Kiros Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 hello everyone, a few days ago surfing the internet I came across a site of fossils from asia. scrolling through the various offers I noticed this skull, the description reported only that it belonged to an unspecified myocene carnivore. All in all the price was quite low for what seems to be the quality of the piece. To a more careful investigation it would seem a hyaenidae even if the present matrix makes identification quite difficult, however still there is something that does not convince me. the matrix seems intentionally put to cover part of the skull. What do you think about it? Even if the price is cheap it's still to high for my poor pockets, so noway I would ever buy it. However it intrigued me alot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 I agree the "matrix" seems to have been added to the skull. That is a big "red flag" to me. Don 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 Composite 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiros Posted December 29, 2019 Author Share Posted December 29, 2019 Yeah, thought so too, definitely really really suspicious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 That's not worth paying anything for it. 1 Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted December 30, 2019 Share Posted December 30, 2019 This one very fishy! RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptychodus04 Posted December 30, 2019 Share Posted December 30, 2019 @Ludwigia Roger, I agree that it is likely a composite but I don't agree that this fact makes it unworthy of ownership. It is a common practice to composite specimens in museums, as long as there are records indicating this. If bones are missing, replicas get fabricated or other specimens that have the missing bones get combined (for research and display purposes). This provides information that the missing pieces would leave out. As long as the composited specimen does not create an outright forgery or add details that did not exist in the actual living specimen and it is not portrayed as an actual single specimen, there shouldn't be any issues with the composite. This would effectively be the same as a restoration or carving the matrix to fill in missing bits. The best practice for this specimen would have been to note the composite and only fabricate the matrix in areas where it is needed to hold the two pieces together. Or, better yet, build a mount that holds the pieces separately. *Edit* The combination of different animals or pieces that are the wrong size (as noted below) would put this skull into the "outright forgery" category. 1 Regards, Kris Global Paleo Services, LLC https://globalpaleoservices.com http://instagram.com/globalpaleoservices http://instagram.com/kris.howe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkerPaleo Posted December 30, 2019 Share Posted December 30, 2019 I'm not certain what the lower is but its certainly a composite specimen. The skull is a badger. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiros Posted December 30, 2019 Author Share Posted December 30, 2019 @ParkerPaleo yeah now that you makes me notice, it is a a badger but the mandible it's too big for that skull! all the proportions between the mandible and the skull are wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kmiecik Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 I'm a plant guy and even I can tell there's something not right with that one. Mark. Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 51 minutes ago, Mark Kmiecik said: I'm a plant guy and even I can tell there's something not right with that one. That's funny. A composite skull is not necessarily a bad thing if the parts are in decent shape especially if the jaws are of uncommon animals and there's something of a skull in there somewhere. It does appear to have two zygomatic arches on one side (or is that just a random piece of bone?) - rare indeed and also funny. Jess 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted January 6, 2020 Share Posted January 6, 2020 Composites have their place. Many here have them. Someone even got a golden drool bucket for a composite 2 "Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe" - Saint Augustine"Those who can not see past their own nose deserve our pity more than anything else." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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