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I have spent many hours on this forum, but this is the first time I am posting because this inner ear bone has me completely stumped. It is the first inner ear bone I have found, and it appears to be the periotic of a small/medium cetacean. I see strong similarities with some dolphins and pygmy sperm whale specimens also pulled from the Peace River in Arcadia, FL, but none that really match up. I am new to identifying anything beyond teeth, but I was excited to find this and would love to have a better idea of what animal it is from.

Is this a tooth? Any help is appreciated.

Found this in the Peace River in the spring and have been trying to find something to compare it to ever since. Haven't been able to find anything like it. It has the appearance of shell or coral. The color is a dull gray and it has the look and feel of metal. Don't know if it is any type of fossil or just a suggestive "something". If anyone has seen anything similar or has any idea what it is your input would be appreciated.

Found this specimen in an area of the Peace River where I have found partial Mammoth, Mastodon & Gomp teeth. Also have found a small piece of fossil ivory nearby. I think this latest find is a piece of a tusk. Any input from those with more experience would be appreciated. Thanks!

Sorry to create three separate posts here, I just thought trying to get it all on one would get jumbled and confusing. I feel confident these last two are bone but have not been able to come up with an idea as to what they could be. The first specimen has indents on both ends but is clearly not hollow. Second specimen appears almost ear shaped. Any input/suggestions would be helpful and appreciated.

Two additional finds from the Peace River this week. The first I believe to be a Tilly Bone/Fish Ballast. But looking closer once I got it home, I thought it had the look of enamel. I also noticed striations that appeared to circle the specimen. That said I hope someone here can give me an ID. The second item is what I believe to be a small vertebrate. Any input on this would also be appreciated.

Attached photos are a bone I found Tuesday in the Peace River. I am leaning toward antler from research I have done thus far. Please forgive me if the photos are a little blurred. I think they may be sufficient for an ID. Any help with ID would be appreciated.

Wanted to share a bit if a surprise from my visit to the Peace River the first week of Oct. I posted a trip report earlier from that visit, but left this specimen out. At the time I wasn't sure what it was and was leaning toward - just a suggestively shaped rock. Being a novice fossil hunter I am still hesitant in making any fossil id's. So I dug this thing up out of the river and gave it a serious look. It was heavy, dense and looked a lot like bone to me. I couldn't come up with what kind of a bone it could be and was thinking it was just my creative imagination. It was most likely just a rock. I placed it on the bank and went back to digging. At the end of the day I gave it another look and decided not to take it home. But, I did place it back under water in a spot where I could find it again. I thought I would do some searching on line and see it I could find something similar. Fast forward two weeks. Back at the river digging in the same spot I pulled the item out and looked it over again. Placed it on the bank still trying to decide if I should take it. Later in the day while still digging away I was surprised to see a fellow Fossil Forum member appear - @Shellseeker! I took the opportunity to show him the item. He agreed that it did appear to be bone. He thought it had to be from a large animal, but was not able to hazard a guess as to what. At that point I decided taking it home for further investigation was warranted. After getting the specimen home photos with measurements were taken and sent off to Dr Hulbert at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Dr Hulbert responded within a few hours saying that from the photos he thought it could well be bone, possibly dugong. But he did not rule out that it was just an oddly shaped piece of phosphate as it looked solid from the initial photos. As luck would have it, I was due to travel to Tallahassee from south Florida this past Friday. I asked Dr Hulbert if he would take a look at the item in person if I stopped in at his UF office on the way. He agreed and I visited him Friday. Upon looking at the specimen he related it was clearly bone, much larger and heavier then he thought from the photos. He then stated that based on its size the only thing it could be is Proboscidean. Further, that the only bone with the weight and density to match would be the jaw. So, what I could not decide was or was not a rock turns out to be a section of the jaw bone of a Mammoth or Mastodon as determined by Dr Hulbert. I feel mighty lucky to have found this specimen to go along with the Mammoth and Mastodon partial teeth I found earlier this year. I also feel extremely lucky to have found this great forum that is full of such knowledgeable members. A special thank you to @Shellseeker for floating by unexpectedly and giving me his opinion on the questionable specimen! Attached are a couple of pictures of the section of jaw bone.

I found this bone in the Peace River on my last visit before the recent storm. Hoping to get some help with an identification and don't really know if that is even possible. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.

I've posted this fossil a few times on the forum to mixed results, lacking a definitive answer. Through some more in depth internet searching I now believe this fossil which I found back in February of 2018 on the Peace River in Florida is a worn osteoderm belonging to Holmesina or a close relative. I want to see if others agree with this idea. It's about 2.5 cm across.

