A very different bone

[Shellseeker]

Cool in the morning,  but the sun was out and by noon just fabulous. When I picked this up, I did not recognize it as anything I had previously seen,  and I have seen a lot of fossil bones.

For a second, I was unsure that it was bone, but now I am pretty positive.  Going hunting in the morning, so will be unable to read comments and suggestions until Sunday evening. Thanks for looking,  Jack

 

 

 

[Tetradium]

Strongly look like wood to me. First picture has what look like a knothole. The pores are wildly different in size and the texture look more like wood - even the fractures look like wood that have snapped longitude wise. You can see how much on one side the stacking of rectangle shaped fossils on top of each other. 

[Mahnmut]

Hi Shellseeker,

the spongiosa-like structure visible to the left in your last pic is the only thing that says "maybe bone" while everything else looks like "surely wood" in my eyes.

I mean, I know you know your bones, on the other hand I have no idea how common fossil wood in your neck of the, well, wood is. (thats a saying, right?)

As for anatomy, I could imagine a big ribs proximal end with knothole-like defect, or a strangely curved longbone likewise. But it doesnt ring a bell.

To take a different approach, what does @paleoflor say? Have you seen that kind of structure in wood?

Best Regards,

J

 

 

Edited January 9, 2022 by Mahnmut
additional idea

[BullStrong]

I'm in the rib camp. Has the right curvature and the shaded side of last image sure looks like bone to me. 

[Shellseeker]

Thanks for your responses and suggestions. All are possibilities.

 

When I found this object, I was trying to determine whether it was metamorphic rock or fossilized bone, based on the patterns on the outside.

I did not consider wood. As I now think about it,  I would also eliminate modern wood because the object has the consistency of rock. so fossilized bone would fit. 

I have found some fossilized wood in the Peace River,  The wood below is hard fossilized wood, now the heft, strength and texture of granite. This new object does not have that "hard" fossilization.

 

I do not think there is a test that would differentiate between fossilized bone (dugong rib) or fossilized wood (cedar)..

I have been out hunting 3 of the last 4 days and my brain is sponge. I will consider this again in the morning...   Jack

 

[Tetradium]

7 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

Thanks for your responses and suggestions. All are possibilities.

 

When I found this object, I was trying to determine whether it was metamorphic rock or fossilized bone, based on the patterns on the outside.

I did not consider wood. As I now think about it,  I would also eliminate modern wood because the object has the consistency of rock. so fossilized bone would fit. 

I have found some fossilized wood in the Peace River,  The wood below is hard fossilized wood, now the heft, strength and texture of granite. This new object does not have that "hard" fossilization.

 

I do not think there is a test that would differentiate between fossilized bone (dugong rib) or fossilized wood (cedar)..

I have been out hunting 3 of the last 4 days and my brain is sponge. I will consider this again in the morning...   Jack

 

Ok. It was just a suggestion since no one answered it and it ended up on page 2. I know bones in general except for horns and some limited kinds have only a thin layer of harden outside section then marrow on the inside. 

[Shellseeker]

4 hours ago, Tetradium said:

Ok. It was just a suggestion since no one answered it and it ended up on page 2. I know bones in general except for horns and some limited kinds have only a thin layer of harden outside section then marrow on the inside. 

Thanks for your comments. Usually when I post an ID request,  I am interested in lots of discussion and posting in return.  Like you , I am especially motivated to be a "1st responder" on an ID thread when the thread has had no response over 24 hours.

 

I hope you continue to make suggestions like this one. Fossilized wood is one of the IDs this can be. I find LOTs of bones, marine, land mammal, reptile, etc , etc. That implies that I should recognize the almost complete end of this fossil IF it is a bone... long bone, foot bone,  rib bone .. I thought it resembled a rhino foot bone, but I am thinking that @BullStrong is closer to the mark with "rib"..

 

So, now I am trying to get similar examples... I have seen dugong, whale, dolphin ribs...

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/86251-m-americanum-rib-bone/

 

I am also looking for fossilized wood that has some similarities... This would be a "branch" and the texture I see would be bark or the inner wood.

19 hours ago, Mahnmut said:

Hi Shellseeker,

the spongiosa-like structure visible to the left in your last pic is the only thing that says "maybe bone" while everything else looks like "surely wood" in my eyes.

I mean, I know you know your bones, on the other hand I have no idea how common fossil wood in your neck of the, well, wood is. (thats a saying, right?)

As for anatomy, I could imagine a big ribs proximal end with knothole-like defect, or a strangely curved longbone likewise. But it doesnt ring a bell.

