Bone Fragment - North Canterbury

[6ix]

Found in a clay slip after a lot of rain, the slip is under a 100M cliff, that backs onto Dairy farm. (http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/45873-what-better-thing-to-do-over-easter-holiday/) At first thought it was a heavy bovine peice, but after soaking it in water and giving it a brushdown I think its is older.. perhaps whale?

The clay also holds flabellum and tusk shells in abundance.

For the photos I calabrated the cameras white balance, so the pictures are pretty true to colour with the slightly pink hue.

The sandy looking stuff on the left is some sort of mineralisation I think..

Odd pattern..

[Doctor Mud]

Could this be a Moa femur?

It could have been eroded from Pleistocene or Quaternary sediments.

Looks like the shaft with the ends removed.

[Auspex]

Here is one from a North Island Giant Moa, in my collection, for comparison:

[RichW9090]

The only thing that worries me on this one is that the break on one side of one of the ends is very straight.

[Dave pom Allen]

looks similar to moa bones i have found along beach exposures here in the north island

[6ix]

Perhaps a maori victim? I thought the holes in the "marrow" would be identifiable mammal vs avaian?

[RichW9090]

Moa are graviportal, very heavy animals - so their bone structure is in some ways less like birds with which you might be familiar. They have a much thicker cortical bone, and the cancelous tissue is dense, unlike the narrow long spicules you see in other modern birds.

Edited April 20, 2014 by RichW9090

[Doctor Mud]

Perhaps a maori victim? I thought the holes in the "marrow" would be identifiable mammal vs avaian?

Perhaps you are onto something here? Together with Rich's observation of the straight edge. This could be derived from a Maori coastal midden (trash) deposit.

It would be interesting to look for tool marks on the bone.

[6ix]

I'll be talking to John tomorrow, will see if he knows of any history - looking at Aupex's photos I am sure it's Moa as well.. If it's from a midden it may well be less than 500 years old..

[Auspex]

To me, the squareness of the breaks (in the absence of cut marks) means that the bone was not green when it broke.

[Boesse]

Might be speaking the obvious here, but that's not a whale bone. My vote goes for Moa.

[6ix]

Thanks for adding to the overwhelming majority Boesse - Moa it is!! Looking at the shape of the one from Auspex's collection I can imagine them making pretty useful hammers - would that shear them like that when they eventually failed? I cant Imagine an Haast biting through that much bone so am assuming human interaction and there are no other land predators that could have done it so either erosion artifact or human..

Great fun!