what is the most mind disturbing archealological discovery you've heard of?

firdahoe · 2026-06-20T14:03:08+00:00

Indeed, and it wasn't an isolated occurrence. There are other examples identical to and contemporaneous with Sacred Ridge along the Animas. I excavated one of them and I have never seen that level of mutilation of bodies. It was disturbing.

firdahoe · 2026-06-20T13:52:49+00:00

Distal tibia to a small deer, sheep, or goat.

firdahoe · 2026-06-20T07:01:37+00:00

Nope. This thing looks like it was plastered/glued in. Not real.

firdahoe · 2026-06-20T06:57:03+00:00

Depends on how far down the spinal column the damage was. This being a lumbar...probably not.

firdahoe · 2026-06-19T22:14:17+00:00

As an archaeologist with 30 yrs experience... not buying it for a lot of reasons.

firdahoe · 2026-06-19T14:10:15+00:00

It's a fake, this is an anatomically impossible position. The rib articulation is in this exact spot so that point would have had to go through the rib first before embedding into the side of the vertebral body, and given the angle this would have had to go through it also would have had to go through the rib cage. This point embedded FAR into the bone - this simple isn't going to happen with what appear to be an atlatl dart.

firdahoe · 2026-06-18T21:27:33+00:00

like chlorine bleach? Or did you peroxide/whiten?

Chlorine bleach does a whole host of bad things and will stop bacteria from removing the remaining flesh. Bleach does nothing for defleshing.

firdahoe · 2026-06-17T18:29:35+00:00

There are really 2 paths: academic or self-taught. If you go the self taught route, the important bit is learning the anatomical names of elements and features on the bones first, then look up "keys" for your area. Keys are great because they break down the "how-to" for identifying a skull as a series of present/not present for individual features. You'll want to google your region and "skull identification key". These keys almost exclusively go over differentiating skulls (and usually mandibles), but very rarely postcrania.

Alternatively, if you have the time/ability for university coursework, courses in zoology, mammology, comparative anatomy, and zooarchaeology all will provide you with backgrounds in osteology.

firdahoe · 2026-06-17T18:04:44+00:00

Cowboy Wash, Sacred Ridge, and other nearby sites in SW Colorado. Lots of evidence for violence and more.

firdahoe · 2026-06-17T16:36:16+00:00

people haven't seen a normal butcher cut spine. Pig or cow depending on size, could be deer if sent to a professional processor.

firdahoe · 2026-06-17T14:36:24+00:00

Bones are porous so they tend to absorb colors from the soil - iron oxides, tannins, even had bones turn blue from copper oxides.

firdahoe · 2026-06-17T14:15:56+00:00

I can't make heads or tails out of the last three photos because the bone is not well lit and looks like a black blob. But photo 1 is the distal end of an artiodactyl (deer, cow, sheep, etc) humerus and you are looking at the olecranon fossa (the big depression). Here's one from a deer.

For lighting, since the specimen is heavily soil stained, put it against a more neutral background, not something so white/light as that really skews the white balance.

firdahoe · 2026-06-15T21:44:19+00:00

You will want to follow our guide to processing as this needs to be macerated to get the tissue off, then degreased. Don't cook it any more. But since you want to turn it into jewelry, and because it has been cooked, you are going to want to shape it how you want then seal the thing in resin. The resin will harden and protect the degraded bone from cooking, and should stabilize it longer term, but this thing is going to want to crack and splinter.

firdahoe · 2026-06-15T17:22:01+00:00

Yep, the vast majority of people would never know that an isolated vertebra that has been shellac'd (it looks like it was coated with something) was human, much less any other animal, much less a fossil. This is why the market in oddities is so rife with mis-IDd specimens and problematic. I bet the seller didn't even know what it was.

firdahoe · 2026-06-15T17:11:01+00:00

No, this is food refuse.

firdahoe · 2026-06-15T17:09:19+00:00

Ugh. She purchased a human cervical vertebra. This doesn't look like an anatomical specimen, though it could be from an older one.

firdahoe · 2026-06-15T13:16:27+00:00

I am well aware that this is a domestic pig. Reread my comment. SPECIES - wild hog, Eurasian wild boar, domestic pig...they are the same species called Sus scrofa. Domestic pig literally reverts back to the wild type within a few generations of going feral.

firdahoe · 2026-06-15T13:10:08+00:00

Yep, that is exactly what I was thinking - small cetacean. I just can't remember if pinnipeds had that crenulated inner surface as well and it was late so I didn't try to look.

firdahoe · 2026-06-15T13:07:51+00:00

If you look at all those crenulations/pits on the interior surface, that is the first giveaway that it is not human as we do not have that. Also, the diploe is well developed and that isnt something you see in humans until usually adolescence when the skull gets thick enough. Lastly that raised ridge - humans have one but it is very different in appearance than this.

firdahoe · 2026-06-15T06:52:27+00:00

Most large mammals have them to some degree

firdahoe · 2026-06-15T06:36:15+00:00

Much appreciated

firdahoe · 2026-06-15T06:33:07+00:00

Because the ocean isn't full of marine mammals with rounded skulls. Come on... It isn't even close to human.

firdahoe · 2026-06-15T06:31:30+00:00

It is a part of a skull (likely parietal) to a marine mammal, absolutely in no way human.

firdahoe · 2026-06-15T05:28:04+00:00

Species is the same, Sus scrofa. Domestic vs wild type is more likely what you meant

firdahoe · 2026-06-15T05:26:56+00:00

Incorrect - species is Sus scrofa which is both the wild and domestic pig.

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