This week I have a mystery object for you that had me stumped for a little while recently, after it didn’t match the comparative material I had to hand. I managed to work out what it is, but I thought that it might make for a fun challenge as the 250th Friday mystery object:
Any idea what this is and what species it comes from?
As usual you can leave your (preferably cryptic) observations, questions and suggestions in the comments section below. Have fun!
Zygoma 
Paolo, congratulations on reaching 250 Friday Mystery Objects! Your time and effort are much appreciated.
Thanks Stephen – It’s been fun so far!
A puzzler!
I’ll have a go: a rib (spinal end) from something large, like a horse
Nice idea, but nope – wrong part of the body!
I was thoroughly puzzled to the extent that I gave up. And then, by utter chance I spotted something similar on a webpage. Could your bones be parts of the hind limb of a c*****an?
I think this could be ‘right’
…it is from the right-hand side of something though!
There are some similarities, but no – it’s not from a limb…
Back to c*****ans: part of the jawbone?
Not cetacean, but getting closer anatomically!
Part of the zygomatic arch of something large?
🙂
Elephant?
Maybe…
I think other people’s hints may have helped me.
So: not exactly an elephant, but an Afr…..ian and Paen……te. (I’m thinking of a species that can be found in Indonesia.)
The j…l and sq……l components of the z.a. (I’d say its the s…….l that has been cut open here) seem to meet (according to picc’ies on Skulls Unlimited web page) in something like the manner illustrated.
(Before all the hints, I had been thinking definitely lower leg of something big!)
To be fair, it is from an elephant, but which species!
Congrats on the 250th Friday mystery object Paolo! I’m not sure on the ID but there’s a nice 3D surface model of an E. maximus skull from Digimorph that looks a pretty good fit to me! But to be honest I would never have gotten anywhere without henstridgej’s comments…
Another vote for E. maximus