Another bone with a cut mark

[naturegirl]

Now this one, is the densest, heaviest, and hardest one yet. I guess that still doesn't make it a fossil. I have it narrowed to a cannon bone? It's 9 3/4 inches long. IF it is a cannon bone, there wouldn't be much meat on it, so why a cut mark?(if that's what it is.) I know they utilized all parts, so maybe any part of the animal would have butcher marks. The broken end looks like it's been pounded? am I making all this up?

 

[Worthy55]

Very cool! That looks like a horse metatarsal bone ( cannon bone ). It could have caught it's leg in a fence or something and became infected making the distal end look that way? 8) 8) 8)

 

[naturegirl]

Horse! I was leaning that way, but without the distal end complete, was wondering. I knew disease could deform a bone, but had never seen it . It looks like it would have been painful. Thanks worthy

 

[Harry Pristis]

Sometimes it's difficult to distinguish between cut-marks from a chert blade and gnaw-marks from animal teeth.

Using scanning electron micrographs, Shipman (LIFE HISTORY OF A FOSSIL, 1981) demonstrated that butcher-marks have micro-striations within the groove. Gnaw-marks are smooth and rounded within the groove.

Here are a couple of images of a tapir radius from the Santa Fe with butcher-marks. Can you see the fine auxillary cuts in the primary cut?

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[naturegirl]

Yes, I can see the striations Harry, thankyou. would a good magnifying glass work for a lot of cases? I want to look at these better, and I have a fairly good glass at work, just haven't had time yet.