Thank you for your thoughtful response .
I consider buzzards and vultures to be interchangeable . Because imagine that the image of the bucranium would appear to be revealed within either of these in flight, when the sun shone on them from above, i also imagine that they may have been preferred to eagles, as their more muscular wings might subtract from the effect.
I do imagine these balls to have been hafted ; (from the post) :
"If it was a ritual mace, i believe that its smooth face would have been the hafted surface, and the striking point that corner where the three carved faces meet ; (this would allow binding to fill the valleys between these carved faces) ."
That they are wonderfully tactile i do not doubt . I am glad you have had a chance to experience this.
There is an open question how far they took excarnation if, when and where they practiced it ; and the variation within their traditions . In Tibet i believe it is complete ~ all bones ground ~ and it was in this direction that i was thinking when imagining these spheres as maces . On the other hand, in the Isles it seems that at least some bones in some places and periods may at times have been curated in barrows, etc .
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