I need some help on this.

[razor]

Long story short, after fighting my third bought of posion ivy... oak... I decided to hit a favorite creek today. I didn't find anything of note other than a a couple of scrapers, one of them being quartz. However I did run across this jaw bone. I ran it by a fellow collector, with 30 plus years experience, and he feels that it is probably bison, but he is week on their jaw bones. The first few pics are do not show the color accuratly. It's quite a bit darker than it shows. Part of it feels as if it is starting to mineralize, but I'm not willing to say that's definately the case. Thanks for the help, Raymond...

 

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[d2]

Looks like a deer jawbone to me...d2

 

[pickaway]

yep i agree deer jaw...

 

[thompy]

deer

 

[razor]

Thanks for the info, but I'm sure about it being a deer. I've got a couple of known deer jaw bones typical of Texas. Of course it could be some type of ancient deer that was conciderably larger than modern white tails. Here's what I'm reffering to. Raymond

 

[redlined]

Looks like a jawbone off a cow to me, any creek you walk down in Ky. is full of them.............

 

[pickaway]

yeah i ddint see the size could it be a mule deer ,elk?

 

[creekhunter]

Cow, Mule or Horse

 

[razor]

I originally thought that it was a cow, but I've had some people tell me the teeth are wrong for a cow or horse, though they very well could be wrong. Mule deer... several hundred years ago is a real possibility. I've got the base of an antler that would have probaby been from mule deer, or one monsterous white tail, that came from about 50 or 60 miles away. I don't know, I guess I'm going to have to take it to an expert. I'm still not sure it's not just an old milk cow that's been burried for 150 years or so. Keep em coming, Raymond

 

[Neanderthal]

It's cow or buffler, they're almost indistinguishable. I find a buttload of buffler bones, (jaws, legs, skulls) in the Ark. River. It doesn't look horse (they are much longer than bison) or deer. It appears either bison or cow...for the record, you can't tell most cow teeth from buffalo (we've compared them several times). Occidentalis and Antiquus are easily to distinguish...but not regular bison bison from cows.

 

[luckyinkentucky]

It's Bison. The teeth are already starting to mineralize, and that takes several hundreds of years to begin. Cattle, as we know them, are not domestic to the United States. Europeans brought them here and bred them with Mexican cattle, which originated in Spain, to get the breeds we know today. I very seriously doubt it's a Cow.

Compare it to this Bison Jaw.....

 

[razor]

Thanks for the help guys. The general consensus from this and another forum is that it is probably bison. If anyone else has any other thoughts please feel free to share them. Raymond