So.... fossil ivory? Something else? Enquiring minds!

[caldigger]

4 hours ago, Kato said:

I've never seen Alaskan mammoth tusks.

Even though I have defected to the wood encampment, here are some samples of what made me think Alaskan tusk in the first place.

As you can see, sometimes the Schreger Lines aren't always blatantly visible in a cut end.  This piece you only see them in a few select spots.

[Rockwood]

22 minutes ago, caldigger said:

As you can see, sometimes the Schreger Lines aren't always blatantly visible in a cut end.  This piece you only see them in a few select spots.

That has to represent a wave function of some sort.

Don't ask me solve the equation for it though.

[fifbrindacier]

21 hours ago, Kato said:

@Rockwood 

 

You have me cornered or are you trying to corner me?    8 lbs is too heavy for wood that I am familiar with. Perhaps even too heavy for a specimen of 'rock' that size. I have lots of rocks in my yard that size that perhaps weigh half that amount.  I just went out and weighed some. They weighed closer to 4-5 lbs. Granted there are rocks that are denser and would weigh more. 

 

To confound me it just does not look permineralized or petrified. Thus, though I am in the 'wood camp' I just can't decide if I am in the modern or ancient wood camp. 

 

Regardless, it would make a nice display piece when stood on the flat end.

 

On 05/02/2020 at 1:22 PM, fifbrindacier said:

It looks like polished ivory, but the lines and the aspect of the shown end make also me think about a piece of wood. So, i think this is a piece of worn driftwood.

I should have said mineralized driftwood, so, ancient.

[Crazypoet]

On 2/5/2020 at 12:44 PM, Kato said:

How about a simple hardness test? If it is wood, then you may be able to make an indentation in the wood with your fingernail. I would try the end grain as it seems to be unfinished.

 

Maybe you'd be able to post a sharp enlarged image of the area in orange?

 

Could not make an indent with my fingernail or copper penny, but a pen-knife blade scratched it easily

[Crazypoet]

Closer view of the cut end

 

i’ll polish a small section when I can sit with it for an hour and see if a smoother finish helps

 

also, it has a “ring” when tapped with something hard - almost like porcelain 

 

 

Edited February 6, 2020 by Crazypoet
Additional comment

[Crazypoet]

I did an image search on hackberry and I’m in the wood camp myself

 

the piece seems oddly heavy, but I don’t know hackberry’s density, so it could fit

 

in either case it’s lovely and I very much appreciate the assistance here

 

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by Crazypoet

[Rockwood]

With the new photos I have to back away from the angiosperm idea. This looks very much like conifer wood or the general form at least.

Modern conifer wood would not likely be confused for stone. So unless you can whittle on it I'd say it's a fossil.

[Crazypoet]

2 hours ago, Rockwood said:

With the new photos I have to back away from the angiosperm idea. This looks very much like conifer wood or the general form at least.

Modern conifer wood would not likely be confused for stone. So unless you can whittle on it I'd say it's a fossil.

It’s Far too hard to whittle, but the grain and rings suggest elm or hackberry

 

possibly fossilized or at least partially fossilized

 

But not ivory - that much is pretty clear

[Rockwood]

1 minute ago, Crazypoet said:

grain and rings suggest elm or hackberry

What I thought looked like pores earlier now appear to me to be roughness from the cut.

I think it needs a better polish to say with greater confidence.

[abyssunder]

Of what I see, dosen't look like a proboscidean tusk fragment, to me.

No Schreger lines=no proboscidean

[Crazypoet]

3 hours ago, Rockwood said:

What I thought looked like pores earlier now appear to me to be roughness from the cut.

I think it needs a better polish to say with greater confidence.

I’ll be polishing at least part of the base to get both a better view of the pore/grain structure and to also develop a better idea of relative hardness and density