Caspersen find-any ideas?

[Jbenton]

Found while snorkeling at caspersen. It’s clearly layered and is fossilized. Any ideas?

I don’t think it’s bone. 

[Shellseeker]

Bone was the 1st thing that I thought of.... followed by turtle shell.  What do you  think it is if not bone? Your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th photos all scream bone. That is the 75% possibility,  turtle is a 24 % possibility. 

 

the remaining 1%.... it might be tooth enamel or tusk...

The photo that had a chance of showing us that is your 1st photo ... from the broken edge. Except that when I double click on the photo for max resolution,  it is too blurry to distinguish any detail...

 

[digit]

It's a small fragment to be sure. The layered texture pretty much shouts TUSK for me though most tusk fragments show better layering (and evidence of Schreger Lines along the edge).

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schreger_line

 

Quite possible this might be obscured by the fragmentation and the wear. I've seen dugong bone show growth rings like a piece of petrified wood but I've never seen layers flake away like this on dugong bone. It might be interesting to sand the flat edge of the piece that is perpendicular to the grain in the surface to see if a clearer cross-section might reveal hidden Schreger Lines.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken