It turns out bones unearthed Monday in the basement of the old Butler Hospital could have been someone's dinner long ago.

"They looked like cow ribs and from a steak bone," said Dr. Dennis Dirkmaat, a forensic anthropologist from Mercyhurst College in Erie County, who made his conclusion by way of photographic examination.

Construction workers renovating the former Butler Hospital at the corner of South Main Street and Route 8 uncovered the bones.

The origin of the bones — human or animal — was not immediately known.

Butler police were notified. Next, a call was placed to the Butler County Coroner's office.

"The bones were in one of the small rooms in the basement," said Denny Trzeciak, a deputy coroner. "They looked like little ribs bones and bones you'd find in the spinal column."

The workers were digging in a basement area not known as being used as the former hospital's morgue when they uncovered several bones.

Authorities later turned to Dirkmaat, who is regularly consulted by law enforcement agencies in Western Pennsylvania for such occasions.

Police took photographs of the bones. Those photos were e-mailed to Dirkmaat for his expert opinion.

He concluded the bones were from an animal, likely a cow.

Dirkmaat noted there are a number of animal bones — especially ribs — that are routinely mistaken for human remains.

Eagle staff writer Kelly Garrett contributed to this report.