemical (SEM-EDX) analysis of the artefacts and experimental tools. As a result of the conducted studies, it was found that the analysed tools were most probably used for scraping the hides with the use of an ochre admixture. The presented research probably concludes a long period of speculations about the functions of these unique objects. During the excavations carried out at the complex of Subneolitic- Neolithic sites in Šventoji, Lithuania (sites 1B, 2/4B, 6 and 23 – Fig. 1), 27 very interesting bone products have been discovered (Fig.2).Dueto the characteristic of the macroscopically identifable use-wear readable ontheirsurfaces(Fig.3C)theyweredefnedas scrapers. However, their function has never been studied microscopically. The only suggestion concerning this issue was made by R. Rimantienė, who found that ar- tefacts may be associated with scraping fesh and fat from hides (Rimantienė, 2005). Recently, these tools and their possible function were also briefy mentioned in a paper dedicated to raw materials and working methods of bone tools found at Šventoji sites (Luik and Piličiauskienė, 2016). However, no experimental research was done to establish their use. Alltoolsweremadeofharpsealtibia(hencethename seal scrapers– Fig.2).Thefbulawasremovedbeforethemanufacturingofthescraper andtherightsidetibiawasusedinca.75%oftools.Sometibiawerecut at the distal part of diaphysis. Tibia of adult seals were usually used - only about 20% of scrapers were made from unfused tibia of young seals. The dating of the collection does not seem complicated. Šventoji 1 and 2/4 are stratifed lacustrine sites and in both cases seal scrapers werefoundinthelowerhorizon-layerB.Thishorizondatestothevery end of the Subneolithic 3110/3000–3020/2930calBC (Piličiauskas, 2016a). 1 Together with seal scrapers this horizon contains specifc shell temperedpoint-bottomedPorousWarewhichisalsopresentatŠventoji 6 and 23 sites. Therefore, it may be assumed that seal scrapers were produced and used ca. 3100–2900calBC. As it seems Subneolithic people in Šventoji engaged mostly in the fshing of freshwater fsh species in the lagoonal lake as well as in seal hunting (Piličiauskas et al., 2017). Šventoji 1 and 4 are fshing stations (Piličiauskas, 2016a). Šventoji 6 might be a pile-dwelling specialized in skinprocessing.Šventoji23isadwellingsiteontheeasternbankofthe lagoonal lake with numerous amber processing waste (Rimantienė, 2005). At Šventoji 1, 4 and 23 there were no identifable dwelling structures. In Šventoji 6 seal scrapers are in close association with a wooden pile constructions of possible dwelling function. There are no indicators of bone processing at any of the discussed sites but most of the bone tools, e.g. seal scrapers, leave very few or undetectable waste during their production. This article presents results of the interdisciplinary studies of use- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101928 Received 4 April 2019; Received in revised form 4 June 2019; Accepted 27 June 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: grezegor@umk.pl (G. Osipowicz). 1 We accept the appearance of pottery in the Early Holocene hunter-gatherer communities of Eastern Europe as a criterion of the beginning of Subneolithic (=ceramic Mesolithic) and farming as the indicator of the Neolithic. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 27 (2019) 101928 2352-409X/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T