Look what I found today...

[River Rat]

in my artifact field. I know it's a deer bone, but I wondering if the Indians made the notches on it. Only rinsed with water, I have not cleared out the mud from the inside. There is no evidence of rodent gnawing. What you think?

 

[SOHIO]

could be marks left from processing the meat. Neat piece. looks like there is a plant growing inside it.

 

[River Rat]

I've found turtle shell and clam shell but this was the first time to find a bone. My husband plowed the field several days ago, I'm just waiting for that 80 percent rain that we suppose to get tomorrow. Yep, some kind of seed sprouted.

 

[joshuaream]

Those marks on the outside of bone are nibble/chew marks made by rodents. You see them a lot more on antlers, but small mammals will also eat bone to get calcium and minerals.

The bone could have been cracked to get at the marrow, or it could have been processed to become a tool, or it could be just an old bone hit with a plow.

 

[River Rat]

I've been hunting this field since '05, grown back to pasture then '11 was plowed so I could hunt. I've walked this field hundreds of times since Dec, it's been plowed & harrowed many times since Dec also. So, I'm surprised to find this bone after all this time.

I was thinking gnawing marks too, but would it have another set of chisel marks (upper & lower) from a rodent?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scowling_hermit/6016313010/ This pic convinced me it is gnaw marks.

 

[SOHIO]

it probably is gnaw marks i have antler sheds with the same types of marks