Possible mammoth tooth fragment?

[Pleuromya]

Hi, I found these a few months ago at Happisburgh. I'm hoping the black orange bit is a mammoth tooth fragment. I also found this grey rock, I've tried to look online but can't find anything similar looking to work out what it is. 

Many thanks.

[digit]

Not getting quite enough detail on the first item. Indoor photos are often not lit well enough to allow for a clear sharp image. You might attempt to take that one outside and photograph it in sunlight which should allow your camera to obtain an image with more detail. A few other angles would also be helpful.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Pleuromya]

16 minutes ago, digit said:

Not getting quite enough detail on the first item. Indoor photos are often not lit well enough to allow for a clear sharp image. You might attempt to take that one outside and photograph it in sunlight which should allow your camera to obtain an image with more detail. A few other angles would also be helpful.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

Hopefully this is a bit better. Sorry its tilted, it was the only way to avoid the shadow. 

[Shellseeker]

Enhanced Photos,

I think the 2nd is mammoth  because of layers

[Pleuromya]

5 minutes ago, Shellseeker said:

Enhanced Photos,

I think the 2nd is mammoth  because of layers

That's much better, thanks. Do you have any clue what the first one is? 

[Shellseeker]

15 minutes ago, Chris Jones said:

That's much better, thanks. Do you have any clue what the first one is? 

 

This is a novice thinking.  It would seem to be a rock, that embedded a pattern as it was formed. The question is what organism or plant might form such an impression.

Better answered by those local to the area you found it. 

[Pleuromya]

1 minute ago, Shellseeker said:

 

This is a novice thinking.  It would seem to be a rock, that embedded a pattern as it was formed. The question is what organism or plant might form such an impression.

Better answered by those local to the area you found it. 

Thanks. 

[digit]

I have seen mineral veins that can mimic the layered formation of mammoth teeth and your specimen does not show undeniable characteristics of the long oval layers of enamel separated by the cementum that makes up mammoth teeth. If we had the luxury of having the specimen in hand it is always easier to make an assessment. It certainly is a convincing "faker" if it is not mammoth but just not a slam-dump definite in my limited opinion. The other thing to consider would be if the area where it was found was known to contain Pleistocene materials. If other Pleistocene finds are common in the area then that increases the chances that it is mammoth. If it was in an area that only had Jurassic outcrops then that would weaken the argument for mammoth.

 

Views of the other surfaces of this item might prove informative--and the they might not.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Pleuromya]

22 minutes ago, digit said:

I have seen mineral veins that can mimic the layered formation of mammoth teeth and your specimen does not show undeniable characteristics of the long oval layers of enamel separated by the cementum that makes up mammoth teeth. If we had the luxury of having the specimen in hand it is always easier to make an assessment. It certainly is a convincing "faker" if it is not mammoth but just not a slam-dump definite in my limited opinion. The other thing to consider would be if the area where it was found was known to contain Pleistocene materials. If other Pleistocene finds are common in the area then that increases the chances that it is mammoth. If it was in an area that only had Jurassic outcrops then that would weaken the argument for mammoth.

 

Views of the other surfaces of this item might prove informative--and the they might not.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

Thanks. Happisburgh, where it is from apparently has fragments of mammoth molar quite commonly appear, especially during winter. I believe the area does have other Pleistocene mammals, from the Cromer forest bed. I must've forgotten to attach this image of the other side of it.

[JohnJ]

I think both pieces are chert / flint.  The cortex on both pieces (weathered exterior) display the tiny conchodial fractures typical of this material. The pattern in the lighter colored piece looks like a cross sectioned vein of this banded rock.

[LabRatKing]

The dark pieces just look like geological to me- chert as others have stated. The white cobble looks like a crinoid columnal that is polished at an angle. However with cobbles anything is possible. I’m confident it is not a tooth either.

[Pleuromya]

41 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

I think both pieces are chert / flint.  The cortex on both pieces (weathered exterior) display the tiny conchodial fractures typical of this material. The pattern in the lighter colored piece looks like a cross sectioned vein of this banded rock.

 

36 minutes ago, LabRatKing said:

The dark pieces just look like geological to me- chert as others have stated. The white cobble looks like a crinoid columnal that is polished at an angle. However with cobbles anything is possible. I’m confident it is not a tooth either.

Thanks. I'll I think keep it with my other rocks from the same area then. 

[LabRatKing]

1 minute ago, Chris Jones said:

 

Thanks. I'll I think keep it with my other rocks from the same area then. 

They are both really cool pieces. I have a big shelf of pseudofossils/ cool rocks in my office and a huge collection of them at home too. Sure fossils are great, but rocks and dirt from all of my adventures, big or small, have great memories attached. Sometime, I’ll share my Atacama desert specimens with yinze. Not a single fossil, but Atacama desert. Chile. Five day solo backpacking. Heck, I still have cool rocks I found from before I hit puberty!

[Pleuromya]

2 minutes ago, LabRatKing said:

They are both really cool pieces. I have a big shelf of pseudofossils/ cool rocks in my office and a huge collection of them at home too. Sure fossils are great, but rocks and dirt from all of my adventures, big or small, have great memories attached. Sometime, I’ll share my Atacama desert specimens with yinze. Not a single fossil, but Atacama desert. Chile. Five day solo backpacking. Heck, I still have cool rocks I found from before I hit puberty!

I always end up bringing back just as many interesting rocks as I do fossils.