Deer bone oyster opener

[nativetexan]

Today I walked along the waters edge of a nearby of an island where the indians chowed down on lots of oysters. The bone looks like a tool for opening them. It has a crack along the side so maybe the owner discarded it. Many thanks to him. I consider it a nice find. Near by I found these two nice pieces of coral. This island is on a shallow bay behind Mustang island. Now my question is: Did this coral grow in this shallow muddy bay bottom or did it live in the Gulf of Mexico before the barrier islands developed? For reference, the oyster shell is seven inches long.
P.S.. Steve 71 gets the credit for showing this place to me.

 

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[bean man]

Cool! You guys have a creek and beach hunting paradise down there. I'd be hanging with Steve71, if I was you. That guy has got some spots!

 

[Vicegrip]

The coral does look like a type of sps. Sps corals need a lot of light with quite a bit of water movement and very clean water.

 

[steve71]

i'm going back to work tue but i found a few a couple days ago. checkout this site called finderskeepersrestoration.com its mostly local stuff.some was found yesterday were we went last time.

 

[nativetexan]

Devan, Then there is a good chance that this coral lived before Mustang and Padre Islands existed. That would be more than 2K years ago. I just can't imagine how it survived all this time, but my guess is that it washed up on this little island which is about 4-5 ft. above sea level and then dropped into the water as the island shoreline eroded. Just my guess.
Now, as for the oyster tool. I have shucked a few oysters in my time using the steel oyster knife. The Kronks likes the really big jucy ones and they would be hard to open with a deer bone, but if they just jambed it in while the oyster is open then it would be easy to reach in with a flint blade and cut it loose from the shell. Just another one of my guesses.

 

[nativetexan]

Steve, That's a very interesting site. Next time you are up this way I will bring the bone over for your expert opinion. Dean and I are heading to Beeville on Tuesday to do some looking and metal detecting.
Our family farm was, still is, on the S. branch of Chocolate Creek in Calhoun County. It is about 5-6 miles up from Chocolate Bay near Port Lavaca. When I was younger there was a small pile of shells, really big oyster shells, down on the side of the creek, but it has since been destroyed by deepening and channeling of the creek. So sad. I never did find other items there, but my brother said that a few points have been found in recent years. I tried walking some newly plowed ground there a few months ago, but it was too muddy. Maybe again soon.