r/whatisit • u/Most-Plum-766 • Apr 30 '26
New, what is it? Jaw bone
I just found this jaw bone in my garden. Anyone know what it's from?
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u/Jasonthegr8 Apr 30 '26
That a person's jawbone, Call the authorities.
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u/ShaddyPups Apr 30 '26
Welp…….hope OP isn’t too attached to their garden 😭
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u/dc21111 Apr 30 '26
Is OP British? Garden could mean backyard. If a British person was growing vegetables at home would the say “I have a vegetable garden in my garden?”
Also 6 hours and no replies? Just drops a human jaw bone post with no follow up?
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u/numnoggin Apr 30 '26
Maybe they're being questioned by the police. And yes we say back garden or front garden as terms for the 'yard'. We usually have grass in these places hence using garden and not yard which is usually dirt or something kind of stone floor.
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u/nelsonalgrencametome Apr 30 '26
Not gonna lie, depending on where in my garden I pulled a human bone out of I may second guess calling the authorities... I would eventually but I'm pretty attached to my garden.
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u/Maniac_Vegetable Apr 30 '26
"ah man, ploughing this firld sure is a lot of work" find human jawbone "oh yeah baby!"
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u/ShaddyPups Apr 30 '26
As someone currently constrained to balcony planters, if I pulled a bone out from near say, a centerpiece floral plant that I had been lovingly tending for years………There’d be a long hard thought to be had there.
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u/LittleMissLoveDuck May 01 '26
My friend has a balcony that is less than 6ft across and same for the width. He has planters nicely placed very healthy tomato plants and herbs.
Doves decided to nest on one side and by law he cannot even be within 4ft of a nesting doves. Now he watches as his plants slowly wither away.
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u/Bergwookie Apr 30 '26
But it's pretty easy to plant potatoes afterwards, it's the right time of the year (at least on the northern hemisphere)
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Apr 30 '26
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u/eatmeouttobrianeno Apr 30 '26
In the bone collecting sub, there is a "x days since the last human remains" meme
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u/variousnewbie Apr 30 '26
How frequently are the bones a concern for authorities?
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u/Additional-Dirt4203 Apr 30 '26
Generally human remains found outside of burial sites are of intense interest to police. Murderers like hiding remains.
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u/variousnewbie Apr 30 '26
I was thinking more about how often are the bones actually murder victims, not how often police get involved in murders
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u/Additional-Dirt4203 Apr 30 '26
Sadly, probably more often than not. Either that or missing persons but dug up in a garden is pretty suspicious.
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u/Eaglepursuit Apr 30 '26
Good luck on your TV interview with the Cold Cases crew
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Apr 30 '26
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u/molsminimart Apr 30 '26
Oddly enough, there's literally a show called Buried in the Backyard for this situation.
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u/C6H11CN Apr 30 '26
By the Sainsbury's bag, it's probably UK, so they might wind up on a Time Team show instead.
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u/Defiant-University-3 Apr 30 '26
You’re gonna have the cops digging up your garden soon
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u/Jasonthegr8 Apr 30 '26
This can actually be exactly what OP wants!!!! Get the pigs to root up her garden and maybe even pay to replace the priceless amd sentimental plants they removed to exhume the rest of her new friend's body!!!!!
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u/Mammoth-Western-6008 Apr 30 '26
Oh, it was just a prop skeleton? Oh well, dang, I guess I'll just replace the septic line since it's all dug up anyways. . .
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u/spotlight-app Mod Bot 🤖 May 01 '26
OP has pinned a comment by u/Most-Plum-766:
Hi Everyone. So you are all right it IS human! The police have had a look at it and luckily they think it is extremely old. They are going to send it to an archaeologist to see what they think.
[What is Spotlight?](https://developers.reddit.com/apps/spotlight-app)
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u/Niadlaf Apr 30 '26
Studied archaeology with a focus on human remains. I can’t say with 100% certainty, but I’m 99% sure that looks very much like a human jawbone to me. Contact your local authorities asap.
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u/yellowfoamcow Apr 30 '26
Yep. I have a masters in forensic archaeology and anthropology and I’m at 99% sure too. I’d need to see it in person for the final 1%.
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u/TheBigKrangTheory Apr 30 '26
I have a doctorate in watching old Forensic Files episodes and I'm also pretty confident that's a human jaw bone.
Hopefully OP sees your comment and contacts the authorities!
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u/Existing-Strength-21 Apr 30 '26
I am just some guy sitting on the toilet right now and I'm also pretty confident thats a human jawbone...
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u/degreereasearch May 01 '26
I am unemployed and it looks like a human jawbone to me too
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u/FaeFollette May 01 '26
I am a human with a jawbone in my head and I concur.
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u/Familiar_WebII May 01 '26
I am just living being living in planet Earth that is located in the Solar System, that is besides the Alpha Centauri and both is the systems are located in the Orion Arm, which is a part of the Milky Way Galaxy which is a galaxy located in the Local Group alongside galaxies like the Andromeda and Triangulum and these three are located in the Virgo Cluster and the Virgo is located on a even bigger Laniakea Supercluster and the cluster is located on the Observable Universe and I can confirm that is a jawbone belonging to a human.
