Big Knuckle-Bone, Peace River, Megafauna?

[Bone Daddy]

Here's a weird one. I found this big bone that looks like a knuckle or knee cap. I am completely stumped on this one. Does anyone know what the heck this is?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[fifbrindacier]

@Harry Pristis ?

[digit]

Does look a lot like the gomphothere toe bones we see occasionally up at the Montbrook site. I'm thinking a mammoth/mastodon phalanx (toe bone). Harry should be able to weigh in on this more authoritatively.

 

Tricky to find good elephant foot bone imagery online. Here's one from an informative page: https://elephantaidinternational.org/elephant-facts/

 

 

 

Cool find. Recent?

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Bone Daddy]

Yeah, I found it on my last trip out. Funny thing is, there were craters and spoil piles all around the area. Other hunters must have rejected this piece because it was laying on the surface near the water line. It had a bit of clay and gravel clinging to it, so the overall shape wasn't immediately discernible. Maybe they just thought it was a rock.

 

 

[digit]

That's the difference between someone who is curious (or informed) and someone simply looking for meg teeth. Found a really nice sawfish rostral "tooth" at the boat ramp at Brownville Park one day with a few other scattered oddly shaped rocks. Looked like someone did a quick sort at the end of a trip to remove all of the curiosities that were deemed not to be fossils. Once you've seen a rostral "tooth" and know the shape and texture, you can spot them a mile away. Was standing on the boat ramp talking with Mark Renz (Fossil Expeditions) when we noticed this among the discards.

 

Looks to be interesting--let's see what Harry says.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Shellseeker]

Here is a 2012 Christmas present, from a good friend, fellow fossil hunter and president of the Fossil Club of Lee County, Bill Shaver, now passed.  Bill realized that my current love was sloth.

 

 

[Shellseeker]

16 minutes ago, digit said:

Does look a lot like the gomphothere toe bones we see occasionally up at the Montbrook site. I'm thinking a mammoth/mastodon phalanx (toe bone). Harry should be able to weigh in on this more authoritatively.

Ken,

I am glad you look at toe bones. What do you think of this one ( Peace River 2/14/2020). Should we not be able to tell which digit based on the size and angle of curve?

[digit]

I would think it should be reasonably diagnostic. Has Dr. Hulbert seen photos of this one yet?

 

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Bone Daddy]

8 minutes ago, digit said:

That's the difference between someone who is curious (or informed) and someone simply looking for meg teeth. Found a really nice sawfish rostral "tooth" at the boat ramp at Brownville Park one day with a few other scattered oddly shaped rocks. Looked like someone did a quick sort at the end of a trip to remove all of the curiosities that were deemed not to be fossils. Once you've seen a rostral "tooth" and know the shape and texture, you can spot them a mile away. Was standing on the boat ramp talking with Mark Renz (Fossil Expeditions) when we noticed this among the discards.

 

Looks to be interesting--let's see what Harry says.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

Agreed. One of the first things I do when I come upon somebody's spoil pile is give it a good look-over. One man's trash is another man's treasure. 

I often see a few dugong ribs laying near the ramp. People pick them up, but then decide to discard them at the last minute as they are leaving. Agree also about rostrals. I used to find those and had no idea what they were until I saw someone in the forum post about them. Now I keep them. It pays to familiarize with the fauna in the fossil record of the area you are hunting.

 

 

[digit]

1 minute ago, Bone Daddy said:

Agree also about rostrals. I used to find those and had no idea what they were until I saw someone in the forum post about them. Now I keep them. It pays to familiarize with the fauna in the fossil record of the area you are hunting.

This forum (and experience out hunting with other members) has taught me a lot about the more obscure finds.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Bone Daddy]

4 minutes ago, digit said:

I would think it should be reasonably diagnostic. Has Dr. Hulbert seen photos of this one yet?

 

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

Not yet. I don't like to pester him, so I use him as a last resort. I figured this one was distinctive enough that one of the more-experienced hunters in this forum would be able to recognize it (despite my terrible photography skills).  LOL.

 

 

[Shellseeker]

2 minutes ago, Bone Daddy said:

It pays to familiarize with the fauna in the fossil record of the area you are hunting.

[Harry Pristis]

Jack has it right -- it's a sloth toe bone, a proximal phalanx.

[Bone Daddy]

Giant ground sloth is awesome. I don't find much of that. Well, that's a trip-maker for me.

 

Again, just goes to show - one man's trash is another man's treasure. Whoever dug this up and left it gift-wrapped for me deserves a beer. 

Thanks again to this forum for making me curious enough to keep these oddballs and for identifying the mysterious ones! 

[caldigger]

Whoo hoo! I think I have one as well. I'll have to compare when I get off work.  It was sent to me as an unknown several years back.

 

My piece of the pie.

[Bone Daddy]

2 hours ago, caldigger said:

Whoo hoo! I think I have one as well. I'll have to compare when I get off work.  It was sent to me as an unknown several years back.

 

This happens to me from time to time. I have a couple of boxes full of oddballs that defy easy ID. Every now and then I see a thread in this forum that sparks a memory and that leads to a belated ID on a tricky specimen.