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Reptile Skin Fossil?


jpblood

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Hi all! I have this fossil (at least I'm fairly certain it's a fossil lol) that I've had for a very long time now but I haven't been able to figure out what it is. It came into my possession through some weird means, long story short a classmate of mine from first grade found it out in the middle of our elementary school field (this was about 12-13 years ago) and gave it to me because I was known as the "dinosaur kid". Because it was just sitting in the middle of a grassy field I suspect that it was moved from its original location, possibly by a kid or a construction worker when the school was built, but the general location was most likely Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. To me it looks like reptile skin or scales of some sort, but I'm by no means an expert so I'd like some other opinions. I also plan to get it checked out by a museum sometime (hopefully) soon but I'm not exactly sure how long that will take so I decided to post it here.

 

The "scales" are raised are there are black, squiggly lines going across some parts of it that sort of resemble veins (yes I know veins don't really fossilize and that it's probably just part of the rock, that's just what it looks like to me so that's how I'll refer to them). The "veins" are also raised slightly from the surface of the rock. I've included some close up shots of both the scale-like features and the vein-like features (the "veins" are sort of hard to see in the photo, they're more pronounced in real life), as well as a shot of the back of the rock and a shot taken from an angle so you can sort of see the texture. Thanks for your help!

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Edited by jpblood
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  • jpblood changed the title to Reptile Skin Fossil?

@Rockwood It's all good, thanks for your reply! Would you by any chance be willing to explain a little further? I looked a little bit into iron oxide concretions and to be honest I'm not really seeing it, most seem to be spherical in shape and not on a flat plane, whereas the circular shapes on mine are mostly flat and for the most part are on the same plane. Maybe there are some other features I could look for to determine whether it's a natural rock formation or fossil?

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If you look into the geology and paleontology of Pittsburgh, I don't think vertebrate fossils are very likely to be found, which would make it being a reptile skin unlikely. Usually plant and marine invertebrate fossils are found within the region.

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3 hours ago, jpblood said:

@Rockwood It's all good, thanks for your reply! Would you by any chance be willing to explain a little further? I looked a little bit into iron oxide concretions and to be honest I'm not really seeing it, most seem to be spherical in shape and not on a flat plane, whereas the circular shapes on mine are mostly flat and for the most part are on the same plane. Maybe there are some other features I could look for to determine whether it's a natural rock formation or fossil?

The flattened look is what I believe tends to indicate iron oxide. A paper clip left in the tank of a toilet will look like it with time. It's not a definite however.

It is the way the shapes are arranged that to me looks off. The shapes seem too much like the way marbles would stack, and not enough the way bubbles would intersect. If that makes any sense.

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I think Rockwood has it. If the "bubbles" were more uniform in orientation, I would have been tempted to say starfish arms, but these are more "marbles and basketballs."

...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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Alright, thanks everyone for your input! I had a feeling it was probably too good to be true lol, and that theory would definitely explain the size inconsistency between circles

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Hi jpblood and welcome to the forum!

there is a good similarity there to some known examples of dinosaur skin fossils. I think the fine detail does not fit though, but I am not an expert.

Here is an example that comes close, but the way the single scutes touch looks different from your example. Could be different in other species though.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Fossil-Edmontosaurus-skin-A-compared-with-the-present-specimen-B-Image-in-A-courtesy_fig2_257047930

The geology of your region does not fit with vertebrate fossils as it seems, although on the other hand you do not know where the stone originally came from.

What speaks against skin in my opinion is also the very flat surface that is covered by your "scutes". There is also a part that at least looks as if the impression would be preserved in overlapping layers of the sediment.

Interesting mineral at least.

Best regards,

J

 

 

Try to learn something about everything and everything about something

Thomas Henry Huxley

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8 hours ago, jpblood said:

explain the size inconsistency between circles

I believe it's more that the shapes are tuned to a specific movement that the animal needed to make. An excellent example of 'if it works well it persists'.

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