Kayak-IA Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 I have found numerous pleistocene period bones on river sand bars in central Iowa. Here are a few unidentified bones I am asking for help identifying. #1 sure looks like bone but I have no idea what it is. I would say fish except for the bone characteristics. #2 is a small digit bone and has some age. I have not found anything like it at that size in my google searching. #3 is also bone and does not have the look or texture of an exposed claw. You can see where another bone connects. #4 I do not know what animal this is but it appears to be an old bone that my wife unearthed along the river. Thank you so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kayak-IA Posted January 26, 2020 Author Share Posted January 26, 2020 Pic 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kayak-IA Posted January 26, 2020 Author Share Posted January 26, 2020 pic 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoNoel Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 1 is a piece of softshell turtle shell, 2 looks like some kind of digit but I don't know what kind, 3 may be too fragmentary and worn to tell (more photos would likely help others recognize it), 4 looks to be some kind of humerus from a small animal I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kayak-IA Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 Great! #1 was a complete mystery to me but now I see it from searching on turtles. I will focus on #3 here. Here are some close-ups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kayak-IA Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 Two more.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 Brightened, cropped, and enlarged: Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kayak-IA Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 Thank you! I will have to work on my photo editing. Tried with the flash but left shadows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 I find just taking pictures without flash under a normal lamp light come out much clearer than if using a flash. For some reason flash pictures tend to look like all the lights in the room have been turned out around and you are using a flashlight in the dark. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 On 1/26/2020 at 5:00 PM, PaleoNoel said: 1 is a piece of softshell turtle shell, 2 looks like some kind of digit but I don't know what kind, 3 may be too fragmentary and worn to tell (more photos would likely help others recognize it), 4 looks to be some kind of humerus from a small animal I believe. Yeah, that looks like a turtle humerus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahnmut Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 hi there, this is just an impression, but could 3 be a fish jaw? The texture looks fishy to me, but I am not at all sure about that. Best Regards, J Try to learn something about everything and everything about something Thomas Henry Huxley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahnmut Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Not sure about the fish, but I would go with mandibula.Then the hole in your last picture would be the foramen mandibulae. Cheers,J Try to learn something about everything and everything about something Thomas Henry Huxley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kayak-IA Posted January 29, 2020 Author Share Posted January 29, 2020 You got me searching in another direction and I am now pretty sure this is a hyoid bone. I do not know the animal yet but will keep looking. The only animal this resembles (so far) is human. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahnmut Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Ok, I am sure it is not human or any primate. Neither does it resemble the whale hyoids I have seen pics of. Neither is it a birds. The texture does remind me much more of fish or reptile bones. Just another thought, mabe a small crocodilian rib? I just learned the these are quite different depending on location in the body. Is there a hole at the marked spot? If so I would say rib and hyoid are out and it looks more like a madible, if it is only a shadow that would point away from mandible. Interesting. Best Regards, J Try to learn something about everything and everything about something Thomas Henry Huxley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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