Crocodile Skull Chunk

[Fossil_Adult]

I went to douglas point a few days ago, eager to get a large Otodus. What I did not expect to find was a skull fragment with teeth still embedded inside! None of the teeth are complete, but there is a lot of them, and it’s a pretty nice sized chunk of crocodile skull. 
 

I wasn’t even planning on doing douglas point that day, but we looked at both of the parking lots of both places, purse state, and douglas point, and I decided that zero cars was better than trying to navigate the beach with over 12 or so cars parked. There was no room for us to pull in anyways so I chose douglas point instead.

 

The hunt started off very typically. I found a few goblins and sand tigers, some really nice bone fragments, and some busted up Otodus, one of which would have hit 1.75 if complete :(. But about half way through the trip, I found something odd. I thought it was one of the sandstone rocks from the zone 3 but it was colored brownish, so I picked it up and when I flipped it, there were rows and rows of teeth lining the bottom. I thought at first that I just found a jaw in the rock and did a little victory dance. It wasn’t until I investigated further that I came to realize that this was a piece of SKULL. WHAT?!?!? In my 10 years of collecting, I never would have thought that I’d ever find a skull. I was ecstatic! I will be taking this to the Calvert marine museum for further study and if they need this, I will give it up :(. That’s what a good scientist would do. 
 

Anyways, here are all the finds from that day. I found a lot.

 

The whole haul:

The whole haul flipped:

 

 

Close up of the better stuff:

 

I found 3 broken up Otodus teeth, a complete shark vertebrae, a scute, a coprolite with a fish scale inside, and a crocodile skull fragment. 
 

All the better stuff flipped:

 

 

Underside of the skull:

 

There are so many teeth in here! This is my first every crocodile skull, I’m now hoping to find the other pieces when I come back to this location. What a find!

 

Coprolite:

 

You can actually see what this animal had for lunch. This is a pretty neat fossil and would probably have been my favorite if not for the skull! 
 

Thank you for reading guys. I hope you enjoyed this trip report! 

 

 

[Notidanodon]

Cool stuff!

[automech]

Great job, man! I went through that area a couple years back. On a Sunday. Bigggg mistake. Cars were lined on the street around Purse parking lot. Was lucky to find one spot left at Douglas Pt.  My wife would only tolerate 2hrs of sitting around while me and the kids searched. 

[Fossil_Adult]

55 minutes ago, automech said:

Great job, man! I went through that area a couple years back. On a Sunday. Bigggg mistake. Cars were lined on the street around Purse parking lot. Was lucky to find one spot left at Douglas Pt.  My wife would only tolerate 2hrs of sitting around while me and the kids searched. 

Those places can be very packed. I was surprised that there was nobody there at first given that it was a really nice day out. 

[cowsharks]

I’m not seeing teeth or bone in the chunk you say is part of a croc skull. The chunk looks more like a piece of concretion that comes from one of the zones there. 

[caterpillar]

I'm sorry but I don't see anything about croc skull

[Fossil_Adult]

7 hours ago, cowsharks said:

I’m not seeing teeth or bone in the chunk you say is part of a croc skull. The chunk looks more like a piece of concretion that comes from one of the zones there. 

 

6 hours ago, caterpillar said:

I'm sorry but I don't see anything about croc skull

I respectfully disagree and here’s why. I probably should have taken better photos but I’ve zoomed in on the teeth and the bone. There is bone material here and crocodile teeth as well. I’ve taken some better photos, and plan on taking this to CMM.

 

Porous bone material shown here on the side.

Crocodile teeth sticking out the side.

More bone material. I think that this supports my hypothesis of it being a skull.

 

I’m not trying to be one of those guys who shows off a random rock and says it’s a skull or anything, but I feel 100 percent certain that this is. I will be taking it to people who know a lot more than I do. So if it turns out to be just a rock (which I heavily doubt) then I’ll have learned something new. Otherwise, I’m pretty certain that this is a skull of a crocodile. 

Edited March 31, 2023 by Fossil_Adult

[Meganeura]

2 minutes ago, Fossil_Adult said:

 

I respectfully disagree and here’s why. I probably should have taken better photos but I’ve zoomed in on the teeth and the bone. There is bone material here and crocodile teeth as well. I’ve taken some better photos, and plan on taking this to CMM.

 

Porous bone material shown here on the side.

Crocodile teeth sticking out the side.

More bone material. I think that this supports my hypothesis of it being a skull.

 

I’m not trying to be one of those guys who shows off a random rock and says it’s a skull or anything, but I feel 100 percent certain that this is. I will be taking it to people who know a lot more than I do. So if it turns out to be just a rock (which I heavily doubt) then I’ll have learned something new. Otherwise, I’m pretty certain that this is a skull of a crocodile. 

Your initial picture DEFINITELY made it look like a concretion or something. But these pics are MUUUUUUUCH better. I can see the tooth sockets for sure. That's a really cool find!

[Brandy Cole]

Those do look like tooth sockets to me. Well worth taking it to someone for an in hand look for more info.  Please let us know how it turns out!  Very cool finds!

