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Found a really old bone while hiking

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  • sobi1998

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    75dda3e80b5aa06f58e7f3cd20c5f727.jpg

    c443497a6e6002def7573bda182a5acc.jpg

    1b67c2d4287e2c2858d656dbe1645a44.jpg

    I was hiking this weekend in a certain canyon north of Lubbock. I made my way to a cliff slide that had a rock slide area where water looks to have run off in the past. I found this bone half buried in the dirt about 5-10 yards from the cliffs edge. There was about a 50-60 ft drop off of the cliff. It appears pretty old. It was a secluded spot that would be impossible for horse or cattle to reach IMO. Any ideas on the specimen or how old?
    (I guess it would be possible that a wolf/coyote dropped it there but who knows)
    ec8eebce2c6424f4915cc7e1f1f2fb41.jpg

    It’s about 3-4” in length and 2-2.5” in width and thickness
    Thanks



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    Hurley's Gold
     
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    It's a chunk of a cow or horse humerus bone and most of it is missing.

    If it's not turning to stone. It isn't old. The entire bone was probably gnawed on and what you have in the picture is what's left.
     

    SloppyShooter

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    Wild guess....shoulder?

    Your gonna REALLY have to boil that sucker to make soup!!! JK. Is it bone or rock? I got a really wierd fossilized what I think is a tooth.

    Oh...wait, now I know. ...gonna have to have a talk with Vinny!!!
     

    texasnurse

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    You should probably keep you pants zipped while hiking...


    Sent from my iPhone with a general disregard for the masses
     

    vmax

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    Just a suggestion, when you are photographic evidence something like this have a ruler beside the bone for reference in the photo
     

    sobi1998

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    Just a suggestion, when you are photographic evidence something like this have a ruler beside the bone for reference in the photo

    c65d6aec6aa15b22283df9b158ab4ee1.jpg

    7c6ca3854b87e57a53f10b95b91ea01e.jpg

    83462d3c5a3c85adf97cf59d5e31f145.jpg

    49d4922ac7e1600466d9fba38a338294.jpg

    Last picture measured about 3.125”



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    Ole Cowboy

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    Looks like an old femur knuckle bone from a smaller cow, the knee cap is missing and was prob gnawed and mostly eaten. Looking at your first 2 fotos that is the matrix that contains bone marrow, fats and oils. to provide the lube for the knuckle joint. The femur bone about 1/2 the size or about 1 1/2 in in diameter roughly as the cows gains weight the knuckle will continue to grow as will the femur. The femur if you cut it cross ways you will see the bone density is extremely dense making for a very strong bone with great vertical strength. The knuckle has to be so large to support with only a bone matrix which is not dense at all.
     

    sobi1998

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    721ec8577f92fd37141bb7c64cf369f2.jpg

    I stumbled upon a video that randomly identified the bone. I’m certain that it’s an Astragalus bone from either a horse or cow sized animal. In other words it’s a knuckle bone
    c316470320124d575d52826b6c2c6561.jpg



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    Double Naught Spy

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    View attachment 149300
    I stumbled upon a video that randomly identified the bone. I’m certain that it’s an Astragalus bone from either a horse or cow sized animal. In other words it’s a knuckle bone
    View attachment 149301


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    Sorry to join late. It is not from a horse. It is either cow or bison and based on a cursory look, I would favor cow over bison. For this element, the two are extremely similar. The strange little lines you have all over it are root etching as a result of plant roots dissolving the bone where they contacted it while it was in the soil horizon. It gives the bone a slightly dissolved look, but given that you can make out the lines of rootlets, the cause would appear to be from roots.

    The astragalus, or tibial tarsal, is a dense bone that bears a lot of locomotive stress. These often survive quite well in archaeological and paleontological sites as a result. Yours, by the way, is from the right hind foot.
     

    leVieux

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    Sorry to join late. It is not from a horse. It is either cow or bison and based on a cursory look, I would favor cow over bison. For this element, the two are extremely similar. The strange little lines you have all over it are root etching as a result of plant roots dissolving the bone where they contacted it while it was in the soil horizon. It gives the bone a slightly dissolved look, but given that you can make out the lines of rootlets, the cause would appear to be from roots.

    The astragalus, or tibial tarsal, is a dense bone that bears a lot of locomotive stress. These often survive quite well in archaeological and paleontological sites as a result. Yours, by the way, is from the right hind foot.

    The more common modern name is "talus".

    leVieux
     

    Double Naught Spy

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    The more common modern name is "talus".

    leVieux

    Maybe, sort of?

    LOL, talus does get used more commonly in human anatomy, but not in non-human animal anatomy, in my experience. For example, in this 2009 osteology of deer, the element is referred to as 'astragalus.'
    https://cedar.wwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1018&context=wwuet

    Rodents
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5068370/

    Sloth osteology
    https://www.researchgate.net/profil...digrada-with-Paleobiological-Implications.pdf

    Bovid foot osteology
    https://www.researchgate.net/public...trolling_Phylogenetic_Signal_in_Ecomorphology

    As for the modernity of the terms, astragalus is from the mid 16th century and talus from the late 16th century. Neither is hardly modern.

    Interestingly, if you google image "talus bone" you will find images almost exclusively of human bones/feet. If you google image "astragalus bone" you will find a mixture of human and animal.

    Human osteological guides such as Human Osteology by Steele, or Gray's Anatomy will refer to it as a talus. Animal osteological guides such as those by Olsen, Gilbert, or Schmid will refer to the element as an astragalus.

    Had the specimen recovered been a human bone, I would have referred to it as a talus. As the specimen was from a bovid, I referred to is as an astragalus. :D
     
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