Bones found on beach of Lake Michigan

PennyG · Jun 25, 2014

I have found many different bones on the shores of Lake Michigan, some I have trouble identifying.

The grey looking bone in bottom two pics is spongy in the middle. Also one of the specimens in bottom two pics might be a rock but has the same reddish brown rough coloring as the bones next to it.
Any ideas what they could be from?

releventchair · Jun 25, 2014

Hard for me to tell. Your brownish oblong cross sectioned piece may be antler some one cut before. The wear on others makes it hard to tell but none remind me of deer bones. Almost a scapula shaped for scraping on the one nearly rectangular one a guess..
Lots of possibilities historically including species no longer living here.

PennyG · Jun 30, 2014

Thank you. I know the pictures don't really show the details so I thank you for looking.

Sentrom · Jun 30, 2014

I don’t know how close you are to Chicago, but they didn’t call us the Hog Butchers to the world for nothing. I think one of the branches of the Chicago River was called “Bubbly Creek” from rising bubbles from decomposing slaughter house waste. It was not until 1878 that the city created ordinances that were to stop the dumping from the meatpackers. But that did not stop the meatpackers who dumped into the waterways and directly into Lake Michigan. The city turned a blind eye because the meatpacking industry was very important to the city's economy.

I have found many bones along the Lake Shore.