To take a different approach, what does @paleoflor say? Have you seen that kind of structure in wood?

Best Regards, J

I LIKE your questions.  hope for more voices... As you indicate , I do not recognize THIS proximal end, but it is longer and less massive than rhino... Not sure it exists as a bone.

 

This bone comes from same site, 15 minutes earlier.... I think it is dolphin rib,  Dolphin is a lot more common than dugong at this location.

 

[Tetradium]

On 1/10/2022 at 9:31 AM, Shellseeker said:

Thanks for your comments. Usually when I post an ID request,  I am interested in lots of discussion and posting in return.  Like you , I am especially motivated to be a "1st responder" on an ID thread when the thread has had no response over 24 hours.

 

I hope you continue to make suggestions like this one. Fossilized wood is one of the IDs this can be. I find LOTs of bones, marine, land mammal, reptile, etc , etc. That implies that I should recognize the almost complete end of this fossil IF it is a bone... long bone, foot bone,  rib bone .. I thought it resembled a rhino foot bone, but I am thinking that @BullStrong is closer to the mark with "rib"..

 

So, now I am trying to get similar examples... I have seen dugong, whale, dolphin ribs...

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/86251-m-americanum-rib-bone/

 

I am also looking for fossilized wood that has some similarities... This would be a "branch" and the texture I see would be bark or the inner wood.

I LIKE your questions.  hope for more voices... As you indicate , I do not recognize THIS proximal end, but it is longer and less massive than rhino... Not sure it exists as a bone.

 

This bone comes from same site, 15 minutes earlier.... I think it is dolphin rib,  Dolphin is a lot more common than dugong at this location.

 

That was why I was puzzled. I'm a rookie when it comes to bone id and I'm a novice with modern plant identification. The other possible I could think up was some kind of injury or disease, But you and the others are usually more knowledge into that area as well too.  The last possible alternatives are a tibia bone from a short legged but very heavily build animal like a Rhino. I recalled that after one of my dogs (now dead) have very short but stout  leg bones and I could feel the gap between tibia and fibula. After all one edge look strongly like a socket. 

[Brandy Cole]

Your third picture down reminds me of a badly worn distal radius.  Possibly small equus? Or maybe I'm letting my imagination run away with me.

 

Cropped and rotated, then compared to a view of equus distal radius I found online.  Different viewing angle leaves something to be desired, and it would be the opposite leg as yours.  But maybe something to explore.

 

 

[Shellseeker]

8 minutes ago, Brandy Cole said:

Your third picture down reminds me of a badly worn distal radius.  Possibly small equus? Or maybe I'm letting my imagination run away with me.

 

Cropped and rotated, then compared to a view of equus distal radius I found online.  Different viewing angle leaves something to be desired, and it would be the opposite leg as yours.  But maybe something to explore.

Wow  !!!! Close,, a path to follow  !!!!

 

I just came here to post this.  I send an email to Richard Hulbert,  Director of the Vertebrate Paleontology Research Lab at University of Florida (i.e. likely knows the most about Florida fossil bones as anyone ) and he was short and to the point: It seemed to be a bone , but he "Not sure what the bone is. "

 

Thank you , Thank you

[Brandy Cole]

Glad to at least provide an idea for a direction!  

[Bone Daddy]

My first thought was bone also. I've found some odd petrified wood in the Peace, but all of it had some tell-tale texture visible that made me suspect wood on seeing it. This one reminds me of a lot of the chunkasaurus I find. I have no idea what it is, but if I was a gambling man, I'd bet on bone.

 

[Kiros]

 

15 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

Wow  !!!! Close,, a path to follow  !!!!

 

I just came here to post this.  I send an email to Richard Hulbert,  Director of the Vertebrate Paleontology Research Lab at University of Florida (i.e. likely knows the most about Florida fossil bones as anyone ) and he was short and to the point: It seemed to be a bone , but he "Not sure what the bone is. "

 

Thank you , Thank you

 

It's very difficult to identify a bone in such conditions, but in some photos your bone resemble the distal part of a rhino metapodial. A really really worn metapodial

Edited January 12, 2022 by Kiros

[Kiros]

[Shellseeker]

13 hours ago, Kiros said:

It's very difficult to identify a bone in such conditions, but in some photos your bone resemble the distal part of a rhino metapodial. A really really worn metapodial

Thank you ,  Rhino is another trail to follow.... The bone is somewhat "bruised" but I can see I'll find some similar shapes and sizes....

Got this in mid_October

Jack

Edited January 13, 2022 by Shellseeker