The upper part of the bone had been broken when it was fresh, whittled down with a stone tool, then notched to form a series of teeth.
Some Natives still make similar tools from moose leg bones.
They are used to remove excess tissue from the inside of a hide. The caribou flesher was radiocarbon dated, and is about 27,000 years old. It is the first evidence that people had occupied northwestern North America before the peak of the last glaciation.