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!
Zygoma 
This is a stab in the dark…but it looks like the right t******l bone of a c******n. I could be way off…but I swear I can see an o*******l c*****e. I think the pencil like projection is part of the z*******c a**h. If I’m correct, I don’t know what species 😀
You’re not too far off the bone, although the projection is not part of a z*******c a**h and it’s not from a c******n.
Is it to do with sound and a large mammal?
It’s a reasonable sized mammal, but not really to do with sound.
I***s of something large?
I can totally see where you’re coming from, but no, not an i***s
Changed my mind. It’s the Sq… region of the T.. bone with the Z.. P… and the M.. F… No idea what species.
Oops, scrub Z.P. Add S.P.
I know, I know! It’s a tricky one, as that’s not how you usually see them (unless you’re someone like me and see them rather regularly). It’s the o*******l c*****e and s*****d of a juvenile (domestic? – admittedly the European wild and domestic forms interbreed where possible) common omnivore. Of course, since you use museum collections, I can’t say for certain it’s the European domestic, which would be what I normally find, but could be any other species of s***ae.
Very impressive – although you’ve made the same mistake as I did regarding bit you called the s*****d, it turns out that this group lacks a s*****d and structure has different name.
Huh, you learn something new every day. And here I always had thought it was one of those things which was called differently in humans and in animals.
This looks almost exactly like a piece of bone happening to be kept in my cleaning closet (haven’t had a chance to clean off the dirt yet), which I was taught to be called the Pr*****us j******is (instead of the s*****d) when talking about this particular animal (that has some serious stuff going on in that area, and it apparently preserves well in archaoelogical context. Which is why we, in zooarchaeology, had it pointed out specifically). I seem to remember using two Latin terms for that process though, P. j******is as well as P. p***c********s. Anyways, if I’m on the right track, that’s be the pointy bit. The nice little cleaning closet specimen would be from the European wild version of the animal Lena hinted at above (I have the part the piece attaches too as well, so easy to determine species, especially when you know it was found in the southern Swedish woods. Crawling with these buggers). And very much a juvenile.
I think there is some alliteration in some of the answer bits, namely I think it’s the o.c. and the p.p. from the p*****e group of omnivores. If I’m correct, even the family, genus and species are alliterative, at least of one type.
Wild guess, its from the mandible of a m..l.s m..l.s or g..o g..o
I say this because they are attached to the cranium in such a way that they don’t fall off and that process looks like it could cling on for dear life to something.