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Showing results for tags 'meladon'.
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I got a this fossil piece that is supposedly "Melodon major". with the knowledge that local people would always try to put the broken and/or deformed pieces together, just to make it look more appealing in the market. It seems to me that the occlusion of the front teeth looks "original", and so does the skull, as the cervical vertebra was not visible until I removed the clays (I assume people would not fake something that is not visible). The cheekbone looks kind of unnatural and was probably "assembled", as it is protruding and tends to break off. However, the lower jaw bones, or at least one side of it, looks too big to fit the upper one. I removed the clays beneath it to reveal the plaster in it, so I know at least the clays is not original. People had to stuff in a lot plaster (maybe just to provide the strength). My question is, could the lower jaw bone (or one side if it, as the two sides look quite different) is from another individual melodon, or even some other species (like some dog)? Is the occlusion really convincingly "natural". I am uploading a few pics here first. I could do more "trimming" and take more photos if needed for ID.