Halloween Mask

[Shellseeker]

Today was one of those great days. An occasional fossil hunting buddy (Joe) asked me to go with him to a new location (for me). I placed myself in his hands. We went downstream with Joe probing likely gravel locations, and he eventually chose the 3rd stop. The very first find for either of us was this tooth that showed up in my sieve as I dumped my 2nd shovel full.

I immediately judged Joe's leadership and this trip as successful!

Now about that Halloween mask: it was found about 8 inches below the Mako location.

Another photo to help identification. It is about 7 inches wide.

And finally, a very unusual non-fossil find -- a bottle. Bottles show up a lot, especially brown or green modern ones. But THIS bottle has something I did not know existed. It is a modern bottle with plastic screw cap. but it is actually 2 bottles, a bottle inside another bottle. Sounds medical to me. Anyone know the purpose?

As for my buddy Joe, he found 4 nice Megs, a couple of pristine dillo osteoderms, a large dermal denticle, 2 horse canines, and a mako of his own. It was a great spot for both of us.

Edited April 5, 2015 by Shellseeker

[jcbshark]

Great finds Jack, that Mako is sweeeet! : )

[calhounensis]

Your unidentified is a partial sacrum, Equus I believe.

Edited April 5, 2015 by calhounensis

[Miatria]

I pulled up "sacrum" and the first image was human and there's the Halloween mask. Cool!

I thought the bottle within a bottle might be for oil and vinegar dressing but upon closer inspection, I think not.

Great mako!

[jlar7607]

That sure is one purty Mako!!

[jlar7607]

I want that sacrum you will give it to me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Plantguy]

Yep Jack you done alright---nice finds! Regards, Chris

[Ludwigia]

Great finds! I don't know much about bones, but if that's a partial horse sacrum, then it must have been a pretty small creature.

[Shellseeker]

Great finds! I don't know much about bones, but if that's a partial horse sacrum, then it must have been a pretty small creature.

I felt much the same way -- this Sacrum is almost complete width-wise and is a tad over 7 inches across. That seems mighty narrow for a horse. Maybe it was a foal.

[Shellseeker]

I contacted Richard Hulbert. He does not believe that this sacrum belongs to a horse either.

Yes, that is most likely llama. The surfaces for the articulation with the zygopophyses of last lumbar vertebra are strongly curved—these are flat in horses. Perissodactyls also have an articulation between the lateral processes of the last lumbar vertebra and the sacrum. These are not present in this specimen.

So I am looking for an even toed ungulate (Artiodactyla) sacrum of approximately 7.5 inches wide. Llama (Paleaolama Mirifica) is in the running.

[calhounensis]

Check out the difference in the dorsal sacral foramen of a Perissodactyl (Equus) and an Artiodactyl (Odocoileus). Granted the horse is broken, it measures right at 5 in., the deer measures 3.75 in.

[calhounensis]

I'm bound to go with Hulbert's ID. Cool find!

[Shellseeker]

Thanks Cal,

MY head is spinning (which I think is good) trying to figure out this Sacrum, plus the mammal AND Croc teeth in the Interesting finds thread. Now if I can just get a good photo of ANY llama Sacrum to get comfortable with that Identification.. These are very interesting times. Jack

[Dave in Alaska]

it kind looks like your bottle had something that hardened inside, like a glue of some kind. after whatever hardened the glass bottle broke leaving what you see there.

[calhounensis]

Did some digging through some fossil books. Perhaps you have some of them and you could take a look. Unfortunately none of the photos were done for ID purposes. Rather they were taken in the field or taken at an obscure angle that doesn't help with ID'ing.

Here's the list. If I find any more I'll try and update it.

Mark Renz's Giants in the Storm has 3 pictures of a horse sacrum on pg. 120. On pg. 135 he figures a H. macrocephala or P. mirifica sacrum, unfortunately it only shows the anterior view of the sacrum. (However it is the same view shown in your second photo of your sacrum) One issue with Renz's photos in this situation is that they were not done for the use of ID'ing.

Mark Renz's Fossiling in Florida: A Guide for Diggers and Divers shows an Equus sacrum on pg. 150. He labels it with the measurements of 6.5 in. long by 5.5 in. wide.

Vertebrate Fossils: A Neophyte's Guide by Frank A. Kocsis Jr. has an Equus sp. sacrum on pg. 126. It's good photo showing a right dorsal view of a complete sacrum. Measurements provided are; 7.5 in. wide x 9.75 in. long x 5 in. high. On pg. 143 a photo is provided of a partial juvenile H. macrocephala sacrum, unfortunately being a juvenile example it doesn't really help you in this case.

Somewhere I have a copy of the Mammalian Osteology book. I'll have to dig it up and see if they have anything of use to you.

[Shellseeker]

Dave,

I looked at it a little closer -- seemed like someone took a normal bottle and poured some type of acrylic into it. I agreed with your analysis. just a broken bottle 80% full of hardened acrylic.

Calhounensis, I have 3 of those books and will look at the references. So it seems that 7 plus inches is in the range of horse. Thanks for all you do.. Jack

[sixgill pete]

Great finds Jack. That mako is really special.

[Shellseeker]

Great finds Jack. That mako is really special.

Pete,

For me, this has been an amazing year for Makos. Normally I find 2-3 decent ones and a bunch that are broken. This year I started with my finest ever back in late October, then was washed out and came back in March with 15-20 Makos in great shape and now this one. I guess sometimes the good fortune on a specific fossil just flows..