Tim Smith Posted May 26, 2007 Report Share Posted May 26, 2007 When I'm wading I tend to keep an eye out for unusual bones, fossils and artifacts. Two years ago, I picked this piece up from a creek bed. At the time I noticed some strange notching at one end, plus some evidence of wear or tooth marks. I put it away and promised myself to look at it carefully at some point. Today I pulled it out again and I'm about to convince myself that the notches were formed by humans and not animals. If humans did do this, I'm wondering which humans did it. The bone is a (EDIT) scapula, or shoulder blade (looking at it just now...oops...not a femur). It's about 7 inches long. There was a huge cottonwood that had just been undermined and toppled by a shifting creek channel just upstream from where I found this. It might have washed out of the raw earth under the cottonwood. It's heavier than you would expect. It's full of minerals. It seems old, but it's not fully fossilized. If this is actually an artifact it might be time to call the Archeology Department, but I'm still not sure. What do we think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jude Posted May 26, 2007 Report Share Posted May 26, 2007 It does look kind of toolish. The marks on the notch end do seem a little larger than the typical chew marks you find on rodent chewed bones and antlers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary L Posted May 26, 2007 Report Share Posted May 26, 2007 Send it off to the Museum in Chicago and see what they make of it. I don't see it as tooth marks but believe it is tool marks like they were going to make something of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Clifford Posted May 26, 2007 Report Share Posted May 26, 2007 Cahokia Tribe of Illini, perhaps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Smith Posted May 26, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2007 The consensus is heading strongly toward this being something. I was just showing this to an engineer friend. He agreed it was probably a tool and said it might be a shovel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Clifford Posted May 26, 2007 Report Share Posted May 26, 2007 Holy smokes, I think your friend is right. Likely used to dig up termites and grubs. Tasty morsels during this period. Or making fish traps in the river, perhaps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kend Posted May 27, 2007 Report Share Posted May 27, 2007 Some artists are very handy with a Dremel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Don R Posted May 27, 2007 Report Share Posted May 27, 2007 Some artists are very handy with a Dremel. ...and would you happen to be one if those artists? I found these in a Palos forest preserve. I didn't know at the time that you can't collect anything from FP's from leaves and insects to fossils, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kend Posted May 28, 2007 Report Share Posted May 28, 2007 ...and would you happen to be one if those artists? I found these in a Palos forest preserve. I didn't know at the time that you can't collect anything from FP's from leaves and insects to fossils, etc. Perhaps a warrior lost one of his feathers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Smith Posted May 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2007 Perhaps a warrior lost one of his feathers. If the warrior was a turkey, that's definitely true. That's true about collecting in state property, Don. If this "shovel" turns out to be anything, It'll end up in a museum too. Our family found a dinosaur leg and scapula while we were scouting for fossils out west once. That ended up in the Utah Field Museum (it was only a piece so it's not on display, but researchers have access to it now). Ken. True story. I was at a camp recently where the owner had a vareity of artifacts from his property on display. One arrowhead was sitting right in the middle of the display and I pointed to it and said, that one looks too perfect to be real. He laughed and handed it to me. It was wood. His neighbor had made it and dropped it into a spot he knew the owner would find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Clifford Posted May 28, 2007 Report Share Posted May 28, 2007 Speaking of artifacts, all kinds of items were brought up during the first phase of the Environmental Impact Study while plans were made for a Chicagoland Thrid Airport near Peotone, IL. A great website documents these artifacts: http://www.dirtbrothers.org/Peotone/atoc.html The following link shows some artifacts and the original ribbon won for presenting them at the 1929 Will County Fair: http://www.dirtbrothers.org/Peotone/cols/dubbert003.html Some good reading and viewing. Oh, and the outcome of the EIS had nothing to do with any of the artifacts, as only about 30% of the mounds and dig sites were acknowledged as even existing (read: political coverups). I attended the EIS Open Forum and showed aerial prints and photographic copies of the artifacts and sites to the company hired by the state, to no avail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Don R Posted May 28, 2007 Report Share Posted May 28, 2007 Cool link Mike. The feather was found elsewhere. I just added it to the photo for artistic effect Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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