Elk Leg Bone

[TJE]

Geologist 'guessedamated' ,date (appr. 20,000 yrs old), 16" long Elk leg bone.
Discovered high up the banks of Wapiti (Cree for Elk) River.
TJE. View attachment 748434

 

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[Harry Pristis]

Geologist 'guessedamated' ,date (appr. 20,000 yrs old), 16" long Elk leg bone.
Discovered high up the banks of Wapiti (Cree for Elk) River.
TJE.

Nice find! It is one of the elk's cannon bones -- a metatarsal in this case. I don't have elk bones, but here are the cannon bones of another cervid for comparison:

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[TJE]

Hello H.P., 'Darn!' You got me there? Ha! They all look so similar! but this one is 16" long.
Thanks for the clues..I'll keep digging!
TJE.

 

[Harry Pristis]

Hello H.P., 'Darn!' You got me there? Ha! They all look so similar! but this one is 16" long.
Thanks for the clues..I'll keep digging!
TJE.

I didn't mean to "get you," 'TJE'. You were correct . . . it's an elk leg bone. I just provided more details.

 

[old digger]

Cool find! Are you finding more of the skeleton? A friend of mine when he was younger (70s now) did a lot of diving, and would find these large buffalo skulls in (under water) the river bed. I know that when our local water ways dry up you can find a lot of buffalo bones, and a few ancient elk heads have been found also.

 

[TJE]

Hey old digger, Your area would be pretty much identical, I was a few hundred miles due north!
These (most of my 'Bone collection') came from halfway high up the river banks where the ancient river water was at that time.
For example...the Wapiti River 'banks' are about 1/2 mile wide across side to side at the top where the ancient river water flowed, with 'todays' water average span is about 100 yds... probably only 10'-15' deep in the middle now compared to 100's of feet deep then.
Mostly just separated bones found, no skeletal matches 'I think'?
A buddy and his girlfriend with me one day (20 yrs ago) She found an almost complete buffalo skull (some horn lenghth missing). Don't know whatever happened to it.