Beginner's luck

[Jared C]

Recently I took two friends out to go fossil hunting for the first time. It was a fun trip with cool finds, and one of those finds is a little bizarre.

It's a late cretaceous bone (Ozan formation) from central texas, covered in pyrite. It almost reminds me of a broken scapula. Any thoughts? Sorry for the lack of measurements, I only have field photos. 

 

 

[JohnJ]

Can you get any sharper images of that patch of exposed bone texture?

[Jared C]

14 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

Can you get any sharper images of that patch of exposed bone texture?

best I can do right now is crop and turn up the sharpness, but I did ask for more pictures of it from her just now. I'll send those when they come

 

[JohnJ]

Might be turtle bone...hard to say for sure.

[Mark Kmiecik]

On 1/3/2022 at 11:47 AM, JohnJ said:

Might be turtle bone...hard to say for sure.

 

If that's part of the carapace, that was a very large turtle. Would a carapace be that thick?

Edited January 4, 2022 by Mark Kmiecik

[JohnJ]

1 hour ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

Would a carapace be that thick?

Cretaceous turtles occurred in many sizes...some were huge.

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

On 1/4/2022 at 7:43 PM, Mark Kmiecik said:

If that's part of the carapace, that was a very large turtle. Would a carapace be that thick?

 

This certainly wouldn't be the thickest piece of Cretaceous turtle carapace I've seen.

 

What this one is, however, I've got on idea. Chunkosaurus? Wouldn't say this is a bit of jaw, which it otherwise looks vaguely similar to, for lack of foramina. But that's about all I have to say about this... A bit of an enigma then

[Jared C]

And I think an enigma it might remain - It's not my fossil, so we can't get very good photos of it as is unfortunately

[erose]

2 hours ago, Jared C said:

And I think an enigma it might remain - It's not my fossil, so we can't get very good photos of it as is unfortunately

Oh come on now…I read the trip report. You should be able to sweet talk a few good photos out of the finder..maybe more hot cocoa…

[Brandy Cole]

Put me as a plus one for turtle, I think.

[Jared C]

21 hours ago, erose said:

You should be able to sweet talk a few good photos out of the finder..maybe more hot cocoa…

Here ya go 

These are a little better for sure:

 

[erose]

I am still in the turtle bone camp. But that surface texture is still a question.