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Dinosaur Claw Maybe?


BarryBenson

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A few weeks a go we picked up a fossil on the beach at Sutton on Sea, Lincolnshire, UK, (TF 521534 81641). With recent bad weather a variety of off shore sea bottom debris had been thrown up, some partial fossil shells and mainly empty shells. This beach often yields fossils, usually belemnites, ammonite fragments and bivalves. Most have come from Yorkshire via southern longshore drift or from glacial clays on shore in Lincolnshire or close inshore.



As far as we can tell this one is a dinosaur claw but this is so far out of my comfort zone that I need outside confirmation. At first I thought it might be a carnivore tooth, possible from the deposits on the North Norfolk coast but the profile is wrong and comparing it to photos of teeth from wolverine, wolf, tiger and lion it just doesn't look like any of them.



The tooth/claw is 52mm long, tri-lobate in section at the thick end tappering to a blunt point. The point is worn off and shows a hole which may or may not have been present at deposition, its difficult to tell. The broad end appears to be broken off and shows a section of the tooth/claw. The outside is coated with a hard, translucent layer that looks like animal claw material, about 0.5mm thick and mottled fawn and brown. Examination with a hand lens shows that the surface is covered in a series of concentric rings running round the trilobate section and concentric towards the pointed end, almost like growth rings. Part of the outer covering is missing towards the pointed end. The centre appears to be filled with a dark, hard, amorphous material with a lighter colour core.



The photos show a general view of the specimen, the broken section and a close-up of the surface showing the concentric ringspost-14393-0-31529800-1391626181_thumb.jpgpost-14393-0-02147700-1391626191_thumb.jpgpost-14393-0-59554700-1391626199_thumb.jpg


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Looks like a tooth to me, pointed end is the root, possibly modern or washed out from older beds in the North Sea.

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Hi Evan

Thanks for that. It needs someone to stand back and take a different look. Have spent several hours looking for camel teeth images. I'm not sure its camel but The Wash that Sutton on Sea faces onto is a large shallow bay in The North Sea. This was the Land Bridge to Continental Europe until about 9,000 years ago and the North Sea was grazed by a range of cold temperate animals. The Dutch have a profitable business going dredging for Mammoth bone. As well as that there was an era pre Ice Age when warm temperate animals lived in the area, There have been discoveries of fossil elephant and lion in clay beds on the North Norfolk Coast - across the bay about 12 miles away as the crow flies. Definitely worth chasing up.

A really big thank you - now I have something to search for.

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Almost certainly an incisor...you might compare it to horse incisors.

The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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It does resemble a tooth, fossil, modern or previous owner... I'm at a loss. But, I will comment on your ruler! I really like that one! Easy to see, 2 measurements and appears to be polished aluminum. I'm gonna be looking for one like that! :)

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.
-Albert Einstein

crabes-07.gif

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Hi

Thanks for all the help, greatly appreciated. Next call is my friend the vet. Re the ruler - standard150mm engineers stainless ruler, available on ebay (other auction sites are available) - search for 150mm rabone. Fits easily into a photo bag.

Appreciate all those who have gone to the trouble to comment - thanks

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