It can not be overemphasized how cool it was to find this cow bone in the Native storage pit. The pit was located right in front of the front door of the Taylor’s house and it is hard to believe that some trace of it would not have been visible when Richard Taylor moved to the property. The bone had to have come from a European cattle (cow, bull, steer, ox) and the first cattle came to New England in 1624. While it is possible that the Natives who lived at the site had traded for the cattle part from Plymouth or even Massachusetts bay, it is much more likely that it was acquired from one of the local settlers after Yarmouth was founded ca. 1639. It seems symbolic that this European animal was deposited within a Native pit, possibly the spring right before Richard Taylor moved to the site.
The fragments found are shown above compared to a modern cattle radioulna.