Friday mystery object #176

Since I’ve largely been working on the birds recently, I thought I’d give you a specimen that I had to identify earlier this week:

Any thoughts on what this skull might be from? I’d appreciate your input!

Friday mystery object #175 answer

On Friday I gave you this anthropological mystery object to identify:

I asked you what the teeth might have belonged to and where in the world might this necklace be from.

It’s always a bit tricky to identify worked material as it will often be different from what you’d see or expect in the wild state and you lose the context of the rest of the specimen. Nonetheless, these teeth are quite distinctive to a particular group of animals.

Barbara Powell, 23thorns and Robin got the right general area with suggestions of Islands in the South Pacific, in particular New Guinea. 23thorns also nailed the animal group with his suggestion of Continue reading →

Friday mystery object #175

This Friday I have a bit of a change for you – an anthropological mystery object made from animal bits. This specimen was being looked at as part of a review project that we have going on at the Horniman Museum. Any idea what these teeth might belong to and where in the world this necklace might come from?

As usual you can put your suggestions, observations and questions below and I’ll do my best to respond. Good luck!

Friday mystery object #174 answer

On Friday I gave you a bit of a tricky mystery object to identify:

I thought it might prove a tricky one and judging by many of the responses I wasn’t wrong. However, I was impressed by the speed with which the archaeologists managed to work it out – in particular Lena, Pocki and Robin.

This piece of bone is the Continue reading →

Friday mystery object #174

Today I have a mystery object that I think may provide a challenge – although I’ve said that before and been proven wrong:

Any ideas what this grooved object might be? You can leave your comments, questions and suggestions below and I’ll do my best to respond. Good luck!

Friday mystery object #173 answer

On Friday I gave you this odd-looking piece of bone to identify:

It’s something I tentatively identified a couple of weeks ago and thought you might be able to add your ideas, to make sure I wasn’t missing something. Jake was quick off the mark in suggesting it was the ear bone of a Whale, which is what I thought when I first saw it. This fitted with the large size and high density of the bone, but on closer inspection it doesn’t quite match any of the Whales.

There were a few other ideas, but none that really matched the specimen, except for a suggestion from henstridgesj that it may come from a member of the Trichechidae, which agreed with my identification of Continue reading →

Friday mystery object #173

This Friday I have this piece of bone I had to identify a couple of weeks ago, that I would be keen to have your thoughts on:

I know what it is and I think I know what it’s from, but any fresh ideas would be much appreciated!

Friday mystery object #172 answer

Apologies for the late posting of the mystery object answer, I’m at a conference in Edinburgh and I didn’t get a chance to write until now.

On Friday I gave you this bird skull to identify:

I thought it might be an easy one, but I was hoping to catch a few people out, which use exactly what happened.

This skull is a nice example of morphological convergence – looking a lot like a Pigeon skull, but it is actually the skull of a Continue reading →

Friday mystery object #172

This week I have another bird skull for identification from my big box of assorted bone. It’s probably a bit too easy, but hopefully it’ll still be fun:

Any idea what it is?

As usual, you can put your comments, questions and suggestions below and I’ll do my best to respond. Good luck!