Mike Price Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 Brazos River, Texas This "bird thing" came out of a working sand pit on the Brazos River 20 yrs ago when a drag line crossed a clay fossil vein. I dug around for a few days and found a few other small black companion bones to this "bird thing", that I can't currently find, in the same layer of Brazos orange clay. I think bird thing floated down here from someplace else just waiting for me to find it so I could post it on Fossil Forum. The pit flooded a few months later and is owned by another family today. I've searched for other bird fossils and profile examples and I've only found a few. Side note: They found a bloat and float mammoth at another Vernor sand pit in Clute Tx in 2004. The site is only a couple of miles as a crow flys from the Brazos river. They opened a restaurant and dive club in the pit.... I'm still hoping to find my bloat and float one day.....) http://m.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Skull-from-Ice-Age-mammoth-unearthed-in-Clute-1982484.php . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Price Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Price Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 Now that is an amazing pseudofossil fossil' Iron concretions can take some very interesting shapes. Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Price Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 Can we see atop or bottom view, and why not from the back as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Price Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Price Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Price Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Price Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Price Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Price Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 I'll take a few more pics tomorrow. Let me know what angle you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 37 minutes ago, Mike Price said: I'll take a few more pics tomorrow. Let me know what angle you want. I think You covered it pretty well. Really neat looking iron concretion. Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Price Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 Iron? It feels like some type of asphaltum. It has a hard rubber texture and is very light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 Sure looks like an iron concretion. You should add it to this thread... Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Price Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 Ok, I will. I'll also take it to the post office tomorrow and get it weighed. Its definitely a rubber type substance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 6 minutes ago, Mike Price said: Its definitely a rubber type substance. Can You actually bend it? Is it pliable? If it is it could be some type of man made rubbish. Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westcoast Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 Some man-made melted debris methinks. Try burning it and see if it stinks... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Price Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 No, it is not pliable at all. It's so light, its kind of brittle. The very tip of the beak broke off years ago after it fully dried. I glued it back on to keep from losing it. And misplaced the companion bones, when I stored it away properly. The other 3 small bones are here someplace. Yes, it burns black smoke and smells like road tar. (Think bird covered in a oil spill?) It dont float now. It dont totally sink. It holds a bob on the bottom of the sink. That's how it floated or bobbed to the Texas coast, me thinks... I think, it floated or bobbed here from someplace else a very long time ago and come to rest in a fossilized clay vein in a sand pit 30 ft deep. But I'm just a amateur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 If it burns like tar and smells like tar it might be _ _ _ . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 Some type of putty or paint? Man made for sure, however. Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Price Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 "Man made for sure, however" No, your not sure it is man made. You have no idea what it's made of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 Discounting the possibility of contamination during excavation, I think drag line activity may imply deposition prior to such human activities. It may be of interest to research gilsonite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Price Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 If anyone knows a person or place that might like to study it and try to at least confirm the type material, I will pay to send it. The nearest university is 50 miles away in Houston. I let a guy from the county museum look at it years ago. His educated arrogance and inflated ego was no more interested than he was about the bloat & float mammoth that was discovered in another sand pit a few miles away. I've never bothered to show or tell him or anyone else about any of the nice fossils and artifacts, Ive seen or found in this county since. That is why, I'm offering to send it to someone that would take a genuine interest to see it and study it. If only to figure out the material. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 7 hours ago, Mike Price said: Yes, it burns black smoke and smells like road tar. There are very few natural rocks that will burn and fewer that will float (even "bob"). It could be tar from the dredge or a contaminant that washed into the pit rather than being dug from the clay. Have to agree with Tim on this one being (most likely) a man made object. Either way it is not a bird fossil. 1 Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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