[cowsharks]

As others pointed out, these pictures are much better.  I have found different types of bone entombed in concretion at that location.  With the better pics you posted, I think I agree that there is some bone material there, and the cylindrical objects might be tooth sockets.  I actually have an entire upper half of a croc skull from the Paleocene of Maryland and the tooth sockets are actually slanted within the jaw bone; I don't quite see that here in your specimen, but I agree that you should have the folks at CMM look at it.  They might even forward pics to Donald Morgan for review (he's extremely knowledgeable on croc material from MD).  

 

[Meganeura]

12 minutes ago, cowsharks said:

As others pointed out, these pictures are much better.  I have found different types of bone entombed in concretion at that location.  With the better pics you posted, I think I agree that there is some bone material there, and the cylindrical objects might be tooth sockets.  I actually have an entire upper half of a croc skull from the Paleocene of Maryland and the tooth sockets are actually slanted within the jaw bone; I don't quite see that here in your specimen, but I agree that you should have the folks at CMM look at it.  They might even forward pics to Donald Morgan for review (he's extremely knowledgeable on croc material from MD).  

 

They don’t appear to be tooth sockets, so much as the teeth themselves. You can see them coming out the side of the concretion

[Fossil_Adult]

9 minutes ago, cowsharks said:

As others pointed out, these pictures are much better.  I have found different types of bone entombed in concretion at that location.  With the better pics you posted, I think I agree that there is some bone material there, and the cylindrical objects might be tooth sockets.  I actually have an entire upper half of a croc skull from the Paleocene of Maryland and the tooth sockets are actually slanted within the jaw bone; I don't quite see that here in your specimen, but I agree that you should have the folks at CMM look at it.  They might even forward pics to Donald Morgan for review (he's extremely knowledgeable on croc material from MD).  

 

I emailed Stephen Godfrey and he is definitely interested. I’m thinking that I need to invest in an actual camera instead of using my phone for pictures. I’ll definitely update you guys when I get the experts opinion! In the meantime it’s still on my bucket list to find a complete croc skull. Or any complete skull for that matter! 
 

The breaks along the alleged croc teeth (99.9 percent sure they’re croc teeth) remind me of breaks you might find when a tooth is split right down the middle. Anyways we’ll see what CMM has to say about this bone object. 

[cowsharks]

Couple pics of my croc skull...

[caterpillar]

9 hours ago, Fossil_Adult said:

I respectfully disagree and here’s why. I probably should have taken better photos but I’ve zoomed in on the teeth and the bone. There is bone material here and crocodile teeth as well. I’ve taken some better photos, and plan on taking this to CMM.

 

I thank you for your answer.

I didn't say there wasn't bone, I just said it wasn't crocodile.

With these new photos, I'm thinking more of mammalian teeth cut at the roots.

[jdp]

I'm going to agree with the folks saying this might be mammal. Actually more exciting, since there's so little Paleocene mammal material from the east coast. I think we're going to be hearing some exciting updates on this as soon as a professional takes a look.

[Fossil_Adult]

31 minutes ago, jdp said:

I'm going to agree with the folks saying this might be mammal. Actually more exciting, since there's so little Paleocene mammal material from the east coast. I think we're going to be hearing some exciting updates on this as soon as a professional takes a look.

If this is land mammal this is an extremely rare find. I will be over the wall if this is land mammal. I’m either going today, or tomorrow, but I’m really excited to see what it is!

[FossilDAWG]

 

Don

[Andúril Flame of the West]

Whatever it ends up being that’s an amazing find Fossiladult! Even more so since you found it at such a popular area. I look forward to hearing what the experts at CMM have to say .

[Fossil_Adult]

I’m going to CMM tomorrow. Had to reschedule today but I’m definitely dropping by tomorrow so it’s all just a waiting game! 

[cowsharks]

You or Stephen may also want to reach out to Dr. Ken Rose at John’s Hopkins. He has ID’d some of my Paleocene mammal material in the past. 

[Fossil_Adult]

Update:

 

I have turned in my find to CMM. They believe it may be land mammal material. They're currently looking for a preparator to get my specimen out of the nodule. It will probably take a while to get a proper ID but I'll keep you guys in touch!

[automech]

[Bjohn170]

1 hour ago, Fossil_Adult said:

Update:

 

I have turned in my find to CMM. They believe it may be land mammal material. They're currently looking for a preparator to get my specimen out of the nodule. It will probably take a while to get a proper ID but I'll keep you guys in touch!

A lot of congratulations. I hunt Douglas a lot and I would have most likely over looked that find. Paleocene mammal material from Maryland is so rare and unique I can’t wait to see it prepped and have an ID. Maybe you will get extra lucky and have a new species on your hands!

[webmasterj]

Very cool, keep us posted on ID.

[Fossil_Adult]

10 hours ago, Bjohn170 said:

A lot of congratulations. I hunt Douglas a lot and I would have most likely over looked that find. Paleocene mammal material from Maryland is so rare and unique I can’t wait to see it prepped and have an ID. Maybe you will get extra lucky and have a new species on your hands!

I always look at the random rocks lining the beach from Zone 3 for sharks teeth and other fossils in them. I instead got a section of mystery skull with teeth! Paleocene mammal remains are extremely rare, even more so than Miocene (which is also extremely rare.) I’m really stoked about this. Always check the sandstone, you never know what could be inside…