Red River partial fossilized Bison skull with hole in it

[kingcobb]

A former 4-Her of mine found this and knew I liked fossils so he sent it my way.  It's a fairly large partial skull.  From what I have read on here, I imagine it is bison bison as opposed to bison antiquus.  The tips of the horns are 22 inches apart and if you tie a string between the tips it is exactly 2 inches above the skull.

 

It isn't complete like a lot of the others they have found, but I really like it.

 

The strange thing I am curious about is the hole in the forehead.  He thought it might be a bullet hole, but I would think it would have done more damage than just break the surface of the skull off.  Plus, it being fossilized I would think it would predate guns in the area?  Not sure on how long fossilization/mineralization takes.  If I had to guess I would figure at some point in its time in the Red, it hit something and caused it to breakoff the plate right there.  Of course it could always be cause of death trauma, but again I would think it would have damaged the area below the surface as well.  Anyway thought I would share.  I have also attached some of my Megalodon teeth I have acquired.  A couple of nice ones and one big one that was polished and cheap.

 

Edited October 18, 2019 by kingcobb

[Harry Pristis]

 

I agree: The damage to the crown is high-point wear. 

 

For species comparison:

 

 

[coled18]

Kind of late, but the skull seems to be beveled around the hole which leads me to think that the chip pre-dated the bison's death. The bone itself seems to have had some time to re-grow/inflame in reaction to the damage. Bovidae usually use the thicker, higher point on their skull to headbutt but it is certainly possible this one took a hit to the lower part of the skull which is what chipped it.