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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: razorsharptokill on June 15, 2009, 08:35:00 PM

Title: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: razorsharptokill on June 15, 2009, 08:35:00 PM
This belongs to a Native American friend of mine. I thought it was pretty cool. It is also a testiment to the bow as a weapon of survival. That bone is from a Bison and is part of the femur which is likely its toughest bone. He told me that it is estimated to be between 1000 and 2000 years old. Not sure about that but still, it is obviously very old. Those beans that the bone is resting on are from an old clay pot that was sealed with mud or bees wax(can't remember which he said it was). The beans will actually grow if planted he said.
    (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v42/keyman/bows/CIMG1836.jpg)

    (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v42/keyman/bows/CIMG1832.jpg)

    (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v42/keyman/bows/CIMG1835.jpg)
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: Lewis Brookshire III on June 15, 2009, 08:54:00 PM
Very Cool!
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: ozy clint on June 15, 2009, 08:56:00 PM
looks to big to be a bison femur. hard to get a sense of scale, even with you in the background.

i might be wrong though
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: razorsharptokill on June 15, 2009, 09:12:00 PM
I'd estimate it to be 5 1/2" tall. Maybe a little taller due to part of it being below the surface of the beans. The pill bottle next to the case gives a little bit of scale but it is behind the case. Also, I can't postitively say that it was a bow that propelled this point either but I'd like to think so. I guess it could have been an Atlatl
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: Jedimaster on June 15, 2009, 10:07:00 PM
Very cool.  I guess I'd have to plant a couple of those beans just to see if I could grow some to eat and some for further seed (assuming they are of an antiquated variety).  Very, very interesting display.  Thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: IronCreekArcher on June 15, 2009, 10:17:00 PM
That is awesome!!
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: Mechslasher on June 15, 2009, 10:38:00 PM
could be the top of a very large bull femur with the ball pointing to the left.  another possibility is it's a mammoth femur from a young animal.  the point has to be an atlatl dart point.  grain from egyptian tombs has been planting and it germinated.
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: razorsharptokill on June 15, 2009, 10:51:00 PM
That's what I thought too because of the depth of penetration. I'll swear it was a bow though to keep this on topic LOL!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v42/keyman/bows/femur.jpg)
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: The Vanilla Gorilla on June 15, 2009, 10:53:00 PM
That is very cool.  Kinda reminds me of the bison skull with the arrowhead lodged in it thats down at that metal detector shop down on Memorial and 23rd st.  That was found down on the Arkansas river near bixby.

Where'd this come from, Jim?
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: razorsharptokill on June 15, 2009, 10:59:00 PM
ehhhh. "that's classified"......

Some where out West but not in Oklahoma.

I edited it out of the text at the suggestion of a member. I don't know the "exact" location though.
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: ozy clint on June 15, 2009, 11:16:00 PM
vanilla- do you mean this one?

(http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd349/ozyclint/calfskullcloseup-600x4501.jpg)
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: Hawkeye on June 15, 2009, 11:17:00 PM
If only the head had been a single bevel, they prolly coulda split that bone in half!!    :goldtooth:
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: ChuckC on June 15, 2009, 11:20:00 PM
You know. . . if that head was single beveled . .   :bigsmyl:  
ChuckC
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: Arwin on June 15, 2009, 11:37:00 PM
Ahh... what the heck.....just cut a nice piece out of that thing for some tip overlays. I'm sure your friend won't mind.   :goldtooth:
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: foxchef on June 15, 2009, 11:45:00 PM
Those look like Anasazi beans. Archaeologists have found them in the SW in clay pots sealed with pine pitch. Just a little food trivia. Maybe some ancient one had buffalo chili!
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: razorsharptokill on June 16, 2009, 12:01:00 AM
Very good Fox...... it is from the SW.
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: bowhunterfrompast on June 16, 2009, 12:31:00 AM
What ever it came from, was reaaaaaally big.

It looks like an arrowhead to me.

Thanks for sharing  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: The Vanilla Gorilla on June 16, 2009, 01:14:00 AM
I'm not sure if thats the same one or not, Clint. Seems like the one that sits in this guys shop isn't laquered or anything. But..its been a few years since I've been in there.

