Any idea what type of bone this is?

[BadAdze]

Found on a gravel bar in Northwest Missouri, River name= 102

 

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[capt-zero]

Humerous to a mid sized cat? Maybe a small bobcat or large barn cat.

 

[capt-zero]

Wanted to add. It could also be a racoon.

 

[Archeodeb]

That bone looks awfully robust for its size. Is it mineralized? If so, could be from a now extinct species. We used to find bison and cave bear bones in the Arkansas river near Tulsa, OK a lot. The mud preserves them really well.

 

[capt-zero]

The bone is definitely a humerous. The question is from what species and with a four inch upper arm it narrows the field.

 

[BadAdze]

The bone is very hard, but i dont know how to tell if it is mineralized... i did find what i am guessing is horse , maybe bison teeth a few feet from this. ill post a picture.

 

[Broken knee]

Possibly a small dear? yours is missing the Epiphyses on the larger end. HH
Broken Knee

 

[Archeodeb]

The bone is very hard, but i dont know how to tell if it is mineralized... i did find what i am guessing is horse , maybe bison teeth a few feet from this. ill post a picture.

View attachment 715884

Mineralized bones will generally feel a lot heavier than they should. The object is being slowly filled by minerals so sometimes you can actually see small crystals if you look very closely. (Microscope-closely most of the time.)

Actually, the process is more correctly called permineralization. What happens is that small amounts of minerals seep into the spaces in the bones (the microscopic air holes between the calcified bits) and gradually fill up all those spaces. They form microscopic endocasts (inside casts -- essentially fossils of the negative space or the "air space"). The original material is still there unchanged, but the bone becomes more solid and hard. Of course, if allowed to sit for a LOT longer, the calcium will be converted as well, and you will end up with a petrified bone where all the original material is replaced.