UPDATE: Figured it out – these are rail tie plates for railroads. They’d be attached to the tie and the rails would lay on top of them. I put two and three together when I found another one attached to a decaying tie used for a landscape boundary in the backyard. Why these were buried next to the house, I can’t say for sure – they quite possibly were forgotten during some renovation project.
I haven’t Googled that thoroughly, but anyone know what these things are? Heavy old metal, possibly iron, about ten inches long (each; there are two in these pictures, next to each other). These were uncovered while digging an inch below the grass, but I’ve found one of these lying around in my basement as well.