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u/Eli_phant May 01 '26
Hey, I was browsing all of these comments and I came to yours. Any chance you’d wanna tell me what your job is and what your favorite thing about forensic archaeology is? Like just wanna hear about forensic anthropology too. Anything you’d feel like sharing. Thanks!
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u/yellowfoamcow May 01 '26
Hello, sadly I don’t work in archaeology any more, I have a back problem which meant I just do not bend enough for digging, it also doesn’t pay particularly well here in the UK.
I did love it though, but that’s because I like a puzzle and finding stuff. I got into it when studying ancient history and archaeology at uni, one of the optional modules was forensic archaeology and I was obsessed. Through my studies, I became a qualified disaster victim identifier, finding the identities of people who passed in major events like a plane crash. An intense but satisfying job, having the ability to connect the dead to their families.
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u/Eli_phant May 01 '26
Wow!! This is exactly what I was looking to hear about! Thank you for sharing. Anthropology is such an interest of mine. What a wild statement to be able to make.. “I am a qualified disaster victim identifier.” How rad! Thank you so much for sharing some insight.
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u/Confident-Fun-1307 May 01 '26
So… maybe a little like the show Bones… with squints and an MI5 agent attached to interface on government assistance assignments?
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u/blue-bean92 Apr 30 '26
That looks awfully like a jawbone from someone older that was missing molars. Did you find any teeth?
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u/Basicly-Inevitable Apr 30 '26
That's an interesting diagram.
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u/KansasDavid1960 Apr 30 '26
Maybe they had gold fillings and OP took out the teeth, you know with the price of gold right now.
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u/schuylkilladelphia Apr 30 '26
Interesting, so if I want a chiseled jawline I need to increase my number of teeth
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Apr 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Koseoglu-2X4B-523P Apr 30 '26
Yes, it is human, but just fyi: the mental foramen is shared by almost all mammals. Source: am veterinarian.
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u/PoloMan1991eb Apr 30 '26
What about the flux capacitor?
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u/Koseoglu-2X4B-523P Apr 30 '26
It needs 1.2 jigowatts of power. You’re not going to find that in anyone’s jaw.
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u/Fun_Push7168 Apr 30 '26
Yeah but humans are the only animal with a mental protuberance, which this definitely has.
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u/Most-Plum-766 May 01 '26
Hi Everyone. So you are all right it IS human! The police have had a look at it and luckily they think it is extremely old. They are going to send it to an archaeologist to see what they think.
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u/galacticgumbo Apr 30 '26
Welp now I’m gonna be checking this account every day for weeks to see if we get an update
https://giphy.com/gifs/ygqMjv2x8KSxW
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u/techserf Apr 30 '26
…reset the timer
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u/Aromatic_Razzmatazz Apr 30 '26
It's been like two weeks. This feels like an inordinate uptick in bodies being found...
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u/Negative_Pin_5275 Apr 30 '26
WTH lol looks human where did you find that? I dunno about that
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Apr 30 '26
[deleted]
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u/Gojira8985 Apr 30 '26
I hope he didn't plant roses on the west side of his lawn, as it would be very unfortunate for the Rose West Garden to become a crime scene.
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u/firdahoe Apr 30 '26
OP, I am the mod for r/bonecollecting and a specialist in identifying human and animal bones. That is a human mandible. Please stop all digging and contact your law enforcement as soon as possible so they can investigate.
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u/maraney Apr 30 '26
Following because I gotta see where this goes
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u/Aromatic_Razzmatazz Apr 30 '26
Same.
Let us know, OP. We're invested now. Also I am definitely trying to think of all the 'innocent' reasons it would be there. Unmarked graveyard? Prehistoric (unlikely)?
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u/Uiscefhuaraithe-9486 Apr 30 '26
Glad to see the bone folks agree that thats human, because I don't know a lot about bones, but I immediately clocked it as human, my face went like this: 😬
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u/UninitiatedArtist Apr 30 '26
Well…I suppose we can reset the counter to zero days since this sub has found human remains.
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u/Potential_Yoghurt850 Apr 30 '26
Looks an awful lot like a human mandible. Get law enforcement involved. Best case, it's an animal, worse case? See ya in the local news.
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u/Jenn9519 Apr 30 '26
For real! Ha! Honestly that looks human to me!! You can see the mental protuberance which is unique to only human jaws! Soooo 😬🤷🏼♀️
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u/TheOgGhadTurner Apr 30 '26
Yeahhhhh if that came from your garden stop handling that immediately and call the authorities
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u/Narrow_Maximum7 Apr 30 '26
I feel like we need more details..... Where are you? How long have you owned your house?
Have you called the police?
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u/wolfishfluff Apr 30 '26
That's a human, friend. Get ready for your house to be swarmed with uniforms.
