abenedict86 Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 Hello everyone, new member, first post. Was wondering if someone could help identify what this is. Was found in Wisconsin (South Western to be specific). Not entirely sure what it is, thought a vertebrae of some sort but not sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 I'm on my cell phone, so I could be totally off, but since nobody else has tried... It looks like part of the back of a skull. Google image search "occipital condyls" and see if that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 Hi, Looks like "tympanic bubble" on a part of a skull. Coco ---------------------- 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... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abenedict86 Posted November 3, 2013 Author Share Posted November 3, 2013 Thanks for some suggestions on what it could be! I have spent a decent amount of time going through google images with the above suggestions and so far, have not found anything that really matches what this looks like. Any thoughts on what creature it could be from? That might help narrow down a search. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 What age were the deposits it was found in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abenedict86 Posted November 3, 2013 Author Share Posted November 3, 2013 I am not entirely sure, it was at a fossil dig that we took our daughter to. It was pretty common that you would come across decent bits of cephalopod fossils and pieces of trilobites and brachiopods. But I am not sure if this "dig site" was being brought in from another location and deposited in this general area for people to go through. This was pretty much the only find that could not be identified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 My first thought was that it is a skull bit, as others have suggested. I'd be thinking Ice Age or younger. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abenedict86 Posted November 3, 2013 Author Share Posted November 3, 2013 Possible ice age skull fragment, awesome I didn't think we would find something like that when our day trip started. If more pictures are needed to get a better view of different areas to help reach a solid conclusion, just let me know what areas to focus on. Thanks for all the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abenedict86 Posted November 3, 2013 Author Share Posted November 3, 2013 Here are some better pictures of the "holes" that are present on one side of the fossil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squalicorax Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 With the new pictures. Im inclined to think it is a chert nodule, which are common in the Southwestern portion of the state. My Flickr Page of My Collection: http://www.flickr.com/photos/79424101@N00/sets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abenedict86 Posted November 3, 2013 Author Share Posted November 3, 2013 From what I was seeing via google images, those chert nodules all seem to be pretty solid and smooth all the way around (unless they formed over a sponge or other similar stuff). This just doesn't seem to match up with any of the stuff I was seeing. But I am pretty new to all of this so I wouldn't really know if it is or isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 Hmmm... It's looking less organic to me in the better images. The last one (in the first set) in particular looks a bit like furnace slag. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichW9090 Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 It is pretty clearly a part of the occipital region of a large mammal skull. There is one occipital condyle preserved, and a nice paroccipital process. Rich The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abenedict86 Posted November 3, 2013 Author Share Posted November 3, 2013 If you were to take a guess, what kind of animal would you say it came from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cole Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 When I saw it yesterday I was going to guess bison or mammoth skull fragment. I have a feeling there may not be enough here to give you an accurate i.d. however. Cole~ Knowledge has three degrees-opinion, science, illumination. The means or instrument of the first is sense; of the second, dialectic; of the third, intuition. Plotinus 204 or 205 C.E., Egyptian Philosopher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abenedict86 Posted November 4, 2013 Author Share Posted November 4, 2013 I typed mammoth skull parts into google and I got this image result. Might this be the same object (or from the same are)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichW9090 Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 Both bison and mammoth skulls have internal hollows somewhat like what I see there. With a photograph, I don't have a good feel for which it might me. The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 Back to being a piece of prehistoric coolness! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abenedict86 Posted November 4, 2013 Author Share Posted November 4, 2013 Thank you everyone for all the help! It was definitely something very cool to come across. My 3yr old daughter is absolutely amazed by it and is so curious as to how it came to be and what animal it possibly came from Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herb Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 If you are finding it in material with cephalopods , brachiopods and trilobite pieces, it would not be likely be mammal remains. "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"_ Carl Sagen No trees were killed in this posting......however, many innocent electrons were diverted from where they originally intended to go. " I think, therefore I collect fossils." _ Me "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."__S. Holmes "can't we all just get along?" Jack Nicholson from Mars Attacks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 If you are finding it in material with cephalopods , brachiopods and trilobite pieces, it would not be likely be mammal remains. Wisconsin has it's share of Ice Age material "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squalicorax Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 Wisconsin has it's share of Ice Age material Where at? I have not even considered it. My Flickr Page of My Collection: http://www.flickr.com/photos/79424101@N00/sets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranha Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 On 11/8/2013 at 8:52 AM, squalicorax said: Where at? I have not even considered it. Check your science library for these titles: West, R.M., & Dallman, J.E. (1980) Late Pleistocene and Holocene vertebrate fossil record of Wisconsin. Geoscience Wisconsin 4:25-45 Foley, L. (1984) Late Pleistocene (Woodfordian) vertebrates from the driftless area of southwestern Wisconsin, the Moscow fissure local fauna. Illinois State Museum, Reports of Investigations 39:1-50 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranha Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 A few more Wisconsin Pleistocene references. Attached is this PDF with map and faunal list: Prehistoric Mammals (Wisconsin). In: Long, C.A. (2008) The wild mammals of Wisconsin. pp. 55-58 Museum of Natural History - University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Wisconsin Prehistoric Mammals.pdf Dallman, J. (1968) Mastodons in Dane County. Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters 15:9-13 JPG LINK Thieling, S.C. (1973) The Pleistocene Fauna of Lost River Sink, Iowa County, Wisconsin (Doctoral dissertation, University of Iowa.) West, R.M. (1978) Late Pleistocene (Wisconsinan) caribou from southeastern Wisconsin Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters 66:50-53 PDF LINK Speth, J.M. (2004) Wisconsin's Fossil Birds: Where are they? The Passenger Pigeon 66(4):363-369 PDF LINK 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abenedict86 Posted November 8, 2013 Author Share Posted November 8, 2013 Thanks for all the info and titles piranha! This fossil has gone up onto a shelf in the living room amongst all our other keepsakes now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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