I am having a tough time coming up with what these two teeth are. When I first pulled them out of the river I thought horse. Then looking closer I began to question that assumption because of the hollowness seen in both. Looking on line and through my Neophyte's Guide I then found a similar looking Sirenia molar. But then I also found a Neohipparium Eurystyle unerupted lower molar that looked like a possibility. Any help clarifying the ID on these would be appreciated.

Out hunting today. Interesting location. Mostly marine, but did pick up some Equus teeth at the end. I have a couple of Sawfish verts. Is this another ?

The last couple of fossil hunting seasons on the Peace River have been pretty short and limited. In 2017 Hurricane Irma made a mess of Florida and pretty much ran directly over the Peace River causing unbelievable flooding in the area (Canoe Outpost in Arcadia had to rebuild their office after the waters rose to waist-deep). Last season frequent periodic heavy rains kept spiking up the river level anytime it got down near levels that would have permitted decent fossil hunting. Both seasons were very brief but persistent fossil hunters (driven nearly mad from the waiting) did manage to pull some nice fossils from the rivers and creeks despite the limited opportunities. This season Florida seems to have relocated the switch for the secret hurricane repulsion device and we have been spared any storms. The northern Bahamas sadly were not so lucky and that is a continuing mess that will take more than a year to try to recover from. I remember a time nearly a decade ago when the vagaries of the weather patterns conspired to put Florida into drought conditions. It was a weird year for weather all around. We had a strong blast of cold air from the north that, instead of being repelled quickly, held on for an extended period. This caused enormous fish kills in Florida Bay where the shallow waters quickly cooled below the tolerance of many species and stuck around long enough to make a severe impact. I worked on a project monitoring coral reef health on the Florida reef tract which usually looks for coral bleaching and mortality during the peak-of-summer water heating events. It was a mild year for bleaching but corals are also susceptible to temps below their liking and an estimated one sixth of all corals in the Florida reef tract died during that two-week period over the winter of 2009-10 (some reefs experienced a 75% reduction in corals). In 2010 the rainy season failed to appear as expected and by autumn we were under water conservation restrictions with limits on the days that we could water to try to resurrect our brown hay into lawns. I can remember being in the Peace River nine years ago to the day on Sunday, 10-10-10 near Arcadia. The river was so low that it was virtually impossible to navigate without getting out and dragging the canoe over large sandbars only a few inches deep. It was an interesting time to see parts of the bottom of the Peace River that were normally hidden by deep dark water. It was early enough in my fossil hunting experience that I likely did not take appropriate advantage of the deeper holes which might have produced some prizes that were normally off limits. http://www.canoeoutpost.com/peace/showpage.asp?page=waterlevel I just checked the Canoe Outpost water level page and the river is at their "normal" datum point. This is when the level of their floating dock aligns with their fixed dock. Fossil hunting usually starts about a foot below this and gets really good about two feet below. If we can avoid any late season hurricanes we might have an early start and (finally) a nice long fossil hunting season in South Florida. I'm assuming that the Florida regulars @jcbshark @Sacha @Shellseeker @Bone Daddy and others are keeping their eyes on the water levels and hoping for a productive season to make up for the last two. Looking forward to seeing an over-abundance of nice finds this season. Cheers. -Ken

Picked this up from the Peace River last week. Started to toss it to the bank thinking - another piece of dugong - then I noticed striations on all sides and both ends. They don't appear to be cross - hatch (Schreger-Patterns) but raised my curiosity to a level that made me keep it in the hopes of an ID. The lines are hard to see in the photos but are dashes (- - - - - - ) in most cases and sometimes form a vee pattern. Any input would be appreciated.

Picked up the below partial tooth on the first trip to the Peace River for the new season on Friday. Was pretty sure it was a partial Mastodon tooth. After searching numerous images I am now thinking it could be Gomph. Any help with a positive ID would be greatly appreciated. Sorry the ruler became blurred as the focus was concentrated on the tooth. Size is 2" x 2" by 2.5" high.