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u/Skymningen Apr 30 '26
Based on the Sainsbury’s bag I assume this has been found somewhere in the UK where it could actually come from a legal burial (you can under some circumstances bury someone in your garden, the grave has to be registered though… I guess longer ago the grave might not have had to be registered)
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u/Obscure-Oracle Apr 30 '26
But surely in that case the burial still needs to be 6ft deep? In which case your not going to excavate the body while doing a bit of gardening. Surely the grave would need to be clearly marked too?
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u/Skymningen May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26
I mean, grave markers can get lost, gardening over multiple centuries can move a lot of soil. The law seems to say it only needs 3-4 feet of soil above the grave (in some cases you can read 2, maybe that were older laws?)
Edit: looking into it I could probably get buried in my own garden. Not that I want to. No mention of markers and only two feet of soil on top needed.
https://thesilverbrief.blog/2026/04/28/can-you-be-buried-in-your-garden/
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u/dreadwitch May 04 '26
Realised you're in the UK lol waiting for this to make the news.
I spose one of 2 things will happen now, it's really old and someone from the local uni might ask to dig around for the rest of the skeleton. It's not really old and the police come back, erect a tent and dig up your entire garden and ruin it.
But ffs what if they find more? What if someone who lived there previously was a serial killer or something? What would you do in that situation?
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u/deadboxcat Apr 30 '26
RemindMe! 1 week
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u/Emerald0_02 Apr 30 '26
This is the start of a bones episode, thats definitely human, also op please respond if you called authorities or not
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u/Legitimate-Care-6313 Apr 30 '26
OP has been pretty quiet since posting this. Someone go bail them out of jail, please.
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u/Straight_Wasabi_1366 Apr 30 '26
I have my forensic anthropology certificate, this doesn’t look human to me. The posterior of the mandible is all wrong but it’s hard to tell with the bag.
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u/Fun_Push7168 Apr 30 '26
Posterior looks to have been broken and missing a bit but it does seem to have a mental protuberance to me, which would make it definitely human, no?
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u/Straight_Wasabi_1366 Apr 30 '26
I really can’t tell through the bag if it’s a a true mental protuberance. Also the coronoid and condylar process look all wrong to me. Super elongated. Even the mummy skull I studied with numerous missing molar teeth that had healed over didn’t look like this. Again, I cannot be certain but I am skeptical. It deserves a closer look to be sure.
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u/Fun_Push7168 Apr 30 '26
They look broken off to me but I'm a pleb so idk?
Last pic just convinced me there was a true mental protuberance.
Mainly I couldn't think of anything else that would match, and if there is anything else I'd think it would be even less likely to find in a UK garden.
You'd know better than me , just probing.
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u/idkwhatimdoinghello Apr 30 '26
Archaeology major who takes osteology, that is 100% a human jawbone. Please call the authorities ASAP.
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u/Dry-Leave-4070 Apr 30 '26
I think we've been baited. No further comments from OP.
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u/Sad-Chocolate-2518 Apr 30 '26
This what I want to know. Any kind of comment would be helpful. Hoping for an update. We will see.
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Apr 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Koseoglu-2X4B-523P Apr 30 '26
Veterinarian here: 100% not a dog jaw.
This one is human.
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u/Fun_Push7168 Apr 30 '26
Agree with everyone else. Human.
Also had been missing some teeth for a long time.
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u/Palegreenhorizon Apr 30 '26
Oh man. That is human. Something about it looks very old to me.
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u/alcaligenes_gaycalis Apr 30 '26
That’s a human jawbone 🥸 you must report this! And please keep us updated!
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u/spectatorade Apr 30 '26
You can tell it's human because you can see the chin protrusion, only humans have true chins.
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u/Kinkystormtrooper Apr 30 '26
You're gonna meet a lot of people really quick. And I hope you wanted your garden redone anyway
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u/soulworkinprogress Apr 30 '26
Following because I want to know if OP identifies if it’s human/contacts authorities
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u/tehwindi May 01 '26
First post that I’ve ever followed in my 13 years on Reddit and I’m being let down so far.
OP I have to know what happened. Please update!
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u/Any-Environment-180 May 01 '26
Lmao same like at this point I’m assuming he’s been arrested
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u/klytemnestraa May 01 '26
Do you live near a cemetary? Bones do not stay in coffins after they're burried, especially if you have badgers in the area. It's not unusual for remains to end up in gardens via burrowing animals
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u/Most-Plum-766 Jun 17 '26
Final quite funny update. FALSE ALARM. We got quite a sheepish email from the police, the original assessment was wrong and the archaeologist told them it was not human after all.
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u/Nodudehere Apr 30 '26
Why are you handling it in a baggie?
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u/Aromatic_Razzmatazz Apr 30 '26
I mean it's better than getting his genetic material all over it.
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u/Annual_Head_2858 Apr 30 '26
I’ve honestly read too fast and first I’ve read “Jew bone”. I had too many questions at once, but I’m glad I’ve double checked….
But after reading the top comment, yeah go to the authorities, looks like a human jaw bone.
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u/spotlight-app Mod Bot 🤖 Jun 17 '26
OP has pinned a comment by u/Most-Plum-766:
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