FLAKE CUTTING TOOL
MAMMOTH BONE
BONE FLAKE NO. 81-81
LANGE FERGUSON SITE

SOUTH DAKOTA
COPYRIGHT OCTOBER 31, 2012 PETER A. BOSTROM
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COLLECTION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL LABORATORY, CENTER FOR WESTERN STUDIES
AUGUSTANA COLLEGE

    This bone flake is the best evidence of a mammoth bone tool that was found on the Lange Ferguson site. It was used in the butchering process of at least one of the Lange Ferguson mammoths.  It's described as a flake cutting tool. This tool was made from the diaphyseal (midsection) segment of a mammoth long bone. What makes it important is the fact that it was found tightly wedged, in a vertical position, into the cartilage area of the thoracic vertebra where it's believed it was being used to cut through connecting tissues. SEM (scanning electron microscope) analysis of the edge indicates that it was dulled from cutting activities.

Bone flake cutting tool, Lange Ferguson mammoth kill site.

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