Possible rib? Curved bone found on Zandmotor

[AnyArthropod]

Hello fellow fossil fans,

In this post I have a piece of bone I have found on zandmotor a few months ago. I know bone fragments are hard to ID. However I hope that perhaps because of its distinctive shape any of you could give me an idea of what it could be.

 

thanks in advance!

[val horn]

I would like sharper closer pictures of the ends to be certain that it is bone.  If bone i expext ribs to be flat/oval and not round.    Roundness suggests long bones too my non expert opinion.  Turtles and aligators have significant curve to their limb bones.  however the first question is it really bone?

[AnyArthropod]

4 hours ago, val horn said:

I would like sharper closer pictures of the ends to be certain that it is bone.  If bone i expext ribs to be flat/oval and not round.    Roundness suggests long bones too my non expert opinion.  Turtles and aligators have significant curve to their limb bones.  however the first question is it really bone?

Ill try to post some sharper pictures later today. It is bone, in the cross section you can see the porous texture of where the marrow used to be. It is hard to take a picture of it however without holding it because of its shape.

Edited May 20, 2022 by AnyArthropod

[Coco]

I guess Zandmotor is in the Netherlands or Belgium. We’re on an international forum and I don’t know all the cities in the world

 

Coco

[Tidgy's Dad]

1 hour ago, Coco said:

I guess Zandmotor is in the Netherlands or Belgium. We’re on an international forum and I don’t know all the cities in the world

 

Coco

Yes, it's the Netherlands and an old stomping ground of our friend @Max-fossils. I have some lovely stuff from there, thanks to him. 

To be fair, the OP has their location listed as 'somewhere', which is correct if not particularly helpful. 

Edited May 20, 2022 by Tidgy's Dad

[Coco]

It was my memories of Max’s posts that made me vaguely remember the place (because my memory sometimes plays tricks on me).

 

And OK for "somewhere"! Better not put anything because it does not help in any way...

 

Coco

[AnyArthropod]

9 hours ago, Coco said:

I guess Zandmotor is in the Netherlands or Belgium. We’re on an international forum and I don’t know all the cities in the world

 

Coco

Right! I should have been more specific. It’s in the Netherlands sorry. 

[AnyArthropod]

17 hours ago, val horn said:

I would like sharper closer pictures of the ends to be certain that it is bone.  If bone i expext ribs to be flat/oval and not round.    Roundness suggests long bones too my non expert opinion.  Turtles and aligators have significant curve to their limb bones.  however the first question is it really bone?

I did my best to get a sharp picture of the ends. Not that good with the camera haha. I brightened them a bit to try and make the pores more clear.

[Lone Hunter]

Now it's looking like bone, or could it possibly be antler?

[val horn]

9 minutes ago, Lone Hunter said:

Now it's looking like bone, or could it possibly be antler?

I think that that is a very good suggestion.

[Brandy Cole]

Looks like an antler tine to me.

[AnyArthropod]

59 minutes ago, Lone Hunter said:

Now it's looking like bone, or could it possibly be antler?

Antler huh? I would have never thought of that. That would be cool as I don’t own that yet. 

[Max-fossils]

Oof, looks like I'm about a month late... sorry Adam, but thanks for the tag! @Tidgy's Dad

 

Anyways, I would agree that this looks like a piece of antler to me too. There are a few deer species known from the Zandmotor, so identifying the species will be very difficult; keep it as Cervidae indet. for now. Cool find though, well done! Despite my years of hunting at the site, I've not found much antler myself. 

Best,

Max

[sjaak]

Need better pictures to determine if this is bone or antler.

Zandmotor is an artificial beach near The Hague that is designed as an experiment to naturally enforce the beach by providing a continuous supply of sand, instead of using ships. The sand used for the beach is from the Northsea and contains a lot of late Pleistocene and Holocene fossils. Hence, the beach is very popular if not crowded with local hunters.

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

12 minutes ago, sjaak said:

Hence, the beach is very popular if not crowded with local hunters.

 

Or kite-surfers

 

I've tried searching the site myself once or twice, being native to the area, but never found more than some chunkothere pieces within the size range of a couple of cm.

 

14 minutes ago, sjaak said:

Need better pictures to determine if this is bone or antler.

 

I agree better pictures of the cross-section are needed to fully establish whether this is bone or antler. But I agree that even with just the last photograph and overall shape of the specimen, this looks much more like antler than bone. The transition between cortex and spongy tissue is rather sharp, which is typical of antler, and the specimen is neither flat enough for rib, nor does it, in my opinion, have the proper shape for a long bone, whether mammalian or reptilian.

[sjaak]

21 minutes ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

 

Or kite-surfers

Yeah, lots of kite-surfing going on on the Kijkduin side.

 

21 minutes ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

 

I've tried searching the site myself once or twice, being native to the area, but never found more than some chunkothere pieces within the size range of a couple of cm.

Nowadays you have to be lucky and go their many times. There are many local collectors that stroll the beach at the best times, even in the dark. But still there is always an opportunity to find something especially if you are happy with chunks like beginning collectors.  Some

 

 

 amazing fossils and artefacts have been found there and are still being found.

21 minutes ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

 

 

I agree better pictures of the cross-section are needed to fully establish whether this is bone or antler. But I agree that even with just the last photograph and overall shape of the specimen, this looks much more like antler than bone. The transition between cortex and spongy tissue is rather sharp, which is typical of antler, and the specimen is neither flat enough for rib, nor does it, in my opinion, have the proper shape for a long bone, whether mammalian or reptilian.

 I agree it could very well be antler given the shape but the pictures are not very clear at least not on my screen.