One of the most popular materials among the masters of the ancient Polotsk was bone. The bones and horns of domestic (mostly cattle) and wild animals (deer, elk, and fallow deer) were used. Knife pens, rings, chess pieces, dices, crests, punctures were made from them. Some types of bone meterials before treatment were softened by steaming in boiling water. There were various ways of artistic processing of bone and horn - carving (cutting) and engraving (cutting patterns). The tools of the artisan were metal axes, chisels, awls, knives, drills, polishing tools, a lathe. The most common products of masters of bone processing in the 10-11th centuries were crests. Archaeologists in Polotsk found one-sided ridges, double-sided and folded from several plates, in which the teeth were cut. Double-sided ridges were trapezoid-shaped. On the one hand, they had frequent teeth, on the other hand, they were rare. Often, to the ridges made covers. A variety of ridges and one of the covers are represented in the Museum of Local Lore. The material for them were the elk horns. The standard of Polotsk crests is evidence of their mass production. Buttons, flat and bulk beads, and various linings were made of bone. The bone was a nine-edged ornamented beat of the 10-13th centuries - detail of the cisten - shock-shattering weapon. The common household tools in the household were punctures — pointy bones made of bone for piercing holes. The bone handles of knives were decorated with a circular ornament or a linear ornament in the form of straight, slanting, zigzag lines. The ornament was applied to the surface with a chisel knife or compass. In Polotsk bones for playing grandmas were distributed to the local population. On them there are signs, labels, inscriptions. The skill of bone processing was handed down from generation to generation, differing in skill and high artistic taste.
