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Dear Hannah: At least some of the holes in this bone seem to have been drilled. Photo photobucket.com.../2.jpg leftmost hole (big shallow circle with deeper central pit) is the characteristic shape of an incomplete hole drilled by a spade bit. The central pit (formed by the spur in the middle of the spade bit) is usually more sharply tapered, so the bit was probably badly worn. The shallow holes to the right look like other holes started by the same badly-worn spur: it looks like somebody gave up drilling a hole with a brace and spade bit in about the same spot on the scapula after three attempts. Spade bits are notorious for chewing rough holes, especially when worn, and for knocking a wide rough cone out of the side opposite that from which the drilling was started when the bit emerges, so it might be that the complete hole, if drilled by a spade bit, went in through the side shown in photobucket.../1.jpg, and emerged through the side shown in photobucket../7.jpg. You could try duplicating this damage by drilling a scapula with a small spade bit. Why anybody should be drilling a scapula is anybody's guess. I can recall museum displays of whole skeletons held together by rods through drilled holes, but a scapula seems an odd bit to display. It seems these holes are a lot of effort for hanging the cut of meat by the shoulder-blade, and I think they are in the wrong spot, since (correct me if I am wrong, ZOOARCH!) meat-hook holes in scapulae tend to go through the thin part of the broad flat blade. Greg Campbell