Bone spatula with animal design Back

This is the handle of a bone spatula. Trapezoid in shape, the level top is wider than the damaged bottom. On the front there are four sets of taotie masks and a set of the kui design, separated by a leiwen design. As to the back, on the right hand side a flange of leiwen spirals rises upward, and on the left, two sets of the kui design are set against the leiwen design. A sizeable number of bone spatulas, second only to hairpins, were found in the Shang tombs at Yinxu in Anyang, Hunan province. The same sort of artefact was also unearthed from the Fuhao Tomb in 1976. They were made either from the elongated rib bone of an ox or its broad shoulder blade, and in general with carved handles. Certain scholars suggest that they might have functioned as a shuttle in a loom.