Man made or critter made?

[prairiedog]

Long time collector here, but have really gotten more serious in the past several years. I’ve been lurking on the site for a while and have actually learned quite a bit from you folks already. I’ve got a few things to post up but I thought I’d start with this one. I was sure that I had found a bone tool until I read another post where a guy thought he had bone point that turned out to be a natural coincidence. I’m still really leaning towards man made but I need to hear from the experts. Found in south central South Dakota in the same area where I have also found scrapers and lots of flakes. Thanks

[BabaORiley]

Hello Prairiedog and welcome to the site. It looks to have some critter work done to it. The edges show definite gnawing. There are also what look like some punctures from a larger animal toward the upper end. I find deer antlers in my area that show the same gnaw marks. The patina doesn't look real old and I think it was a bone that was gnawed to that shape. However I would have grabbed it also for another look. We have a SD guy here that is an expert in your area. Lets see what he says...nice find man...

[willjo]

Looks like a bone tool, but if it was in my area the acidic soil would long ago deteriorated it.

[Jethro355]

I’m in the same boat on that...looks very “critter made” to me.

welcome to the site, we are glad to have you👍👍

[Okie1]

Busted up chewed on piece of bone.

[prairiedog]

Dang! I was hoping that since it was fossilized it had a better chance of being man made but I guess it could have been chewed up by some ancient critters. It doesn’t burn and it sounds like china when you tap it on something.

[Okie1]

It’s not fossilized.

[prairiedog]

It’s not fossilized.

How do you determine if something is truly fossilized?

[Okie1]

Fossils are formed in a number of different ways, but most are formed when a plant or animal dies in a watery environment and is buried in mud and silt. Soft tissues quickly decompose leaving the hard bones or shells behind. Over time sediment builds over the top and hardens into rock.



Does what you have look or feel like rock?

[prairiedog]

Fossils are formed in a number of different ways, but most are formed when a plant or animal dies in a watery environment and is buried in mud and silt. Soft tissues quickly decompose leaving the hard bones or shells behind. Over time sediment builds over the top and hardens into rock.



Does what you have look or feel like rock?

I find lots of bones from the Miocene in this area. Mostly mammoth mastodon horse and rhino. This bone doesn’t have the same look or feel as those do but I thought the burn test was the way to determine if something had fossilized but I’m obviously not an expert. I also find some modern bones in the area which are obviously not fossilized, but this bone feels heavy and rock like.

[Stansbery]

Technically, any bone recovered from soil is a fossil. Mineralized bone occurs when compounds in the soil replace bone elements over time, turning it into what most people refer to as "fossilized" bone. There's no definite time frame, it all depends on the soil conditions.I worked on a mastodon dig where there was no collagen left in the bone and carbon dating couldn't be done, but it still looked like bone, although dark colored. On the other hand, I have photos of 13,000 year old peccary bones from Sheriden cave that look like they were from last Sunday's pork dinner, and some of those had gnaw marks. Unless your bone is from a limestone cave, I'd guess it's from a recent deer kill.