Any ideas on this? Found on the beach in Charleston South Carolina. Thank you!

[r00t2400]

I found this dome shaped piece of bone on folly beach South Carolina. Have looked through tons of reference photos and haven’t been able to come up with anything. Thank you for any input. 

[Pterygotus]

Interesting bone! I’m not sure if this can be identified much further that bone but some other members may know .

[Rockwood]

There's a good chance it is an epiphysis. The end of a long bone.

[r00t2400]

Thank you!! I figured an I’d would be tough due to it being just a fragment. Appreciated as always!

[digit]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphyseal_plate

 

Epiphyseal plates are the ends of bones where new bone growth takes place. They are often found separated as fossils and this indicates that the animal was still young when it died. They fuse to the main bone once the animal reaches adulthood and stops its growth phase. It is often possible to tell if a vertebra is from a younger individual as the two flat articulating surfaces on the ends of the vertebra are not smooth but have a wrinkled surface where the epiphyseal plate would have been. Often the plates themselves are found and can be quite puzzling unless you know about this growth process.

 

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/81328-i-love-cookies-especially-oreos/

 

In this second link, you can see not only another cetacean epiphyseal plate but also a great photo of a giant armadillo vertebra where you can see the plates nearly completely fused to the ends. Some stellar finds a few years back by @Shellseeker

 

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/71043-peaceriver-cookie/

 

Here is a medical link for a painful sounding disorder where the epiphysis at the head of the femur slips out of alignment in growing teens. Ouch!

 

https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases--conditions/slipped-capital-femoral-epiphysis-scfe

 

Your item does resemble the rounded ball that is the femoral head but the backside where I would expect the more corrugated radial pattern seen in Jack's two posts (or additional images found online searching for "epiphyseal plate"). The back of your piece just shows the spongy cancellous/trabecular bone normally found inside of the bone. I guess it it possible that the usual epiphyseal plate surface texture could have worn off this side or possibly the bone was weak at this point and broke leaving this texture. Other than the rounded end of the humerus at the shoulder and femur at the hip I cannot offhand think of any domed bones like your find. Those with more experience identifying bone fragments @Harry Pristis may be of more help.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Harry Pristis]

Looks to me to be the extreme end of a femoral head (the "ball" part of the ball joint).  Could be an epiphysis -- I'm not sure of the form of such a epiphysis.