Aspects of hard tissue modifications. Three objects from the Gravettian at Dolní Věstonice II (Czech Republic).

The paper presents a case study of three animal hard tissue objects from the Gravettian site of Dolní Věstonice II (Czech Republic), a beaver incisor, a wolf canine and a raven femur, bearing unusual modifications. Detailed archeozoological, archeological and experimental methods provide complex insights into the interpretation of human and non-human taphonomic impacts affecting the morphology of selected examples. In the case of the beaver incisor human manipulation was excluded; dentine modifications were caused by short-term malocclusion. The wolf canine bears traces of intentional raw material selection, changing the mechanical properties of the tooth, along with evidence of pressure causing its longitudinal pre-depositional breakage. The raven femur was freshly defleshed using a dihedral burin or other artefact with similar morphology in its cutting-edge shape.