Kalo Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 (edited) Hello, recently I found some fossil, it is really hard for me to identify it. It looks like a horn, but I am not sure what actually is... The location is Kinnekulle, Sweden. Edited October 20, 2014 by Kalo "In the beginning God..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herb Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 I do not believe they are fossils. "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...
tmaier Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 Yes, I'd say broken and weathered limestone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalo Posted October 21, 2014 Author Share Posted October 21, 2014 Thank you both! Greetings! "In the beginning God..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smileylizard Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 sauropod tooth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 The shape is good for a horn (not a sauropod tooth) but the texture says stone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 When I put "sauropod tooth" into google images, the things that come up don't look at all like it. http://www.google.com/images?q=sauropod+tooth&btnG=Search&hl=en&gbv=1 How did you arrive at the conclusion of tooth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smileylizard Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 When I put "sauropod tooth" into google images, the things that come up don't look at all like it. http://www.google.com/images?q=sauropod+tooth&btnG=Search&hl=en&gbv=1 How did you arrive at the conclusion of tooth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 You are looking at the fossils from arm's length, and not looking at the details. The shape is very much like a horn or tooth, but if you zoom into the surface you will see that the real tooth has fossilized dentin and enamel, while the specimen in question is totally composed of limestone. A common expression is "the devil is in the details", and that means the truth is often reveled by close inspection of the details of the problem. As you go out in the field and collect fossils, you will come across many tons of rock that have these shapes that resemble anatomical parts of critters. There is usually a "take your breathe away" moment, and then when you pick it up and examine the details, you find it is really a pseudofossil, just a rock that has the general appearance of some actual fossil. It will happen to you almost every time you go out. It happens to all of us. And you have to realize that a lot of people here have a lot of field experience. I've been kicking around in the rocks for 46 years. The combined experience of the people who replied is probably a couple centuries. It doesn't mean that we are always right, but it does mean that we have something to pass on to beginners. Here's a funny story I like to repeat (ad nauseam)... I came over a rise and found a dried up stream cutting through some limestone. The river bed was scattered with limestone rocks, and I immediately spotted large bones scattered around. There was a skull, ribs, pelvis, long bones, everything. I got very excited and ran down into the river bed and picked up the specimens. They were just random limestone pieces that looked like a bone bed. Then I realized the sediment I was poking through was Silurian in age and there were not large vertebrates in that period anyway. It was a big let-down. I gathered up the pieces and assembled what looked like a deer skeleton, and left it laid out in the river bed to surprise the next person. Anyway, when you first start out you will find this cycle of excitement and then disappointment every time you go fossil hunting. It also sometimes happens after many decades. You will learn to recognize the details, and the devils in them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 The area of the find appears to be Cambrian/Ordovician, which would rule out sauropods in any case. "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...
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