Home Bone - Giant Ox or Bison

Bone - Giant Ox or Bison

Object

fossil

Object number

1991.1032

Physical Description

Knuckle fossil bone. "fossil bone; cream, one end knuckle, paper label glued on, also 'Stoke Newington 1960' in ink, (lower leg bone/ 'Cannon' bone).

Object history

This part of a bovid's lower leg was discovered 20ft below the ground during tunnelling operations during September and October 1960 for the construction of the new Evering Road sewer. It was found about 20ft below ground, between Maury Road and the railway bridge.

The animal remains found at the site included six complete molar teeth, the front section of a Jaw, parts of a skull, and fragments of vertebrae of the Straight Tusked elephant ( (see 1991.810, 1991.381, 1991.382), this leg bone, a rhino vertebra (1991.1033) and the tooth of a wild horse, now in the British Museum.

The finds were made by workmen, and reported to the British Museum by Mr Howard Lewis, an amateur geologist who lived nearby and who made regular visits to the excavation in order to record the deposits exposed there.

Documents related to the discovery are held by the Natural History Museum, Ref. DF PAL/129/5/4/156

Associated Place

Material

bone

Dimension

Height (Whole): 175mm
Width (Whole): 45mm
Depth (Whole): 90mm

On display?

No

Inscription

Stoke Newington 1960
Either Giant Ox or Bison (Bos sp or Bison sp) Distal end of Metatarsal