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Looking For Opinions On What I Believe Is A Petrified Finger


AndrewS

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I found this while working in my yard last summer. However, I am 99% sure that it came from gravel that I had brought in from a quarry in Indiana. It just showed up while I was moving some of the gravel around. It was clean (no dirt on it), appears to have a fingernail, and the top joint appears to have been smashed as indicated by a bulge on the side which is surrounded by a darker color which I believe is blood/blood blister...similar to what would happen if you smashed your finger with a hammer. Any thoughts? I have contacted a few people about this, but have had no luck obtaining any good information. Thanks!

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Looks like a late Halloween Chert nodule gag/prank to me (CSI style)...

Please bear in mind that I am not an expert.

Edited by whowat13
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Welcome to the forum AndrewS. That's a pretty cool looking rock to look so much like a finger, but it's very rare for soft parts to preserve, especially looking that normal. Desication is one form of fossilation (think mummies) but even that just preserves skin and bones usually. Just about all fossils are the remains of hard parts like teeth, bones and shells. Soft tissue, even under the most perfect conditions would not look so much like the original. Keep looking though, even road gravel gives up some great specimens.

Bob

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Definitely not a finger. However, it could be a fossil horn coral. Can you show a photo of the larger end? I think I see coral structure there.

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Definitely not a finger. However, it could be a fossil horn coral. Can you show a photo of the larger end? I think I see coral structure there.

I agree. (Oddly enough, there is a modern coral called "dead man's fingers"... :) )

Tarquin

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What you have found in the quarry gavel is a rock with a familiar shape

It does have crystalline appearance...but that would address the kind of rock

and not an indicator of fossil.

Many (including myself) have in our collections some rocks we have found

over the years that remind us of familiar shapes...Just rocks, but neat rocks,

and they make for great conversational pieces. Your specimen would make

for good conversation at Halloween. :)

Flash from the Past (Show Us Your Fossils)
MAPS Fossil Show

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That has got to be one of the coolest rocks ever, definitely looks like a finger.

Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt
behind the trailer, my desert
Them red clay piles are heaven on earth
I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt

Patterson Hood; Drive-By Truckers

 

image.png.0c956e87cee523facebb6947cb34e842.png May 2016  MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160.png.b42a25e3438348310ba19ce6852f50c1.png May 2012 IPFOTM5.png.fb4f2a268e315c58c5980ed865b39e1f.png.1721b8912c45105152ac70b0ae8303c3.png.2b6263683ee32421d97e7fa481bd418a.pngAug 2013, May 2016, Apr 2020 VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png.af5065d0585e85f4accd8b291bf0cc2e.png.72a83362710033c9bdc8510be7454b66.png.9171036128e7f95de57b6a0f03c491da.png Oct 2022

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  • 1 month later...

A friend of mine would call that an Indian Love Stone.

Finally....a term I am familiar with! :)
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  • 11 years later...

I found a finger and thumb that was fossilized when working in Alabama so I would disagree that soft tissue won't fossilize the thumb knuckle bone was sticking out where you could see it very plainly unfortunately I don't have it anymore but a detective from our sheriff's office came and picked it up and had it sent somewhere to make sure it didn't belong to some ancient Indian tribe 

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Hi,

 

An extraordinary find requires extraordinary proof. No photo, no proof...

 

Coco

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----------------------
OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici

Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici
Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici
Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici
Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici
Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici
Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici

Un Greg...

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4 hours ago, Jdl said:

I don't have it anymore but a detective from our sheriff's office came and picked it up and had it sent somewhere to make sure it didn't belong to some ancient Indian tribe 

 

Just curious. Did you get an answer back to prove your claim?

 

Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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On 4/24/2023 at 4:56 AM, Ludwigia said:

 

Just curious. Did you get an answer back to prove your claim?

Yes and it didn't belong to the Inca's or any other tribes 

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2 hours ago, Jdl said:

Yes and it didn't belong to the Inca's or any other tribes 

So what did it belong to and was it made of stone like the one shown here or was it mummified?

 

Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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Mummified, or fossilized?  :headscratch:

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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__________________________________________________
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:popcorn:

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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You found the finger in Alabama and it didn’t belong to the Incas or any other tribe.   The Incas were indigenous to South America Peru to be exact.   

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On 4/24/2023 at 2:55 AM, Coco said:

Hi,

 

An extraordinary find requires extraordinary proof. No photo, no proof...

 

Coco

You are absolutely right but hey I know what I found and was a once in a lifetime find that was 8 yrs ago now a week ago I found another fossilized finger up in the mountains where I live and this is what seems to be right pointing finger

received_786908536069648.jpeg

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Not a petrified finger. Sorry.

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    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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Interesting, other than the general shape why do you believe it's a finger.  I see lots of geologic objects that look like that!

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15 hours ago, Desrosiers1718 said:

You found the finger in Alabama and it didn’t belong to the Incas or any other tribe.   The Incas were indigenous to South America Peru to be exact.   

Hey I'm just quoting what the detective said to me honestly I think it was from the civil war the way it was seemed to be cut off by a sword hold your left-hand up making a L shape that's all it was

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13 minutes ago, Troodon said:

Interesting, other than the general shape why do you believe it's a finger.  I see lots of geologic objects that look like that

 

Well because you can see the bone clearly

 

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received_1227347538153175.thumb.jpeg.368b8b283616ae501a07764e0463883a.jpeg

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