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So I have had this on my desk for a couple years and finally got around to bothering a local paleontologist about it, because it's a bit unique for the location. I have never knowingly handled guaranteed fossilized bone before but other hobbyists who have handled it have said it is. Now, they've also said a lot of other things that I know aren't bone were bone, so... we'll see what I hear back! At any rate, what do you all think? Am I asking a silly question? My end of the Clarno formation is not known for mammal fossils but we're within reasonable distance, in Oregon terms, of the mammal digs. I picked it up as float in a creek bed thinking it was an antler tip. I have handled enough extant bone and antler to be reasonably certain it isn't that! (No I didn't lick it.) It might seem silly to get excited about an unidentifiable little chip in a creek, but when "there aren't any fossil bones out there" might be disproven... well, it's fun.

While out wandering with friends in Clarno vicinity (the town, but probably also the formation; well away from the Palisades and on public land open to rockhounding and collection,) we came across some really vibrant, bright petrified wood, quite unusual for the area. The source tree looks like it's encased in a coarse ash or tuff, with a "shell" of harder material. The wood looks agatized but is still very brittle, too brittle for lapidary application but gorgeous for display; lot of opalized areas and mineralization. I tried to get back far enough to get a solid round but was unsuccessful (read: it was windy and I got lazy!) There was a scattering of other wood in the area, of varying levels of preservation; the formation wasn't rich with it by any means. No observed leaf fragments. Most of petrified wood we get out here is carbon-black, poorly preserved or just little brown float fragments, so finding something this bright made for an exciting day.

I came across this piece while searching for petrified wood a little over a month ago. I've been reaching out to various professionals and universities, and while folks have found the specimen fascinating, no one has been able to offer much of an explanation as to how this could have occurred since the soft-bodied creature would have had to leave an imprint that survived the many-year silification of the wood. Bore holes are apparently common in wood, but nothing with this level of texture/detail. Some have proposed the idea that the imprint was left in sap or a fine "paste" made from pulp, which then hardened and when through cell-replacement along with the surrounding wood. Others have proposed it could be the result of the tree growing in around a bone fragment, etc... Very curious to hear from those who have seen this sort of thing before! I'm also excited to be making my first post as a FF community member. Rock- and fossil-hunting are a new hobby for me, and I'm loving it!