BBreeding Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 Hello Everyone- Any help is greatly appreciated. I have had this (what I believe to be a fossil) for about 25 years. My grandmother found this when I was very young and I have held onto it ever since but have never taken the time to learn what it is. It was found near a creek bed in Southwestern VA. There is also a rock quarry nearby the location. Took the best images I could with the only metric measuring tool (measurements are in cm) I had on hand. If more details are needed, ple ase let me know. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBreeding Posted May 2, 2020 Author Share Posted May 2, 2020 (edited) So a few more details that I found out/ forgot to mention. The location is in the Appalachian mountains in southwestern VA. Specifically Russell County. It is very common to find marine fossils in the shale there. Any and all input is appreciated. Would love to have an idea of what this is. Here is also an angle I missed in the original post. Edited May 2, 2020 by BBreeding Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted May 2, 2020 Share Posted May 2, 2020 First of all, welcome to the Forum! We are glad you found us. Your specimen has a generally bone-like shape, but it doesn't actually match with any bone in its detailed shape. Also, the structure is not bone-like. Where bits are broken there is none of the porous nature of bone. Rather, it appears to have a chert-like texture in several places. The Appalachians in southeastern VA are marine lower Paleozoic, mostly limestone formations, and chert is common at several levels. There are some younger vertebrate sites, such as around Gray TN and there is a well known Pleistocene mammal site near Saltville VA, but to my eye your specimen does not look like bone, or any invertebrate that I know of. However, we do have several members who are very good with vertebrate fossils, so you should wait for them to comment. I have been known to be wrong, after all, especially as vertebrates are not my forte'. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBreeding Posted May 2, 2020 Author Share Posted May 2, 2020 (edited) 23 minutes ago, FossilDAWG said: First of all, welcome to the Forum! We are glad you found us. Your specimen has a generally bone-like shape, but it doesn't actually match with any bone in its detailed shape. Also, the structure is not bone-like. Where bits are broken there is none of the porous nature of bone. Rather, it appears to have a chert-like texture in several places. The Appalachians in southeastern VA are marine lower Paleozoic, mostly limestone formations, and chert is common at several levels. There are some younger vertebrate sites, such as around Gray TN and there is a well known Pleistocene mammal site near Saltville VA, but to my eye your specimen does not look like bone, or any invertebrate that I know of. However, we do have several members who are very good with vertebrate fossils, so you should wait for them to comment. I have been known to be wrong, after all, especially as vertebrates are not my forte'. Don I agree with all of your points! I have scoured the internet on my own and cannot remotely find any bone structure that resembles it and I have always thought it did resemble chert at the breaks. It just has such a general bone like shape that I have always thought it might be possible. Eager to see what others say but wont be surprised if the conclusion is some type of natural formation. As I have been reading through your forums, I have seen much stranger natural formations than this. Edited May 2, 2020 by BBreeding Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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