Cetacean Skull Fragment?

[Yan11]

Hi guys,

 

I found this bone cluster on the shore of the Black Sea, near the city of Balchik, Bulgaria. From the region there have been findings of Miocene cetaceans, seals and some ground megafauna. The more circular bone somewhat reminds me of an ear bone but comparing it with pictures of fossil dolphin ear bones I can't say if it really is one. So my question is if it is an ear bone and if it is, does that mean that´s a part of a skull?

Any help on the identification of the fossil will be very much appreciated!

Best regards!

[Yan11]

I forgot to mention that the  length of the the bones is 15 centimeters and of the circular bone 4 centimeters

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

I'm not very versed in cetacean material, but @Shellseeker is. And, if you're lucky, @Boesse might hop by - he's the absolute expert! That is, of course, if this is cetacean. But to my untrained eye it appears to be.

[Shellseeker]

Certainly I would prefer that Bobby reply here, but it does seem to resemble the shape and size of a cetacean Tempanic Bulla.  When I look at the rest of this mass, it is not clear to me what might be bone and what is rock. 

It is possible for a Bulla to be just laying on the rest of the mass without being attached. If I had the skills of some TFF members of removing rock and leaving fossil, I would suggest removing some of that white stuff to learn where the fossil starts and ends.

Might this be a Bulla... sure.  Might it be something else.... yes.   Not satisfying,  but truthful.

[Boesse]

This is certainly a partial cranium of a baleen whale including the tympanic bulla! By the looks of it, it seems to be in a nodule that is fairly soluble in acid like white vinegar. I should put you in touch with my colleague Dr. Pavel Gol'din, a Ukrainian 'whaleontologist' and expert on fossil mysticetes from Miocene deposits of the Paratethys sea (eastern Europe to Kazakhstan).
 

[Yan11]

Thank you both so much! It would be absolutely wonderful to get in touch with Dr. Pavel Gol'din and if he can shed some light on the genus and/or species of that fossil!

Here I am also attaching some photos of another tympanic bulla from more or less the same site and the newer one seems much smaller. Wander if that´s because of species difference or age difference. The one that I´m posting here is 6cm. in length and 3,5cm. wide. Whereas the new find is 4cm. in length and 2,9 wide.

Thanks for all the help