Long shot, but does anyone know what type of bone this could be?

[Pepper]

Hello. I picked this up the other day thinking it was wood, but on a closer look I could see webbing, with a bone like structure, however it is really worn. Would anyone have an idea on what it may belong too if it is indeed a bone? 

Found in a Cretaceous beach site, South Island, New Zealand. Many thanks in advance.

[Rockwood]

With apologies to the chunkasaur folks, this looks like a bob to me. (blob of bone) 

[Fossildude19]

I think it is too worn to say more than fossil bone.

[Shellseeker]

6 hours ago, Pepper said:

Hello. I picked this up the other day thinking it was wood, but on a closer look I could see webbing, with a bone like structure, however it is really worn. Would anyone have an idea on what it may belong too if it is indeed a bone? 

Found in a Cretaceous beach site, South Island, New Zealand. Many thanks in advance.

Random thoughts from a fossil _oholic.

"really worn"  is relative.  How worn can a bone get on a beach across 66 million years? I have numerous bones from Florida from 10 mya that do not have this level of detail. It is a bone..

When I have nothing else,  I think about form and function... This bone may have been broken a thousand times over the eons and have zero resemblance to the original bone it came from... ot then again it may not..

Your fossil is round , small, flat.....,  I have found some like that... Welcome  to TFF,  I would like to see more of your finds from down under....

[Rockwood]

26 minutes ago, Shellseeker said:

Your fossil is round , small, flat

But it looks like a rip cut (parallel to the grain). Wouldn't an epiphysis be a cross cut ?

[Shellseeker]

3 hours ago, Rockwood said:

But it looks like a rip cut (parallel to the grain). Wouldn't an epiphysis be a cross cut ?

Absolutely, but the only other fossils that I could think looked somewhat similar and are of similar sizes are sesamoid bones,  and I could not track down a photo example. 

 

Please do not mis_interpert. I am not implying that Pepper's find is an epiphysis, just that an epiphysis (and some sesamoids) have form/size similarities.

 

Pepper's find is almost certainly not identifiable.

 

[Brandy Cole]

I agree it's not identifiable.  It looks like all that's left are worn edges.  Without any clear cortical bone or articulation surface visible, it's impossible for me to get an idea of what the original shape would have been, especially since it was found on a beach and water wear naturally rounds and flattens items.

[Rockwood]

Trampling of bones at any stage of the taphonomy would provide a good start to the process.

[Pepper]

5 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

Random thoughts from a fossil _oholic.

"really worn"  is relative.  How worn can a bone get on a beach across 66 million years? I have numerous bones from Florida from 10 mya that do not have this level of detail. It is a bone..

When I have nothing else,  I think about form and function... This bone may have been broken a thousand times over the eons and have zero resemblance to the original bone it came from... ot then again it may not..

Your fossil is round , small, flat.....,  I have found some like that... Welcome  to TFF,  I would like to see more of your finds from down under....

Kia oura Shellseeker.

Thanks for your reply I have quite a collection from a very special site that represents a mid to late Cretaceous continental shelf - high latitude paleoenvironment. There is also a stream that carries decent sized fossilised wood pieces from further inland that become strewn along the beach. That piece of bone is worn compared to the other bones I have found on the beach (without any matrix). I have supplied some fossils I have found including marine reptilian vertebrae and just a very small portion of the wood I have collected over a couple of years. 

[Shellseeker]

3 hours ago, Pepper said:

Kia oura Shellseeker.

Thanks for your reply I have quite a collection from a very special site that represents a mid to late Cretaceous continental shelf - high latitude paleoenvironment. There is also a stream that carries decent sized fossilised wood pieces from further inland that become strewn along the beach. That piece of bone is worn compared to the other bones I have found on the beach (without any matrix). I have supplied some fossils I have found including marine reptilian vertebrae and just a very small portion of the wood I have collected over a couple of years. 

It seems like you have a magic place where you can seek solitude and renourishment while collecting the gifts of nature. Many on this forum are equally blessed,  including myself. We hunt in different environments. Mine tends to be the last 15 myas, but it is more than sufficient.

 

Is this one of your "marine reptilian vertebrae" ?  I could see myself finding something very much like it.

 

 

But, given the enormous distance in space and time, they could not be the same...