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After a lot of research and luck, I discovered that one of my finds a couple of weeks ago is an ear bone. Found in Nebraska but still not sure which critter it came from. I am tagging @Shellseeker and @Harry Pristis because I know that they were involved in some past ear bone discussions. The second photo is one that I found on the web from a site selling an ear bone that they claimed was from a woolly mammoth. Thanks

Hi, just going through some rocks I brought back from Norfolk, UK, thinking quite a few may be fossils (I didn't have long so just grabbed anything I thought looked suspiciously organic by intuition) and as it turns out I think I was quite correct in a number of cases - I think I have quite a few pieces of whale and and a few little bits of mammoth tooth. Trying to confirm this to myself led to a lot of reading and learning online about the local geological formations involved and also whale anatomy, both new topics for me which I always enjoy delving into - part of the enjoyment of fossil hunting for me - I'm less of someone looking for beautiful specimens for display (though I'm not going to turn those down!) and more someone who loves the detective work of trying to identify obscure parts and recreate some aspect of the vanished world before us from its traces. And searching through whale anatomy and what these weird chunks could be I came across a picture of a whale periotic and realised that the weird little pot structure I had was almost definitely one of these, which if I am correct is good because I believe they are one part of a fragmented whale anatomy that is quite diagnostic. Also I then realised that a strangely hooked piece I found right next to it could well be the tympanic! The preservation here is unusual because many theorise that these kind of whale fossils were first laid down in sandstone in the Miocene when Norfolk was covered with a shallow warm sea, and then later in the Pliocene and early Pleistocene when temperatures dropped sea levels dropped too and the area became land (part of the reason the geology of this area is interesting is the constant transgression and regression of the sea over a few million years), these Miocene rocks were eroded away and the harder fossils reworked into new estuarine or nearshore sediments of this era, often but not always with a layer of hard iron-rich concretion coating them which helped protect them (I guess one question would be, is there anyway of easily removing this hard concretion layer?) So if I am right, these are bones from Miocene whales (many showing signs of shark damage), reburied in the Pliocene / Early Pleistocene and then finally eroded out again in the modern day - quite a journey! Anyway, enough background, for starters I'd love to see what people think about this periotic / tympanic. Am I right? Here's a summary of my findings (note I used a pic of dolphin periotic someone posted here for comparison so I hope that isn't too cheeky)

I was out today, These are interesting times and interesting finds. Many, many goodies, a couple of large gator scutes, a jaw with no teeth that would be an ID candidate, capybara incisor, 5 or 6 Megs including a perfect baby meg, 2 plates of a juve Mammoth tooth, a small canine, and lots more goodies, but I was most excited as soon as I spotted this... I have found llama, horse, porpoise, whale (both toothed and Baleen), and this is bigger by a lot compared to 1st 3 and equal in size to the whales. It is not Toothed, but maybe Baleen. 3x3x1 inches. BIG animal. @Boesse @Harry Pristis

Hope these pics came out OK. I think this may be the inner ear bone (bulea?) of a whale? Found in the peace river, I don't think the dime made it in the pic. It is very dense and fills the palm of the hand, I bet it weighs, 3 ounces.

So as Bosse quoted on the last one of these I found it seems that this would be the same thing. And I quote " atympanic bulla of a balaenopterid baleen whale." I just thought this one was unique to do the inner striations were. Found in a deep ditch, Miocene Im assuming (could be wrong), measurements shown on picture. Found in South Carolina, US

Weekend find, date may have been 18th not the 19th, working to verify with dig partner. Found: Greens Mill Run, Greenville NC among a huge array of items (whale bone including several tempanic bulla, shark teeth (great white, tiger,crow, Giant White Shark etc) and two Enchodus teeth etc. Partner I was digging with found it (we were digging same location/hole together) in his screen and let me keep it. Boesse Confirmed an ID on ID Forum "Nice specimen! This is almost certainly Balaenula sp., a dwarf right whale known from the Yorktown Fm. at Lee Creek. It's a miniature version of Eubalaena in that image at the top (which is from my blog)."

Another find this weekend, actually Rick found it but let me bring it home, want to confirm that it's a petrosal and also what species based on my research I believe it to be. Found: Greensmill Run, Greenville NC among a huge array of items (whale bone including several tempanic bulla, shark teeth (great white, tiger,crow, Giant White Shark etc) and two Enchodus teeth etc. Believed to be a Petrosal from Balaenoptera Sursiplana? I thought (from one specific article/image reference below) that is was possibly Plesiobalaenoptera but it noted they are only found in Italy and the long flat part seemed much thicker than the reference image, but the rest seemed better matched than from the other species noted above?

Headed out to do a little hunting and it was a gorgeous day out today. I got down to the water and immediately headed to my favorite spot. The water was high today, which seems to be coming a common theme. I haven't done a good amount of digging and sifting in ages, so i decided to put some work in. After about a half an hour of digging and finding some small teeth here and there, I came across a whale ear bone! It's the first one I've ever found so i was pretty excited. I kept digging and the only other find worth mentioning is a little beat up mako with a tip ding. I decided to take a break and walk the beach as the tide had dropped since first getting there. I was almost back to my sifting spot when i bent down to pick a little black mako that was laying on top in about 6 inches of water. Sitting right next to the mako was this little Meg. Its a little beat up but its still nice to find a Meg (keeps the spirit up). If anyone else hunts Westmoreland frequently let me know.I hope you enjoy the pics! Boneheadz

Hello I'm not sure if it belongs to a cetacea or a manatee, could someone help me, thanks.