nebulous fossil

[pwoodfan]

Strange fossil.  Found in wash south of Santa Fe, NM.  P-wood in area.  It is a heavy crystal rock with many swirls and whirls.  Might be a coral.  But just can't tell.  An enigma---

[val horn]

I  was thinking plant but have not seen this before and could not even rule out mineral.  it is pretty

[ScottBlooded]

When I see a bunch of crescent shapes in a rock like that I think shell cross sections, brachiopods etc. I am not an expert though so take that with a grain of salt

[pwoodfan]

Good point-- I will take a closer look for shell shapes.

[Thomas.Dodson]

1 hour ago, ScottBlooded said:

When I see a bunch of crescent shapes in a rock like that I think shell cross sections, brachiopods etc. I am not an expert though so take that with a grain of salt

This would be my guess for most of these. The area circled looks like a cross section of a gastropod but I can't say 100% from this picture.

[Rockwood]

A little eye protection and a big hammer might reveal more evidence. 

[pwoodfan]

On closer inspection, I have come to a conclusion that the fossil is MAYBE an egg clutch of a small dinosaur that had a catastrophic ending.  There appears to be many chick like heads with many body parts and maybe egg shell parts.  (see outlined pics).  Any opinion on my hunch/guess?  In the 4th photo, you can see what looks to be the vertebra of the chick and in the third photo, you can see the outline of the complete body of the chick.

[ScottBlooded]

Nah I feel confident saying there’s no egg clutch or dinosaurs in there, but it’s probably still really cool even without all that. As rockwood mentioned, splitting it open should probably reveal some more detailed specimens, but even as an amateur I feel really confident it won’t be a bunch of baby dinosaurs. I’m my experience, if I were to recommend, I’d say split it as parallel to the dark lines (the presumed fossil material) as you can. If I were a betting man, I’d guess you’d find some cool, very old shells in there.

[Ludwigia]

I'm in the broken bits of shell camp. The dinosaur idea is pure pareidolia. One could also do a crosscut with a diamond-bladed saw.

[Fossildude19]

No dinosaurs, ... only shells.