Possibly a fingerprint on amber

[Chepul]

Greetings, dear forum participants.

I would like to welcome everyone to discuss a sample of Baltic amber with a possible animal fingerprint.

Place of origin Baltic Sea coast.

The age of the find is unknown.

Areas highlighted in the photo, presumably the animal's fingerprints.

Between the possible prints there is an imprinted structure, presumably animal fur.

In addition to photographs, I made a video showing how I remove a sample form from amber.

 

***Translation from Russian using google translator.

[IsaacTheFossilMan]

I don't personally see it. I just see a depression, perhaps caused by the surface it was formed on.

[Mahnmut]

Hello Chepul and welcome to the forum!

I see what you mean. There are lines that look like fingerprints in that hole.

There is one main reason why I do not think these are fingerprints: the lines that look like fingerprints go on onto the surface around the impression.

Another reason is that most animals do not have fingerprints like humans. I just learned that not only chimpanzees do, but also Koalas. Still, it is not the norm for animals.

Best Regards,

J

 

[Chepul]

Thanks for your hospitality.

[Chepul]

What caught my attention most was that I saw a pattern very similar to the papillary pattern of human fingers, namely the central loop.

[darrow]

Piddock clam burrow?

  

Angelwing burrow1 - Pholadidae - Wikipedia

 

[Rockwood]

I think all one needs to do is picture resin dripping from, what ever amber resin dripped from, and the slow, sticky, layer by layer build up thus created.

[Chepul]

On 3/22/2021 at 1:04 AM, Rockwood said:

I think all one needs to do is picture resin dripping from, what ever amber resin dripped from, and the slow, sticky, layer by layer build up thus created.

I agree with you that this is possible and very logical. However, inside this piece of amber is quite transparent.

There are no characteristic layers formed by the growth layer by layer and including various fragments of the surrounding world between the layers.

A piece of amber is complete and clean enough. It contains rare plant inclusions. 

Also, this assumption can refute the fact that there is a fragment of an adjacent fingerprint with edges of a similar shape,

if we talk about the alleged fingerprints. I understand that we can only consider probabilities here,

but it is unlikely that a neighboring imprint was formed in such a similar way (I mean layering)

 

***In the photo I show the broken off part of the adjacent print. The top view is shown in the photo at the beginning of the post.

[Chepul]

On 3/21/2021 at 11:36 PM, darrow said:

Piddock clam burrow?

  

Angelwing burrow1 - Pholadidae - Wikipedia

 

A very interesting assumption. I am trying to find more photographic materials with similar prints.

[Chepul]

I am planning to conduct an experiment. I have an idea that at the moment of the formation of this imprint, the resin was already in a semi-solidified state and was lying on something solid with a rough surface. An imprint was left on the outside of the semi-cured resin. I will reproduce similar conditions and hope the result is the same.
Of course, this is very conditional, but I would like to consider as many options as possible.

[Rockwood]

3 hours ago, Chepul said:

There are no characteristic layers formed by the growth layer by layer and including various fragments of the surrounding world between the layers.

I think this description grossly over simplifies the process by which resin could accumulate. Think hot days, cool periods, larger sumps filling and stratifying by density during hot periods, insect damage to the tree, animals excavating the insects, all of which could have taken decades if not longer.   

[Chepul]

On 3/23/2021 at 11:51 PM, Rockwood said:

I think this description grossly over simplifies the process by which resin could accumulate. Think hot days, cool periods, larger sumps filling and stratifying by density during hot periods, insect damage to the tree, animals excavating the insects, all of which could have taken decades if not longer.   

Yes, I completely agree with you. I just thought that the resin can drip onto the paw of a dead animal, which later disintegrated. 

Thank you for helping me to better imagine the possible processes.

[Rockwood]

The trick, as usual, is to simplify enough to understand, but understand that it is probably more complicated.

[HuckMucus]

4 hours ago, Rockwood said:

The trick, as usual, is to simplify enough to understand, but understand that it is probably more complicated.

That there is some genius and I'm gonna steal it.  Is that yours, or to whom should I attribute it?

[Rockwood]

2 hours ago, HuckMucus said:

That there is some genius and I'm gonna steal it.  Is that yours, or to whom should I attribute it?

It's mine. Comes from finding myself in the middle of things that I over simplified. 

[HuckMucus]

1 hour ago, Rockwood said:

It's mine. Comes from finding myself in the middle of things that I over simplified. 

 

That is the larger home that expertise lives in, along with the rest of us.

 

Thanks, I will cite it as "Rockwood, The Fossil Forum" or simply "Rockwood."

Edited March 25, 2021 by HuckMucus