I have been watching water levels and flow gauges for the last two weeks hoping for a continued drop as the dry season seems to have arrived in Florida. I headed east for the 1 hour drive to Wachula this morning when I saw the drop in flow rate and water level last night to a manageable level. It was a beautiful morning and a peaceful drive through cow pastures and orange orchards. That is unil I got about half way there. Suddenly there was a tremendous Bam! on the left rear passenger side of my jeep. Thought I had been hit by an anti tank round! A quick look in the side view mirror revealed a six point buck flopping around in the middle of the road. He had sprung out of an orange orchard at full speed and slammed into the left rear door of the jeep. By the time I hit the brake he was back on his feet and running back into the orchard. A quick check of the jeep showed a small dent (about the size of a quarter) in the left rear door and minor damage to the rear wheel cover, hair was all over the side. Once I realized there was no serious damage I figured there was only one thing to do. Get to the river and find something good! Upon arrival I found the river to be flowing at a very reasonable pace and I wasted no time in getting my kyack loaded and launched. It was interesting to see all the new obstacles left by the summer rains. Several new trees down that had to be skirted and quite a few limbs poking up from out of the water to be avoided. I arrived at my chosen spot that had been producing nice finds in the spring and found a very large palm tree down blocking easy access. I beached the kyack and walked around the tree scanning the shoreline as I went. I immediately saw some horse teeth in about an inch of water for my first find of the day. Scanning the area I saw another interesting object poking out of the sand that looked like some kind of enamel on rock. When I pulled it out I was greeted with a small but nice partial mastodon tooth. This was before I even got the shovel and sifter out of the kyack! Spent the rest of the day digging and sifting with some additional nice finds. All in all a good day. Photos below.

It feels good to get back to river hunting, slightly early this year. My hunting friend found this bone and asked if I could get an ID. There seems to be some features that possibly identify the "type" of bone (humerus, scapel, etc) versus which animal. It is 3.2 length x 1.1 height (inches). Found in the Pleistocene - miocene mix that is the Peace River. However, most of the associated fossils were shark, fish or marine mammal (porpoise earbone & verts), so marine is a possibility. ALL comments & suggestions are greatly appreciated. Jack

I was kayaking and fossiling this weekend with my sister and her husband in the Peace River in Gardner, Fl. and she found a vert and I am having a hard time trying to figure out what it belongs too. At first I thought it was whale but it's too small and as for a gator the shape looks different so any help would be appreciated :-)

This tooth is an outlier in my collection because it’s the only really nice Peace River fossil I’ve ever found... but it’s a beauty. Pronounced bourlette and serrations all around, and that lovely tannin brown *chefs kiss*. As an Aurora guy, I’d call this Carcharhinus obscurus. Does that prognosis still hold for Florida? thank you all!

I recently bought a box of fossils from @Bone Daddy that included a "grab bag" of items found in the Peace River. One of them is odd looking, at least to me. 6.5 cm long x 3.75 cm wide x 2 cm at its thickest. Its got enough curves & slopes that my camera wasn't sure where to focus & I have no photo stacking software, so please bear with me. Not sure if it's just really odd weathering or how this particular bone looks normally, but the under side has sort of ripples running the length of it, all joining at a "point". Pics are of the top, bottom, both sides & 2 of the butt end, 1 of which is a close up. No idea if this is anything special or not, but that's why I'm here. Awesome or dud, either way, it's mine & special for that. So now.. on with the pics. Not sure why 2 of them rotated, but..

So I have been going to my usual spot in the Peace River for the past 5 years, always finding something larger or new! This time it looks to be a tusk? This was actually nearby where I found the mastodon/gompothere molar 2 years ago. It was in bedded in the river bed and when it was removed, some piece broke off. It's also fairly heavy for it size. Also, I do have a fossil permit. Can some link me or provide me info about legal concerns of owning this?

I finally got to do some hunting in the Peace River area of bone valley and just want some help with identifying these teeth.

Since I'm done with the Peace River this year, I thought I would start sorting this season's finds in preparation for my report to the Univ. of Florida. I usually throw all the small teeth I find into a jug for give aways, but I had set these 3 teeth aside because they looked a little different. Just wondered if they were anything special. They all are serrated on both edges.

I have been working with Shellseeker in PM's on identifying several horse teeth found in the Peace River this spring. His input has been extremely helpful and we have narrowed down almost all. The two shown here raised the question as to whether they are Equus or Nannippus based on size (length/crown). I am posting them here hoping for additional input on classification. They are numbered 3 & 4 as they are part of a series we were evaluating. Any input would be greatly appreciated. The red/pink ruler is inches. The blue is metric and provided to give a close up of the crown of each.

Hi I'm going to be making the 2 hour drive out to the Paynes creek area of the peace river to look for sharks teeth. It's a long drive and I am dieing to find my first big Meg. I could really use some advice on where to look. I'm not asking for exact spots but. If i'm going to spend the whole day out there on one of my very few free days then I really don't want to come home empty handed. Please any help will be amazing.