Astragalus bone of unknown critter

[Farmishly]

 

Hi all, 

 

Apologies if I ruffle feathers with my ignorance of how things work around here but I did check out the posting guidelines. An initial and sound ID of the type of bone was made by the "Fossil Guy", Paul Murdoch, but it would be nice to narrow it down a little more than that. I've attached an archive of photos of all angles of the bone. The specimen weighs 99 g, and has overall dimensions of 77 mm * 52 mm * 39 mm, and I can do a displacement test to get its true density and volume if that helps with the ID.

The fossil (so far unverified IN PERSON but passes match and taste test; taking to the ROM in Toronto for ID next week) was found off the north coast of Prince Edward Island while snorkeling in August of this year. It looked like a chunk of electrical insulator half-buried in the sand, but when I dove down to retrieve it, I noticed that it didn't feel like any material I've ever handled before, so I took it back and let it dry. This was found in 50' proximity of 30' tall red sandstone cliffs, being eroded by the warming waters of the gulf of the St. Lawrence. Based on the red staining of the specimen, I suspect it's a part of a skeleton either distributed along the bottom of the ocean in the area or still in the side of the cliff. 

Any help in narrowing down the age and former owner of this bone would be much appreciated! I apologize for the zip file but it only contains images.

Thanks!
James

fossilphotoswithscale.zip

[Kane]

Could you post the photos directly here?

 

Edit: Tim to the rescue!

[Fossildude19]

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fossilus]

Bovine? 

[Harry Pristis]

 

Here are some bovid possibilities: 

 

 

 

 

[Creek - Don]

I'm sure that's a bison astragalus (ankle) bone.   I found same bone in the Dallas creek ( Pleistocene layer)  few months back.  

[Farmishly]

Thank you all so much, especially the most excellent admin for unzipping it for me and Creek - Don for his ID! this is all fascinating and new to someone who has been involved or interested in ... almost every other scientific discipline to some degree but had somehow overlooked how fascinating the forensic side of this is! 

I found an email address for the official archaeologist of Prince Edward Island. Is this worthy of bringing to their attention? There have been some interesting finds in the area in recent years. Now to find out how it got there and if there's any more of the skeleton. I don't have any memories learning about Bison living on the Island, but the chasms in my knowledge, understanding, and memory, seem to grow at the same rate as the grey hairs in my beard. There's just so much we've learned in so many different areas, the idea a single person could get a complete understanding of our collective understanding is clearly fantasy, but that alone is interesting; that the collective stored knowledge of the greater human organism is now far too detailed and nuanced for a single individual to grasp in its entirety. 

 

Sorry, my first fossil! and another sciencey hobby to keep me distracted from the ...uhhh... bad stuff  

Thanks again. This is a forum of giving and clearly invested individuals with REAL KNOWLEDGE of their 'craft', which is so rare on the internet these days. Nice to find a place that reminds me of the 1998 internet where it was almost only about sharing knowledge and understanding, from people that really know what they're talking about. Why people take the time to respond to a direct question they don't have a definitive answer for is hard to understand.

Looking forward to reading through these posts and getting acquainted with the science. Any textbooks I should be reading?

James