Bone carving
Bone carving encompasses the acts of creating art, tools, and other goods by carving animal bones, antlers, and horns. It can result in the ornamentation of a bone or the creation of a distinct object. It has been practiced by a variety of world cultures, sometimes as a cheaper, and recently a legal, substitute for ivory carving. It was important in prehistoric art, with notable figures like the Swimming Reindeer, made of antler, and many of the Venus figurines. The Anglo-Saxon Franks Casket is a bone casket imitating earlier ivory ones.
Bone was also used by artists and craftsmen to try out their designs, especially by metalworkers. Such pieces are known as "trial-pieces".
