Any Archaeologists here?

[CouesWhitetail]

Well, my hubby and I were out checking some trail cams this evening when we noticed a white circular object in the bank of the creek. He asked me if it was a shell or something and I looked and thought it was bone. We looked at it some more and noticed the suture marks where the bones meet on the skull and wondered what kind of skull it was. I took a little stick and moved some dirt to try and find a jaw and then found a couple teeth that sure look human to me. The whole shape is human and I think it's ancient. The wear on the teeth look like you see on ancient indian skulls in museums. I think it's pretty cool.

 

It's underneath about 5 feet of soil and it doesn't really look like it was buried there since all the layers of dirt around it are intact. It's more like it washed down there and got covered with dirt over time, or just the force of a storm pushed the skull into the bank? I don't know. If any of you guys are trained archaeologists, let me know.

 

I'll report it to authorities and perhaps we can get an expert out there to figure out how old the skull is. Would be really cool to know, don't you think?

 

This is the overview, the skull is the white sphere near the bottom of the pic.

 

there were some peices on the dirt below the skull too.

 

 

 

suture marks on skull

 

 

 

you can see the two teeth showing in here on the left side of skull. I believe the skull is laying on it's right side,with front of skull (jaw) facing toward left side of photo.

 

 

 

 

View looking back toward bank and skull.

 

 

 

 

Amanda

[willhunt4coues]

I now have to go look at it thanks alot Amanda.

 

That is the coolest topic I have ever seen on here.

[bustedknuckleinc]

One in a million amanda. Thanks for shareing, Interested to see how this plays out keep us updated.

[CouesWhitetail]

I now have to go look at it thanks alot Amanda.

 

That is the coolest topic I have ever seen on here.

 

 

 

It's a pretty neat find. I have found lots of skulls before, but never human. I was of course tempted to unearth the whole thing to get a better look at it, but it's extremely fragile and I figured it's better to get someone who is trained in archaeology to look at it before it gets damaged.

 

It seems pretty old to me.

 

It amazes me that my husband and I have walked by this bank a zillion times in the last 6 months and not noticed it. We have even looked at other stuff right there on that bank and not seen the skull.

 

Amanda

 

 

[Switchback]

way cool grab it before the mansoons hit and wash it away

[COOSEFAN]

That's wild stuff Amanda! I'm always on the lookout for ancient things and can only imagine what i've walked over or around out there! Great pics and definitely keep us posted on what you find out. Hopefully you can be there when/if they do any excavation! JIM>

[DesertBull]

Jimmy Hoffa

[CouesWhitetail]

Jimmy Hoffa

 

 

LOL! Nice to have you back DB.

 

 

Amanda

 

[az4life]

I work with someone who spends a lot of time on the Nebraska riverbeds and along them. This is jsut what he described to me how he finds bones and such things after a good rain and runoff. He is more of an amateur but says he can pick out the spots just looking at geography. Seems the plains indians often lived near bends in the river and on one side. there are mounds that he looks for along the river which are often hear the settlements and usually burial grounds.

I forget now which side he said, but any way you slice it you have a Pretty neat find.

 

There may be more around the area. so keep looking!

[Gr8 White Jr]

That is amazing! I can't wait to hear what comes of it after experts look at it.

 

-Tracy

[Kilimanjaro]

Looks human to me... and old.. I've found a number of skulls and remains out here, but unfortunately, they've almost all been fairly fresh (work related) as in within 1 day to 1 month..I've only found one that was older (skeletal remains)..

[krp]

It very well could be a burial in an ancient ruin and the creek has cut into the patio where the burials are. If there is pottery on the ground and rock foundations close. Also look at the dirt above the bones, if there is small pieces of charcoal mixed in from close to the top to the bottom, it would be a burial. 5 ft is about right. Looks like alot of mixed dirt above, most likely it's in a ruin.

 

Kent

[NRS]

Definitely let the archaeologist for that area know. there was one that someone found that turned out to be unique in that it was 2 "enemy" that had been caught and tortured and had over 100 arrowheads in their bodies. If it had not been professionally excavated,all of that information would have been lost.

[Chef]

That's pretty cool.

 

A few have touched on points I wanted to make.

Sometimes burial grounds were adjacent to river beds.

As the creek changed course or grew larger through time,

it washed up closer to the remains. As you can see in the

picture, you can find these things at curves or elbows in the

wash. They are a lot of times that this is exactly the

unearthing mode in which it will progress until all is washed down stream.

 

I look for things like this at every wash I walk. I've yet to come across

one. My relatives in Mexico used to tell us stories as kids and how

many people were buried with gold and treasures. Guess, subconsciously

that's why I keep looking! Better get to it!

 

(before the monsoon takes it like others have said)

[krp]

It is almost certainly a 800 yr old skeleton, and more than likely a burial in a ruin. There are thousands of Salado ruins in the Globe, Tonto Basin, Cherry Creek area and Anasazi stretching north well into Colorado where there's an estimated 20,000 ruins around Dolores, Co. I have found one roomers to 100 roomers. Every ruin had someone live their life there and many had deaths and burials there also. The dead were buried in the patios to keep them close. In large multi generational ruins that were established for a couple hundred years there could be 100 burials or more. Many times they dug down and hit an older burial and would put the new one on the bottom and the old remains scattered on top. There is always tiny pieces of charcoal mix in the dirt, maybe a religious meaning.

 

Many times hunting I'll find a ruin on the lower slopes overlooking Tonto Basin, usually a 2 to 4 roomer. I'll stand there and look out towards the Tonto and Salt arms and Rosy. Imagining the site someone else had of those monster ruins below with the fires in the evenings spread out as the darkness approachs and the 100,000 souls going about their daily lives in the hayday. It must have been something, it must have been full of hardship, life was probably short, your world would have been small, Happiness and joy were probably, fleeting and treasured, at best. I wish I could go back and see but not live it.

 

Kent