Fossilised egg or geode?

[ChrisC]

Hi forum! 

 

So, as I mentioned in my introduction post, back when I was a teenager I found what looks an awful lot like, to my untrained eye at least, a fossilised egg. A feature on this that kind of helped enforce the notion is what looks a lot like opposing carnivorous bite marks.

 

I can't for the life of me remember where I found it as I moved around a lot between England, Wales, and to and from Jersey throughout my entire childhood and teens. I'm forever picking up interesting rocks and things so it could have come from a field, a river bed, or a beach, I have no idea. I know that doesn't help, so I'm sorry for that. 

 

I should add that now I've had a chance to take a closer look through the use of close-up photos, I think the likelihood is that it's actually a geode (I'm sure you've all seen this happen a hundred times or more; noob finds an egg-shaped rock and assumes 'fossilised egg'). To be fair, it is very egg shaped, it looks the same size as the fossilised quail eggs I've seen online while researching, and I'm still kind of hung up on those marks that look like they were made by teeth. The hopeful part of my mind says a hungry little critter could have found 'the egg' after it was sat for some considerable time and had a bite into it, but the more logical part of my mind says that if it was an egg and it was bitten, it would have likely been destroyed. I say likely because there's a chance that an egg left in the summer sun could go hard due to the protein within being denatured by the heat (think hard-boiled egg). Hey, I can speculate! 

 

Anywho, here's the photos;

 

 

So what say you Fossil Forum, was I lucky enough to find a fossilised egg, or am I simply in possession of the most boring geode on the planet?

 

Again, thanks for allowing me to join and many thanks in advance for any replies!

 

Kind regards, Chris 

[ynot]

This is an agate nodule. Being hollow You can call it a geode.

It is not an egg, but may be a cast of a sponge (unlikely).

Do not know what the hole on the side is.

Tony

[TqB]

It looks exactly like flint nodules that can be found in huge numbers over much of the south of England and elsewhere - many of these contain sponges and that would be my first guess.

 

Images:

flint sponge

[ChrisC]

Thank you lots for the feedback, I'll look into what you've told me a little more so I have a chance at recognising any others I might come across in future. You know, the more I've looked at the photos myself and the more I've been reading into it today, the less I've thought it was an egg. It's kind of heartbreaking as I genuinely believed all these years that it was an egg (I'd made my mind up when I found it, and older me never questioned younger me's judgement until very recently), and as amazing as it would have been if it were a fossilised egg, it's still an interesting piece and it will stay where it has been all these years.

 

I plan on staying around as I'm genuinely fascinated by the subject and I always have a thirst for new knowledge and information, and forums like this are the best sources of 'input', as Johnny 5 would say. I'll be sure to pop back if I find anything of interest locally. I do have a neolithic arrowhead that I found locally which was verified by the heritage museum, but it's not a fossil so I can leave that one out I guess.

 

Now, I need to figure out how to tell my daughter that my special egg is actually a rock 

Many thanks again for your help, it means a lot and has helped me solve a years-old mystery that I didn't even know existed!

 

My kind regards, Chris 

[Herb]

looks like a chert nodule to me also