Dem Bones

[Felinepeachy]

We don't have a "Bone" section on Tnet LOL but since I found this on my artifacts field, right in the heavy flint area, I thought I would inquire here.

It's obviously bone but does it look old?

[1320]

Looks old to me. I can understand why some would think it's not because of the "bleached" appearance. A few weeks ago, I pulled a medium size bone from the edge of a 3 foot fire pit that was charcoal black, scrubbed it with a toothbrush and water and turned it "bleach" white.

[tmodel]

Peachy!! dem bones looks like about 1/4 of a section animal leg bone called a marrow bone. an example would be the ham bone out of a baked ham. the indians ate the marrow that is why all large hollow type bones are broken around camps and in shelters... think about marking a line along the outside curve of that piece of bone and keep moving it in a circle and marking until your line meets itself, that would be the approximate size of the bone.. looks like it would be a fairly large bone to me!!!! T.

[Felinepeachy]

Thanks T. So I can be sure it's not human, right?

[tmodel]

Peachy!! i can not eliminate human except by size i think it would be, the only way i know to be reasonably sure of size is the way i said in other post.. Terry

[naturegirl]

"Dem bones"! Oh man, you are in danger of resurrecting THAT thread ! My heart stopped when I saw your post! The fossil guys are great at any and all bone questions, you might try there for information.

dem bones, dem bones.....

[Felinepeachy]

Thanks Naturegirl. I think I'll move this over there.

[Harry Pristis]

That is a stout piece of bone, too stout to be human. Extrapolating the curve, I'd say it is from a bison/cow/horse humerus or femur. It's difficult to say anything about the age from the information you provided.

[Felinepeachy]

That is a stout piece of bone, too stout to be human. Extrapolating the curve, I'd say it is from a bison/cow/horse humerus or femur. It's difficult to say anything about the age from the information you provided.

Thanks for the info HP. What info would you need to determine an approximate age?

[Harry Pristis]

That is a stout piece of bone, too stout to be human. Extrapolating the curve, I'd say it is from a bison/cow/horse humerus or femur. It's difficult to say anything about the age from the information you provided.

Thanks for the info HP. What info would you need to determine an approximate age?

Well, there are at least four ways to determine approximate age of a bone:

Biochronology would require that we identify the bone (or other fossil buried in the same stratum) to genus and species. Mammal species exist for an average of 2-3 million years, so knowing the species helps pinpoint the age. (For example, a bison is a late-comer to North America, so it must be much less than a million years old.)

Carbon dating (or measurement of the decay of other radio-isotopes) gives a reasonable date.

Stratigraphy tells us that if you know the age of an undisturbed stratum, the bones entombed within are the same age as that stratum.

Archaeology: if the bone has been altered by humans, that opens up a differnt avenue of dating back to say 13,000 years.