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Hey Gang, Happy New Year! I'm not sure this is exactly a fossil prep question but it relates to Identifying an unknown supposed Pleistocene fossil from Iowa so here goes. I'm trying to put together a comparative collection of extant/extinct mammal inner ear bones. I've got a number of fossil fragments from a number of critters and about to work on removing a couple of petrous bones/bulla (highlighted with red arrows) from a couple of extant skulls. Ive got to cut them out of 2 extant bovid skulls/cap--see photo below: The smaller example on the left is from a sheep and the other a much larger bovid I'm assuming a cow/Bos. I am thinking I can take my dremel with a cutting bit and remove the sheep petrous bone fairly easily by removing a surrounding section thru the skull cap along the blue line i've drawn. The larger skull on the right is more stout so I'm looking for any easy/cheap ideas from Harbour freight, hacksaw ideas or other to cut the ear bones free. Perhaps the dremel will have no problem cutting thru it as well. i've seen some pretty cool dissection equipment but I'm doing this on the cheap to satisfy the curiousity of how these bones are positioned/attached and identify their components and take some photos along the way. Any simple solutions for removal are welcomed. I'm ok with up/experimenting one side as I can always work on the opposite petrosal of each. Here's an unknown petrosal that I have that I want to compare against to compare the two extant bones too. I was told it might be possibly bison from the Pleistocene of Iowa. That ID has not been confirmed Thanks! Regards, Chris

Out hunting today. A relative disaster. I forgot to bring paddle for my kayak and thus reduced the time we had to fossil hunt and increase the pain in my muscles. For all those who have not tried, paddling with a shovel is NOT an efficient means of transport. I did find an unusual fossil so 3 photos and an old TFF thread may help in Identification. Size 2.5 L;1.5 W;1.0 H inches