This Friday I have some news as well as a mystery object.
After eight enjoyable years at the Horniman Museum & Gardens, I have just accepted a new role as curator of the fantastic Grant Museum of Zoology at University College London, starting in October!
For those of you who don’t know the Grant, it’s named for Robert Edmond Grant, Professor of Comparative Anatomy at UCL from 1827-1874. It contains around 68,000 specimens, including a lot of fantastic osteology that I’ve featured on this blog before. I’ll be the fourteenth curator, with some big shoes to fill (information on my predecessors can be found in this series of posts).
I will of course be very sad to leave the Horniman, which has been a fantastic place to work, filled with wonderful people who I’ll miss. I’ll also miss helping out with identification of materials in the Horniman’s Anthropology and Musical Instrument collections, which is the inspiration of this mystery object:
Any idea what this object is made from?
As usual you can leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comments box below.
Soon there will be a new collection for me to explore and I hope to be able to share the excitement of that process with you!
Zygoma 
That’s a nice carving – I haven’t seen it before! But I know what it’s made of. It’s a lovely example. They’re not usually that obvious! Good find.
Congratulations! Hope you’ll keep the blog going….
Congratulations on the new post! Now you’re closer to the Thames hopefully you won’t be ‘Horsing around near the river’ as this carving did.
Congratulations on your news, Paolo! Exciting times. It’s an adorable thing. I’m going to take a guess at the rib of something? Running on that theme it could have a nice Biblical allegory?
I think it is tibia and fibula, or radius and ulna of some medium – sized quadruped, maybe a goat?
Ok I’ll bite: It’s curved, smooth on the outside and hollowed out. I’m going to lean towards it not being bone.
i’d guess a cannon bone
Congrats on your new position!
My guess is a metacarpal from a large artiodactyl….bison, cow?
Proximal articulation surface of a metacarpal from a large bovid species
I too am going with not bone, but as usual am probably wrong. If pushed I’d even guess boar t***.
Wow! Congratulations on the new job!
Congratulations! Can I have your old job? It seemed great place.
Anyway, I think we’re looking at a metatarsal of something cattle-like. But what do I know?
Sorry, I meant metacarpal. Long day and starting the w-and-soda early. ; )
distal end -Metacarpal – domestic sheep-
Congratulations on the new job Paolo – that’s fantastic news! No idea about the mystery object though…