Pleistocene or recent stuff?

[Kasia]

Dear TFF Members,

 

I went yesterday for a fossil hunt in the sand pit I usually visit to hunt for Pleistocene stuff and I found several fossils, but some of them make me wonder if they are truly Ice Age or recent:

 

First of all because of their size - the preservation of some of them was a huge surprise:

 

For instance these:

 

No only is the triangle shaped bone almost unscratched, but the two large ones are not hollow (which was normally the case):

 

 

The other large bones have got a sort of white colour at the exposed edges - which is also something I have never seen before:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kasia]

 

How do I tell the difference?

 

Regards,

 

Kasia

 

 

 

[RuMert]

If there are doubts, classic tests can be performed: burning, weighting, hitting, licking and such. Obviously fossilized bone can't be burned, heavy, melodic and sticky

[ClearLake]

Interesting pile of bones.  The triangular one is a scapula and I see leg bones from multiple types of animals, pelvic bones, teeth, a fragmented skull, vertebrae, all sorts of goodies!  They look to have at least a little age to them, just because of the filling in the interior cavities on some of them.  But how old is going to be tough to say.  What is also interesting is how many of the long bones are broken.  It almost has the appearance of a midden pile, essentially an old trash heap.  Were they found together or all scattered about?

[Kasia]

13 minutes ago, ClearLake said:

Interesting pile of bones.  The triangular one is a scapula and I see leg bones from multiple types of animals, pelvic bones, teeth, a fragmented skull, vertebrae, all sorts of goodies!  They look to have at least a little age to them, just because of the filling in the interior cavities on some of them.  But how old is going to be tough to say.  What is also interesting is how many of the long bones are broken.  It almost has the appearance of a midden pile, essentially an old trash heap.  Were they found together or all scattered about?

Hi,

they were found in several different places, not in one spot. As the sand from the river is extracted with the use of pumps equipped with a sort of grating, the only really large fossils can be found in the spot where they clean the grating, when it gets clogged Everything that passes the grating usually gets heavily damaged.

Those really large pieces from this lot come from different heaps - like the scapula, that's why I'm a bit suspicious

[ClearLake]

Ah. that explains a lot.  I have collected shells at the beach via the dredge and pump method and the breakage is very familiar.  Your site would be a fun way to collect fossils, but it does leave a lot of questions as to their exact age.  Enjoy!!