Adam Hamby Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 Is this mastodon tusk and jaw? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnBrewer Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 Hi Adam, welcome to the forum! in order to get help with the identification it would help if you could state exactly where you found this. Not sure the jaw would fit a mastodon having seen mastodon teeth but wait fro the pro's John Map of UK fossil sites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyc Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 Also, please post clear pics of each end of the "tusk" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Hamby Posted June 11, 2017 Author Share Posted June 11, 2017 Both pieces found within 10 yards of each other in a small but deep creek near Vicksburg, MS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 I'm not sure what to make of the long piece, but the jaw piece is not elephantoid. My guess is this is a section of archeocete jaw, a whale like Zygorhiza. Isn't Zygorhiza the MS state vertebrate fossil? http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Hamby Posted June 11, 2017 Author Share Posted June 11, 2017 Yes, that is the correct state fossil. Are you suspect to believe the other to be mastodon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 If the cross section shows Schreger lines it is a proboscidean tusk. I don't see Schreger lines there. Maybe it's a bovid horn. " We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. " Thomas Mann My Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Hamby Posted June 11, 2017 Author Share Posted June 11, 2017 Here are a couple more pics of the end section. Are the lines I see not Schreger lines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 Pictures are good, but I'm not seeing Schreger lines in the cross section. " We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. " Thomas Mann My Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darktooth Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 Cool finds, whatever they turn out to be! I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 This is what Mastodon tusk looks like on broken ends The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruitbat Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 I'm with Harry and the rest on these! That is definitely not a section of mastodon jaw and I don't see any Schreger lines in the big piece either! I've never seen any kind of probosidean tusk with a filling like that. I don't think it is a bovid horn either. -Joe Illigitimati non carborundum Fruitbat's PDF Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Hamby Posted June 12, 2017 Author Share Posted June 12, 2017 Any other ideas on what it may be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 Agree with Harry on jaw - you have a small toothed whale jaw segment. On the other find, if it is fossilized then options are bone or wood or tusk. Fossilized wood would be the default if we can not be sure that it is tusk or bone. because there seem to be growth rings, I think tusk is more likely tusk than bone and the most likely animal is probiscian. Mammoth, mastodon or gomphothere. The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Hamby Posted June 12, 2017 Author Share Posted June 12, 2017 Thank you all for the information. Would it be a good idea to cut a straight end on the long piece? I feel this would show more detail on the "rings". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 3 hours ago, Adam Hamby said: Thank you all for the information. Would it be a good idea to cut a straight end on the long piece? I feel this would show more detail on the "rings". Go for it! A slice off the broken end might be revelatory. http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Hamby Posted June 13, 2017 Author Share Posted June 13, 2017 I made a cut on the end section (not the straightest). You can see more clearly the "growth rings" now. Does this shed any more insight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peat Burns Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 The cross section reminds me of dugong rib. Dugong rib is my guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 Adam, As a new forum member, you should understand that we do. Not normally have this much confusion on an identification. My first take was tusk but missing schreger lines I must eliminate. Tusk has Schreger lines - PERIOD. The outside edge could be bark (wood) or the internal core could be bone marrow. I could be convinced of either. Not very satisfying. The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNCollector Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 The long piece appears to be a Basilosaurus rib and the jaw is also from Basilosaurus. Vicksburg lies right on top of the Eocene Yazoo Clay formation and is loaded with these whale fossils. They are very common in some area creeks around Vicksburg and North of Jackson, extending into East Louisiana. I have collected in the area before. Nice finds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 excerpt from Houssaye A, et al. 2015. Transition of Eocene whales from land to sea: Evidence from bone microstructure. PLoS ONE 10(2):1-28 " We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. " Thomas Mann My Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted June 14, 2017 Share Posted June 14, 2017 GREAT resolution!!!! I love TFF. Thanks to the expert identifications The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted June 14, 2017 Share Posted June 14, 2017 Well, that was an interesting paper . . . Thanks for the post, abyssunder. I would niggle with TNCollector's identification: Basilosaurus is a genus. The common genus found in MS is Zygorhiza, a member of the Family Basilosauridae. I am skeptical that Basilosaurus is "very common in some area creeks" in MS, though the basilosaurid Zygorhiza may be. The rare, larger basilosaurid found in Florida has been assigned to Genus Pontogeneus. Basilosaurus is even more rare in FL. This is from memory, so correct me if there is some new taxonomy. http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Hamby Posted June 14, 2017 Author Share Posted June 14, 2017 Thanks to all for the information. This has all been very interesting. I've learned very much just by the comments you have all given. Also friends and family have enjoyed and learned very much through you all taking your time to comment. Thank you all again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilized6s Posted June 14, 2017 Share Posted June 14, 2017 With an association like this i would bet there is more to be found upstream or in the deeper holes. If you're legally able to and willing i would do some exploratory digging and/or sifting. But that's just me........lol Congrats on the cool finds. ~Charlie~ "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK ->Get your Mosasaur print ->How to spot a fake Trilobite ->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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