Name this vertebrate

[bakergeol]

I bought this specimen at a museum auction. What animal did it come from?

George

 

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[omnicognic]

How about "Vera the Vertebrae"?

 

[omnicognic]

seriously, is it right whale?

 

[bakergeol]

No- As it has am iron arrowhead imbedded in it, My best guess is that it is from a Buffalo.

George

 

[Nana40]

WoW!.....that is way neat!!!!! Where did you find that??


Nana

 

[omnicognic]

Difficult to determine the scale of the pic. I thought perhaps the iron object was a detachable harpoon point. (after impact the point remains in attached to a cable, but the shaft falls away) Anyway, what are the dimensions of the vertabrae?

 

[bakergeol]

The vertabrae is about a foot long and at maximun 4" thick. A museum was liquidating it's native American artifacts in an auction and I bought this. Predominantly western points in frames. It was in a box with other artifacts but not labeled. Another small example from the box is shown below. The length of the vertabrae would have only been 5" so a young animal. Has the same shape as the adult one.
George

 

[omnicognic]

I found this as interesting, here is a pic I found online of a buffalo vertabrae with a stone arrowhead stuck in it:

 

[diggummup]

Very cool bakergeol,and a nice patina on it too.

 

[allen]

pretty cool.

 

[leadsman]

I think omnicognic meant the wright whale. They were considered the "Right whale for hunting because they would float after death.

"They'd harpoon a whale. And they had to get their sail down and everything stowed away and their oars in and go on a wild ride and all of that would have to be done in less than a minute and a half. Then of course they had to row back dragging a whale. And these things are called the Wright Whale because when they harpooned him he floated and therefore they could drag him back."

 

[Gold Digger]

Looks like a whale vertebrae to me. The shinook(?) indians used hand thrown harpoons before the technology was available to use air or powder charged harpoons. But I thought the arrowheads (harpoon heads?) were larger than that and were shaped differently...??

 

[futzman]

Don't know what animal the vertebra is from but the point looks like a Benton metal arrowhead. These are circa 1740-1840. That's a great speciman and what a great conversation piece!