Dino eggs or something else?

[Shanerbaker]

Hi everyone. I would like your opinion of if this is a dinosaur egg or something else, like a Concretion. I found it several years ago about an hour south of Williston North Dakota. I know the area is known for having cannon ball Concretions but it is also known for an area rich with fossils and petrified wood. I have spent countless hours researching and looking through photos of both Dino eggs and Concretions etc. but have never found anything that looks exactly like this. The closest looking thing I have found to it was actually Dino eggs in the natural history museum in New York. 

I found it near a clay deposit, there were three groups of the egg like formations. Total number of all of them were about 18-34 (it’s been a long time soon don’t recall exactly how many but I only took one). Most of them were cracked all around (like a mosaic) and this one was in the best shape. Also it had what I believe to be clay surrounding the outside which we chipped off to reveal this (we didn’t know what we were doing, and the thought it might be an actual Dino egg at first was unbelievable). Also it’s very heavy.
 

I’ve gone back and forth over the years if it is a Dino egg or not and would love y’all’s opinion. 

 

Am happy to take more photos upon request. 

 

I am new to the community, happy to be apart of it and looking forward to any response. 

 

Thanks again 
Shane

[Creek - Don]

You will find your answer here. 

 

 

Edited July 13, 2021 by Creek - Don

[Troodon]

Lots of teasers out there.   No eggshell present.   Also Dinosaur deposits do not extend up by Williston or much south until you get close to SD.. 

 

Wikipedia image

 

[Shanerbaker]

31 minutes ago, Troodon said:

Lots of teasers out there.   No eggshell present.   Also Dinosaur deposits do not extend up by Williston or much south until you get close to SD.. 

 

Wikipedia image

 

Hi there, first thank you for the response!  I do actually believe they have found fossils in the same general area. There is actually a Champsosaurus, Skelton displayed at Theador Roosevelt National park ranger station. But I could be wrong. We were about 20 minutes North of the park.
 

Question, I was thinking the small square like fragments(that look like a chicken egg shell) could be the shell. But are they too thin? Or could the outside later we chipped away have been the egg shell? 
 

Also if it’s not an egg any ideas what it might be?
 

Thanks again for response and info!!

Edited July 13, 2021 by Shanerbaker

[Fossildude19]

Concretions form in concentric layers. Weathering and damage can make the layers crack, and peel.

That said, I would like to see a few photos of the broken side. 

[Troodon]

Might be some exposures but Champsosaurs do go into the Paleocene.  Not aware of eggshells or eggs being found in ND.  Eggshells exceptionally rare in the Hell Creek

Here is what one looks like and the info behind this incredible find.   "The paper states that despite over 100 years of intense exploration, the terrestrial rocks of the Hell Creek Formation are void of fossil eggs.  The paper describes the first fossil egg and additional eggshell fragments from the Formation. "

 

[Thomas.Dodson]

Most Champsosaur finds in North Dakota are from Paleocene deposits. Two main skeletons were found in Teddy Roosevelt, one in the Sentinel Butte Formation and one in the Bullion Creek Formation. The one at the Ranger Station is one of these. Both are Paleocene so after the dinosaurs went extinct. Most exposures in the park are of these two formations.

 

I agree that this is a concretion. We get the whole spectrum of them in North Dakota. https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/ndnotes/concretions/concretions.asp

Edited July 14, 2021 by Thomas.Dodson