harperforbes Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Hello all. I found this on a beach in Santa Cruz, CA earlier today. No idea what I'm looking at - all of the similar teeth that I looked at online didn't have a base like this one. Thank you for any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 I'm pretty sure this isn't a tooth. The shape is a result of the darker material being slightly more resistant to erosion than the lighter. I'm not sure just what kind of rock is involved though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleorunner Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 It has a curious shape, but I also think it is geological. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harperforbes Posted March 17, 2022 Author Share Posted March 17, 2022 If it is helpful, there are a couple other things I would like to point out: -The whole thing used to be black, but it has been drying out from the tip down (it was in the water). - The makeup of the beach's rocks was homogenous. All of the stones were smooth, round, typical ocean-edge stones. There weren't any stones that were porous to the degree that this one is. This piece was the same color as all of the surrounding rocks. It did not stand out because it looked like a tooth, but rather because every other rock looked practically the same. It's to the point where the most similar objects on the beach were driftwood, but this piece was much heavier than the water-filled wood, like a rock or bone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleorunner Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Looking closely at the last photo, I have noticed that there is a cell structure (light color). Maybe some kind of sponge, or coral. Wait for answers from the experts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 12 minutes ago, harperforbes said: There weren't any stones that were porous to the degree that this one is. That most likely indicates that the source was further away than average for spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 1 minute ago, Paleorunner said: Looking closely at the last photo, I have noticed that there is a cell structure (light color) I think that's modern bryozoan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Wait until it's fully dried out and then try to cut off a piece and burn it. I think it's wood. 4 Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fifbrindacier Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 8 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said: Wait until it's fully dried out and then try to cut off a piece and burn it. I think it's wood. I agree with that. 1 "On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) "We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes." In memory of Doren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 54 minutes ago, harperforbes said: It's to the point where the most similar objects on the beach were driftwood I think, like the previous two members, that this is what you have. 1 Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 A light tap with a spoon should tell if it's rock or wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harperforbes Posted March 18, 2022 Author Share Posted March 18, 2022 The exterior has dried out, I believe it is entirely dry now. I chipped off a bit from the base and it doesn't burn. It is extremely tough. I tapped a spoon on a variety of driftwood and rocks, but it sounds like it's somewhere in between. Is it possible that it is a horn of some kind? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranzBernhard Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 5 hours ago, harperforbes said: Is it possible that it is a horn of some kind? This could very well be the case! You may try "horn core". Franz Bernhard 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleorunner Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 5 hours ago, harperforbes said: 5 hours ago, harperforbes said: The exterior has dried out, I believe it is entirely dry now. I chipped off a bit from the base and it doesn't burn. It is extremely tough. I tapped a spoon on a variety of driftwood and rocks, but it sounds like it's somewhere in between. Is it possible that it is a horn of some kind? If it is a fragment of horn, and it is not fossilized (organic), when applying a flame for a while, it should give off a peculiar and unpleasant smell. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleorunner Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 43 minutes ago, FranzBernhard said: This could very well be the case! You may try "horn core". Franz Bernhard It is possible the horn, the structure that I see in the last photo, does not look like wood to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 3 hours ago, FranzBernhard said: You may try "horn core". I was reluctant to go along with this until I realized that the bryozoan was distracting from the concentric nature of that end. Horn would burn, and stink in the process. This, the core, would be bone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 Hmmm Now I'm really curious to hear (or smell) what the burn test has to tell us. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 9 hours ago, harperforbes said: I chipped off a bit from the base and it doesn't burn. That ship already sailed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahnmut Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 Hello together, I also tend to call it wood. Horn cores as far as I know grow from highly pneumatized skull bones (at least in mammals), they are connected to the sinuses. I see nothing like that on what would be the proximal end of this piece. To me it looks like a knothole or burr weathered out of the softer wood surrounding it, similar to the central structure of this piece: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/115817-wooden-cocoon/&tab=comments#comment-1276493 Or maybe something marine like a kelp root or horn coral base. Wood drenched in saltwater will not always ignite easily. Or maybe it is fossilized. Best Regards, J 1 Try to learn something about everything and everything about something Thomas Henry Huxley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahnmut Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 (edited) An afterthought: If mammal, then rather antler base than horn core, those are massive bone. Edited March 18, 2022 by Mahnmut correction 1 Try to learn something about everything and everything about something Thomas Henry Huxley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 When looking at this yesterday evening it didn't really look like wood to me either. Instead, the first thing that came to mind was horn core. When looking up examples online, however, I soon discovered what I should've realised before, which is indeed, as Jan pointed out, that they "grow from highly pneumatized skull bones". When reading Jan's first message I realised that, while this is true, antler indeed has a different attachment to the skull, and can, therefore not be referred to as "horn" (although this is often mistakenly done in Dutch, as well as potentially other languages). But if this piece were indeed the internal mould of a piece of antler, that'd indeed be one huge piece! Also, the morphology doesn't quite match in my opinion, which is why I haven't been able to formulate an opinion on this find yet. Rather a bit of a puzzle... 1 'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daves64 Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 The base looks ringed like wood & the tip area looks like it could be wood as well. Possibly a petrified tree branch, eroded by wave action to create the tip? Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 Were this a knot the limb would be rooted into the structure not pasted on to the structure. I think wear and mineralization are masking appearance of pneumatization. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjaak Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 This clearly a piece of driftwood, oddly shaped by water erosion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 2 minutes ago, sjaak said: This clearly a piece of driftwood, oddly shaped by water erosion. Petrified or not ? And if that is a limb, why are both ends of it not the same color ? Wood conducts fluids the same dead as in life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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