Late Antique Bone Reliefs from Perge

Abstract

The discovery of three panels of a bone relief with depictions from the sphere of Dionysos is particularly interesting for two reasons. Firstly the reliefs are among the few specimens that can be dated with certainty by their find context; the terminus ante quem is the late 4^th to early 5^th century A.D. Secondly they belong to the seldom preserved, fairly large groups of associated bone panels that are known outside their functional context, as decoration in luxury furniture. While a workshop that produced bone implements in Perge has recently come to light, no comparable carved artefacts have yet been found in waste material from the workshop. The quality of the reliefs is indicative of an import from Alexandria, the centre for the manufacture of such products in late antiquity.