Bison or Elk Scapula? Bone Hoe Artifact?

[Flash2015]

My son found this at a beach after a big storm in Santa Cruz, California. It was mixed in with a bunch of wood and hard to spot. I think this is a possible bone hoe artifact because of the even rounded edges at the end of the scapula???  Also..one side is "polished" (not the side shown in the pics). Seems too small for a bison but too big for an elk based on what I researched but I know nothing about animal bones. It's about 12 inches long and 6 inches across. Seems like this is a common fossil/artifact in the Midwest USA, but I did not see this as a common tool used by indigenous people on the US West Coast.  Any assistance would be much appreciated. If this is something of a rarity for the Central West Coast, or it is a significant artifact due to how complete or undamaged it is, we plan on handing it over to the museum of natural history in Santa Cruz. THANK YOU!!!!  

[ClearLake]

Actually, Elk does not look like an unreasonable choice.  The ID is made a bit more difficult by the worn, broken nature of it.  But the overall shape, the shape of the articulation point (picture 3) and overall size look fairly good for an elk.  I don't see any reason to  assume any sort of human use, it just looks like it has rolled around in the surf and sand and been eroded and broken.  I don't know if you currently have Elk in the area, but I'm sure they were present in the not too distant past.

[bedfordrn]

I'm thinking deer shoulder blade.

[bedfordrn]

[jpc]

if it was brought in (and beat up) by the sea, methinks it could be worn out by the sea as much as it could be early human use.  

[ClearLake]

22 minutes ago, bedfordrn said:

I'm thinking deer shoulder blade.

While the shape is certainly similar to a deer, the one in question is much too large for whitetail or mule deer based on modern examples. 

 

Average length of scapula (data from Gilberts "Mammalian Osteology" book):

White-tail Deer   175mm

Pronghorn          202mm

Elk                       245mm

Bison                   420mm

Moose                 440mm

 

The one in question is at least 280 mm (11 inches), so a bit bigger than your average elk.  The cow scapula I have is 12 inches long, so similar size, but distinctly different shape.

 

Equally important, if you look at the shape of the articulating surface (shown nicely in the third picture in this thread) it appears most similar to me to Elk or Moose.  Deer is too round and has that notch in the projecting "bump" on the left in the pictures below (red arrow).  I admit that there is plenty of wear and rounding on the one in question so some details are lost but hopefully you can get the general idea.  The book illustrates scapula from the left side and the one in question is from the right side but I don't think the comparison is too difficult.  So based on size and shape of the articulating surface, I think Elk is more likely.

 

[Randyw]

I agree that it's elk and natural and not human used...

[Mark Kmiecik]

I don't think there was much, if any, Native American agriculture west of the Rocky Mountains, so I doublt it is an artifact. If I were a Native American moving west, I wouldn't carry my plow with. I'd just kill a new one when I got there.