Any chance this is a bone tool?

[Out Of Time]

Probably not, but wanted to ask the panel.





Found some obsidian too.

 

[Relicgrubber]

If I was a betting man I would say yes...

 

[Worm-Slicer]

Maybe something for mixing food or perhaps a sort of crude spoon for eating.

 

[gilmerman]

I like Worm-slicer's idea that the bone implement could be a cooking or eating tool. In my imagination, I see a spoon like taster, to let the cook check the taste of the food.

 

[Out Of Time]

I'm a bit surprized that people are agreeing it might be.

I'm trying to estimate if there is any single thing about this piece that could answer the question conclusively.

Could natural forces produce the split and rounded end?

Maybe a combination of a break, then rodent gnawing, followed by water wear.

This is a creek find which removes context beyond that artifacts have been surface hunted there.

The sun-bleaching and calcification have removed any trace of polish or surface marking that may have once told us something.

I wonder if Grim Reaper will comment?

He knows bones.

 

[GaRebel1861]

It’s interesting no doubt. I would have brought it home for a closer look as well. I think you may have a bone tool.

 

[Al D]

It looks like you may have a habitation artifact, more like a midden item, not a tool, but perhaps what was left over from dinner, the obsidian items do look like old stone tools or points, worn down by age and water action

 

[Relicgrubber]

Fwiw it’s called a spatula.

 

[Out Of Time]

Fwiw it’s called a spatula.

Scapula spatula. Ha.

 

[smallfoot]

Does it look like the hole was bored?

 

[Out Of Time]

Does it look like the hole was bored?

Not obviously...





Can you tell?

 

[joshuaream]

Alan M might be on to something, it could be leftovers from a butchered deer, but I don’t see a tool.

Are bone tools common in your area? They were certainly made and used, but if preservation isn’t right, your odds of finding one are very low. In some areas bone preservation is great, and in some areas bone might only last 20 years or so before degrading to the point that it’s little more than fertiliser. Actual use as a tool polishes the surface of the bone which helps preservation at many sites. Midden bone is often chalky.

The shape. It could very well be a spiral fracture, which can happen naturally on long bones. It could have also happened from human processing a kill to get marrow. It could happen from a big predator/scavenger breaking a leg with a twisting motion. The bite and shake motion that many do to overwhelm prey, to quickly kill prey with massive blood loss, or to tear off a piece from a larger kill can torque a bone enough to do this. In Florida gator bites often include a spiral fracture from the bite & roll motion.

 

[Older The Better]

I can’t see clearly but fresh bones break differently than old bones. Fresh ones have a little twist to them called a green spiral break. I think yours might have a spiral break and may have been broken near the death of the animal. Assuming that it was a human kill and a spiral break it was likely broken intentionally either as a tool or to get to the marrow

 

[Older The Better]

Ha we posted same time

 

[MAMucker]

It’s interesting though