Found a bone -archeology?

Question

I found a bone in my back yard

Question Details: It is brown , a small part on it was brittle and my mental mother broke it off . Its a small fragment of a large bone. A curved piece. It looks like a piece of rust. It is not white . Some parts of it are darker than others but its a dark rust color. Near it in the hole I dug to find it while planting a tree I find really old house pipes that are no longer used and have not been used for some time. I find it an indication that older houses were here but not an indication of how old the bone is. It may have been above or below this.

I have it in a zip lock bag I was planning on giving it to a teacher for carbon dating.

Do you think its worth it and is there any indication how old this bone is or if it belongs to a dog or a rabbit , whatever . I could post pictures in extended details if desired

Answer 1

The cost of carbon 14 tests starts at about $250. Checking the one company's website that simply state that they will send a quote.

As the bone has been exposed to air, and handled with bare skin, it's a contaminated sample. The results of carbon dating would be suspect or inaccurate.

Older houses often used the back yard as a refuse dump. However, more likley this is a dog bone or has been deposited by some similar means.

Carbon 14 doesn't give an exact date. You might get 1998 plus of minus 10 years. Which would place the bone as being from 1988 to 2008.

It would be better to research the plat (property where you found it) to determione who the owners were and what existed there previously. The local historical society would also be a source

Answer 2

Pictures may help.  Also you might want to go to your local library and university with some pictures of the bone and see if you can find a match in the books there.  Also if its a bone of an animal it would fall under paleontology or biology.

Answer 3

It's impossible to tell what kind of bone it is from what you type here. If it's human, then it could literally be anything from an ancient burial site to a murder scene. Otherwise, it's just an animal bone. I'm assuming you're a student who hasn't graduated high school yet, and that the teacher you talked about is a teacher at your school. If that's the case, here's what I'd do: Instead of giving it to one of my teachers, I'd call up the nearest university or community college and ask for their anthropology or archaeology department. I'd tell them I'm a student at such-and-such school and I recently found a bone in my backyard while planting a tree and I want to bring it in to see what kind of bone it is. Let them direct you to the right professor. This may sound cynical, but anthropology professors don't make a lot of money and they like to feel useful, so tell whoever end up helping you that you're seeking them out for their expertise. Eventually, you'll find someone who has expertise in this matter who can help you. Good luck!