bones for fuel?

[George]

In his book about the voyage of the Beagle, 1831-1836, Charles Darwin discusses traveling in the Falkland Islands outback, conducted by Gauchos. He described a method of cooking on the trail which I hadn't seen before.

“The valley was pretty well sheltered from the cold wind; but there was very little brushwood for fuel. The Gauchos, however, soon found what, to my great surprise, made nearly as hot a fire as coals; this was the skeleton of a bullock lately killed, from which the flesh had been picked by the carrion hawks. They told me that in winter they often killed a beast, cleaned the flesh from the bones with their knives, and then with those same bones roasted the meat for their suppers.”

Has anyone tried anything like this?

Spence

 

[coloradoclyde]

Was it the bones that were burning or the marrow within?

I didn't think bones would burn....but marrow has a high fat content...IIRC

 

[Billnpatti]

Interesting. I have never heard of such. I am sort of like Colorado Clyde in supposing that the actual fuel may have been the cartilage, marrow and any associated fats rather than the actual bones themselves.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Bones will reduce to carbon, in fact it's the carbon source some use to harden steel in a tiny shop crucible, and carbon does burn...we turn people into ashes during cremation...but if they were short on fuel then how did they get the bones to ignite in the first place? The fire would need to be pretty hot to reduce the bones enough for the carbon to burn ?

LD

 

[gearheart]

As you say, the bones will burn if the fire is hot enough to carbonize them. The question remains,how do you get them going. We heated with hard coal when I was a kid and it took a hot wood fire to get the coal to ignite. Maybe the fat would provide the initial heat needed to get the bones to catch.

 

[tenngun]

During the last ice age the people around the Black sea used bone for fuel. Their dome shaped houses would have a covered trench to the outside in to the bottom of the fire pit. A bone butterfly valve could control the airflow. It made the pit in to a forge or franklin stove. Charcol and burned bone have been found showing a starter fire was built then the bone added on top.

 

[coloradoclyde]

European Prehistory: A Survey
By Sarunas Milisauskas ?

 

[tenngun]

Cambridge encyclopeda of archeology, late 70s edition.

 

[coloradoclyde]

:thumbsup:

 

[Billnpatti]

Actually, bones reduce to a different material than wood. Wood charcoal is primarily composed of carbon with a few minor bits of other chemicals. Bone, itself, is composed primarily of calcium phosphate. Therefore, bone charcoal, on the other hand, is composed primarily of tricalcium phosphate with some calcium carbonate and less than 10% activated carbon. Even though it may resemble wood charcoal, it ain't the same stuff at all.

Bone does not ignite readily and require a rather hot fire and an oxygen deficient atmosphere to cause it to decompose into bone charcoal. I am convinced that the "burning" of bones is actually the burning off of the fat, gristle and connective tissue and not the actual burning of the bone itself.

Having said all of that, I will be the first to admit that I have never attempted to build a fire using bones so I am no expert on the subject. :idunno: But, I can read. :hmm:

 

[Sean Gadhar]

Charcol and burned bone have been found showing a starter fire was built then the bone added on top.

Not saying they CAN'T, :hmm: But how the heck do they tell that then bones were fuel & not refuse or put in to heat before cracking for the marrow?

I know I myself have stood around a small coffee fire eating ribs that were cooked the day before and chucking bones in the fire :idunno:

 

[coloradoclyde]

Bone black :grin:

 

[coloradoclyde]

Charcol and burned bone have been found showing a starter fire was built then the bone added on top.

Not saying they CAN'T, :hmm: But how the heck do they tell that then bones were fuel & not refuse or put in to heat before cracking for the marrow?

I know I myself have stood around a small coffee fire eating ribs that were cooked the day before and chucking bones in the fire :idunno:

If I was to guess I would say by the ratio of the proportions in relation to the different compositions of ash.

 

[tenngun]

Yes, this was the steep and wood was scarce. The volume of bone and the forge design of the fire pits indicate it was a bone based flame.They no doubt help produce a hot fire with fats. Homes were built close to river bends. Spring flooding woud have brought a lot of large drowned animals in leaving them in the bend. Fat and bone from thes sights would have been a usable resorce. Homes were built out of frames made of bone and covered with turf. Reconstuctions sugest they looked like Mandan or other upper missiouri lodges.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Interesting! Do you have an internet resource?

 

[tenngun]

I'm sure there has to be under 'pleolithic ukraine' or somthing simular :idunno: I started looking in to it back in the 70s or early 80s after reading the Jean Aeule sex and the cave man books. Bought the cambridge encyclopedea of archeolgy and they had a little more 'down to earth' look at ice age ukraine and crimia

 

[coloradoclyde]

Thanks Tenngun this is what I was looking for....a picture of the structure.
http://www.wumag.kiev.ua/index2.php?param=pgs20112/90
https://books.google.com/books?id=...6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=Ivan Shovkoplyas&f=false