I know there's been several found in the NE Oklahoma/SW Missouri region; seems them tribes like to go for head shots!
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: Chris Surtees on June 16, 2009, 02:59:00 AM
That is really cool   :thumbsup:    :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: Thumper Dunker on June 16, 2009, 03:12:00 AM
Awsome.
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: vtmtnman on June 16, 2009, 05:48:00 AM
That's cool stuff there.
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: Wary Buck on June 16, 2009, 09:48:00 AM
VERY COOL stuff.  Seems Gene Wensel also has something like that, maybe a vertabrae with a spear point or something embedded in it.  Again, very cool stuff and what a thrill it would be to find something like that.
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: McDave on June 16, 2009, 12:35:00 PM
I would guess, from the way the arrow point impacted the femur, that he may have had his shoulders lined up to the left of the target, or maybe his arrows were a little too stiff for his bow.  Have him send us a video to evaluate, and we'll get him back on track so he'll get a double-lung shot next time   ;)
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: Ted Fry on June 16, 2009, 01:30:00 PM
Heck I thought this post was on Charlie or Vance since it was titled Bowhunting fossil, Naw really this is cool, I once saw a bison vertebra with an obsidian point buried halfway in at another shop years ago, not sure whatever happened to it as the shop is gone.
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: larryh on June 16, 2009, 05:12:00 PM
having butchered over 100 buffalo, i will say that i doubt that that is a bone from an american bison. their bones are not any larger than a typical bull or cow of the same size, and are generally smaller.
maybe that was your friends best guess? i believe a spear point in a wooly mammoth bone is more likely.
ted, if i email a picture of a buffalo skeleton to you can you post it here?
i don't know how to do that.
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: Ted Fry on June 16, 2009, 05:44:00 PM
Happy to Larry.
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: larryh on June 16, 2009, 06:02:00 PM
you should have it now. thanks ted.
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: Ted Fry on June 16, 2009, 07:32:00 PM
Nothing yet Larry , send it to ted@raptorarchery.com
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: razorsharptokill on June 16, 2009, 10:03:00 PM
Yes I guess it may have been his assumption. I'll quiz him more the next time I see him. It looks pretty big for a cow sized bone. If it is a wooly mammoth or rhino it would be much older then huh?
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: larryh on June 17, 2009, 09:28:00 AM
about 8- 10,000 years or so. that may be a clovis point stuck in there!
ted, i resent the photo.
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: Big Ed on June 17, 2009, 09:37:00 AM
really interesting pics,makes you think
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: razorsharptokill on June 17, 2009, 09:59:00 AM
I found this reference pic of an Americn Bison femur.
 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v42/keyman/femur.jpg)
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: Ted Fry on June 17, 2009, 01:04:00 PM
Heres Larry's picture (http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x295/photos4work/bisonskeleton.jpg)
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: razorsharptokill on June 17, 2009, 08:39:00 PM
I think it's a rear femur with arrow head in the right side of the caudal view above.
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: artifaker1 on June 17, 2009, 10:51:00 PM
The first pic I'm not too sure about but it could be a bison antiques with an atlatl point in it. But the second was on history detectives and is a calf creek point in a bison antiques skull. The bison antiques is older and bigger than modern bison. Calf creeks were thought to be knifes until that find. The first point and leg bone look to be pretty old but the point doesn't look that distinctive to me.
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: SKYLER W on June 18, 2009, 10:10:00 PM
Don't intend to take away from the other pics, which a very interesting but thought we'd share this unique find......Picked up from a plowed field about 10 miles from our home on the Tennessee River. It was found by one of our Hunting buddies.....Lot's of speculation as to what the bone is and what species.......Tippit thinks he knows and We showed the actual bone/point to lots of people who should know.....What do Yall think??????  (http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k209/rickybob_2006/DSC_0391.jpg)
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: Brian Krebs on June 19, 2009, 12:02:00 AM
that looks like Jimmy Hoffa's nose !!
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: Vig on June 19, 2009, 12:59:00 AM
QuoteOriginally posted by Dave2old:
This appears to me to be a giant wide-horned bison femur, which would date it at the close of the Pleistocene, 10,000 - 12,000 years ago.... I've seen quite a few of them and this looks right.
Well Dave, in trying to figure out just how old is "2old", I've tried to guess your actual age.  It looks like I was way off; by at least 9,900 to 11,900 years!

Nonetheless these are some interesting pictures and a very intriguing discussion.  

-Vig
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: razorsharptokill on June 22, 2009, 10:11:00 PM
Who knows who I could contact about getting this thing identified and dated (roughly) I could get better pics with a ruler in them for scale.
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: The Vanilla Gorilla on June 22, 2009, 10:52:00 PM
Hey Jim, check out the Oklahoma Archaeological Society website.

http://www.csasok.org/pages/home.htm

My old man used to be a member and I know some of these guys. Good fellas.

I see there's actually a flyer on the website for an artifact show in Stillwater this weekend. They'd be more than enough guys there to help you out, and probably even more that would just wanna see that.
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: razorsharptokill on June 23, 2009, 12:14:00 AM
Just sent them an email with a pic. We'll see what they say.
Title: Re: Bow hunting fossil
Post by: Jesse Peltan on June 23, 2009, 12:27:00 AM
This is evidince that the war between the dinosaurs and the cavemen actually took place   :biglaugh:   . LOL