archeologue Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 I'm a newbie to the forum but am used to finding fossils in matrix, never like this, so help is very appreciated! I found this on Double Bluff Beach (Whidbey Island, WA), and though it looks like it could be an igneous rock (like pumice) it is heavier than most volcanic rocks would be. To me, it looks a lot like the (not fossilized) bones I have found, but it is too heavy to be a bone from recent times, which is why I was thinking it could be a fossilized bone (or maybe even wood)? Please take a look at the photos and tell me what you think, thank you in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 Maybe coral, although I've seen quartzite erode in a way similar to that. “...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 Welcome to TFF! It does appear to be a very worn piece of bone. It also looks like it has been mineralized (fossil). There is not enough of it to make an id, typically called "chunkasaurus". 2 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...
Spinosaurus Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 i think its a chunk of bone, because you can see a few little 'chambers' inside of it, thats the place where the marrow was. but you see similar things with coral, but i think its bone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 Welcome to the Forum. I agree it is a chunk of bone - not coral. No corallites or septae are visible. Regards, 1 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...
archeologue Posted June 27, 2017 Author Share Posted June 27, 2017 Thank you all so much for your help! When school starts I will take it to my university's geology/paleontology department too but I wanted to make sure my hypothesis was correct (so I don't look like a fool). Chunkasaurus -- very funny! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 18 hours ago, WhodamanHD said: Maybe coral, although I've seen quartzite erode in a way similar to that. I'm curious: what about that object looks like coral to you? Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 4 minutes ago, FossilDAWG said: I'm curious: what about that object looks like coral to you? Don The eight picture just reminded me of a horn coral a little, I just glanced at it and probably should have given it more thought before a gave an opinion. “...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 I dont want to be a stick in the mud, but thats not bone. Some kind of sea critters made that. Wish I could be of more help, but I used to find quite a bit of that kind of stuff back in the day. I also, at first, thought it was bone. Its not bone. Just my oppinion. RB 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 I think, another hypothesis could be the " Boxwork" . " 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...
ynot Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 7 minutes ago, RJB said: I dont want to be a stick in the mud, but thats not bone. Some kind of sea critters made that. Wish I could be of more help, but I used to find quite a bit of that kind of stuff back in the day. I also, at first, thought it was bone. Its not bone. Just my oppinion. RB I can not disagree with this, because I am on the fence about this piece. It does not have the symmetry that I would expect to see marrow exhibit. I really had a hard time with My original choice of bone. Mother nature is a great joker. 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...
RJB Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 hey @ynot, I wish I had photos of what im talking about, but I dont have any. Not much help, but if i was a betting man, I would bet $1000 bucks that that is not bone. RB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 Overall I do not think the object is bone. Although the porous area somewhat resembles trabecular bone, the non-porous part does not look at all like cortical bone, even if you assume it is weathered. It might be rock that has been bored by sponges or other marine organisms, as has been suggested, or it might be vesicular volcanic rock. Mount Baker is not far away, and that or other volcanoes could be a source of the rock. Don 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 I just reviewed the pictures, and I think, at that scale, could be something like this: link to source I agree with RB and Don. 1 " 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...
darrow Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 There's a pattern in the structure that makes me think this is bone. I'll find some illustrative examples and post pictures later tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrow Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Most of these are mammoth... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrow Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrow Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrow Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Now, what remains, is to establish the specific gravity of the specimen in question and compare that with the specific gravity of the posted ones. " 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...
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