What is it?

[SCOMAN]

Was given this recently as a bit of a leaving 'gizzit' from a colleague at work. He's an antipodean and picked it up in his neck of the woods.

Q1 What is it?
Q2 What use could we envision for it out in the wild?

 

[spiritofold]

Looks like a fish bone?

 

[SimonM]

How big is it? Is it heavy?

Looks like a war boomerang (club) made of bone (jaw?) but no idea of scale so difficult to say.

Simon

EDIT:

Just looked up boomerangs and can't find any similar - so scratch that idea.

 

[sam_acw]

Would make a reasonable "sickle" like tool for collecting grasses for thatching.
Looks like some sort of bone to me but I've no better idea than that.

 

[stevemreid]

reminds me of the serated edges on a shark tooth but its obviously not that. Some sort of jawbone im guessing as well from some nasty fish. Rather strange gift especially if he's not told you what it is!

 

[SCOMAN]

Never thought to put something down for scale. It's only small about the size of a teaspoon handle.

 

[Tadpole]

Never thought to put something down for scale. It's only small about the size of a teaspoon handle.

I'd say it looks like the beak/bill of some kind of filter feeding bird, (just a guess, hard to tell only seeing it from one view)

 

[spiritofold]

You could make a good needle from it....

 

[Galemys]

Antipodean as in Australian or from New Zealand?
In what kind of area whas it found?
Is it only bone or are the serrations teeth (it doesn't look like real teeth)?
Is it symmetrical? (doesn't look like it)

I first thought of some kind of bony neck plate of a frilled lizard (the one that can raise a collarlike flap of skin to make itself look bigger, it lives in Australia) but can't find any picture of such plates, just one of a skull.

Intriguing find!

Tom

 

[SCOMAN]

It's a tiger shark tooth, my friend picked it up from a beach on Timor whilst conductin Ops over there. I think its great and with the serrated edge to the tooth it's cutting potential is obvious, skin, meat etc or a scraper for hides.

 

[spiritofold]

Never would have guessed a tooth!...

 

[Martyn]

It's a tiger shark tooth, my friend picked it up from a beach on Timor whilst conductin Ops over there. I think its great and with the serrated edge to the tooth it's cutting potential is obvious, skin, meat etc or a scraper for hides.

Good grief are you sure? It's huge. Biggest shark tooth I've ever seen.

 

[Galemys]

It's only small about the size of a teaspoon handle.

I wouldn´t want to meet the owner! (ah well, from a safe distance)

Nice puzzle though, thank´s for posting.

Cheers,

Tom