ashcraft Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 A student brought this bone to me, her father is an artifact collector and picked up somewhere in Perry county, MO. It is a karst region and pleistocene remains are found occassionally. I do not recognize the bone, which doesn't mean much. Any opinions on what and when? ashcraft, brent allen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 I think it's an astragalas (ankle bone). "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruitbat Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 I'll tentatively identify this as an artiodactyl astragalus (ankle bone)...possibly Bison (but possibly also a cow). Without a little more collecting provenance it is tough to be more specific until I can get ahold of one of my reference books. -Joe Illigitimati non carborundum Fruitbat's PDF Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 what fruitbat said. he definitely got the right bone. from line drawings i have, it may well be bison, but is it heavily mineralized, dense, like rock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 I agree that it's an artiodactyl astragalus. Can't say which one. http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashcraft Posted April 5, 2009 Author Share Posted April 5, 2009 It is fairly dense, I would call it somewhat mineralized. I would have liked to have done the flame test, but would have risked serious injury from the student. Mineralization is kind of iffy around here. I have seen dino bones from the chronister site that didn't appear to have any mineralization. (Yes, I know, but trust me, one fish bone collected from the site was actually eaten by a cat, and a geology professor from St. Louis actually burned one of the bones to check for odor). I have also seen pleistocene wood that would still burn. On the other side, I have seen two year old cow bones turned fully black from manganese staining in a creek. We have a mounted bison in my bio dept at SEMO, I'll try to check out its astragallus. Thanks for all of the input. Brent Ashcraft ashcraft, brent allen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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