Name/Title
Bone fragment of a Canadian Elk, before 1815, found in 1995Entry/Object ID
2021.108.1Description
Acc. No. 21.108.1
Subject Category: Environment; archeology
Date or Period: before 1815
Object: bone fragment
Description: bone fragment with knobs. A typed note accompanied the note detailing the provenance.
Size: approx. 2 x 2 inches.
History of Object: This bone fragment was dug up in October 1995, by Ken Mirto and Ted Forsch of Gansek Construction Company, while preparing a trench for run-off, in preparation to installing two lifts between the Children's Library building (the 'Foster' home), and the Alameda Main Branch building, 2264 Santa Clara Ave (aka the 'Carnegie library' building). The bone fragment was identified by Maureen Zogg, a graduate student of archeology at San Francisco State University, as a right distal femur of a young or immature Canadian Elk (Latin name, cervus canadensis). Canadian Elk have not been seen in the area since the advent of the Spanish in the early 1700s; the last recorded sighting of a native elk was in Marin in 1815. Elk were re-introduced into remote areas of California in the early 1900s. It is possible this bone fragment was originally part of a refuse heap connected to an old Native American burial mound.
Acquired from: unknown
Catalog Date: 9/27/2021
