Bone found near Santa Fe could be part of ancient history

Potentially interesting news about an old bone found in a truck full of soil and gravel near Santa Fe: It could be a really old bone — like hundreds of thousands of years. The bone in question is a tibia (that's a leg bone, in case you've forgotten) found in a dump truck last week, and though the jury is still out on its age, it looks like it could belong to someone who lived in these parts long, long ago.

Dr. Joan Bytheway, a forensic pathologist and Sam Houston State University assistant professor, examined the bone Friday. She said the bone could have been attached to a living person as recently as 10 years ago, but was likely much older.

“X-rays showed a substantial amount of damage from environmental factors,” she said. “That doesn’t mean there was one incident that damaged the bone. It indicates it was there for a substantial amount of time.”

Bytheway equated the damage with “wear and tear,” damage accrued over many years. She said she would take the bone to Houston’s Museum of Natural Science, where she hoped geologists and other experts would pin down the origins and timeframe of the bone.

The soil and gravel in which the bone was found came from local quarries and was being unloaded by crews working on a house on — yes, this is true — Cemetery Road just outside Santa Fe. The tibia was taken to the medical examiner's office for testing: Even though it appears to be really old, officials didn't want to risk overlooking evidence of a more recent death. Even so, Galveston County Chief Medical Examiner Stephen Pustilnik said the bone is likely "hundreds of thousands of years old."

Test results are expected from the Museum of Natural Science within two weeks.