KimTexan Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 People may think I’m crazy, especially people from Texas, but I went out to the NSR area today. It was 28 degrees, but I dressed appropriately and was fine. However, I was sweating quite a bit from being bundled up so well. So my hair got all wet from sweat and then promptly froze in something like dreadlock form, but I kept going for another 1.5 hours. Anyway, while out I found these. I would just like an opinion if you think they could be bones or concretions or something else. They look concretions that formed around bone to me. I know you can’t really say it is bone for sure because you can’t see the texture, but I’d just like to hear some thought on it. The NSR and Ozan Formation is known for mosasaur remains frequently found there. I have found a vert there before, but nothing else. This is the first one I found. I was trying to clear away some of the shale when I thought to take an in situ shot. This one was maybe a foot away from the other. I did find what looked a bit like a white baculite right next to and under one of them that was about 10 inches long or more, but it looked a big deformed to be a baculite. It was long and slender, but it looked pinched thin on one side of the length. I found another long while baculite looking thing, but heard a wild pig fight break out just around the bend in the creek and I didn’t want them to come around the bend and have an encounter with them. They can be very aggressive and nasty. The shape sure looked like bone concretions to me and there were quite a few clustered together in a small area in the shale. I saw numerous other concretions, but nothing like this and nothing clustered in this pattern. It was pretty cold and it was almost time for me to head back before it got dark. Also, I got my gloves wet while trying to dig them out and at that point I was done. Being wet in below freezing weather can be disasterous. If you think they could be bone I would want to go back and look for any others that may be there. I did dig these 2 out of the shale, but I haven’t gotten home to clean them up yet. I will post more pics after I wash them up. Any thoughts would be appreciated. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberta NJ CA Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 Hey Kim, I bet you look amazing in dreads... seriously! As we all know here, I am in no way capable of offering an opinion on your find, but it does look like there's a lot going on there.. Happy New Year to you and your family and friends!!! Roberta 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 Happy New Year, Kim! As you are well aware, i am no expert on anything much, though i do think the first one, in particular, looks very interesting. I would certainly bring it home, if possible, clean it up and get some idea of bone structure. But that's just me, i guess. PS. I would love to have seen your frozen dreadlocks! Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 Hey Kim, I do not see a bone in these, just looks off in shape and not seeing cellulare structure. May change My mind when clean. 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...
Roberta NJ CA Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 Clean? I never thought to "clean" my crates of "stuff" ... I put a few in water (still sandstone encased), but they came out gritty and dark - they remain in a big pile of "nothings" outside. Do you use a cleanser or just manpower to get outside clean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 Start with a stiff brush. Add soap. If that does nothing use a mild abrasive (comet). Then proceed to dental picks or other similar tools. 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...
KimTexan Posted January 1, 2018 Author Share Posted January 1, 2018 10 minutes ago, ynot said: Hey Kim, I do not see a bone in these, just looks off in shape and not seeing cellulare structure. May change My mind when clean. Yes that is why I say I think it is a bone concretion. In the Lance Formation of Wyoming we found a lot of concretions that were nothing, but concretions. We also found bones that looked like bones and we found bones that looked like they were made of red sandstone, but were really encased in red, iron rich matrix in the shape of a bone. When you got the matrix off you had the bone. Not sure that it will be the case here. Most of what I have seen from the NSR still looks like bone. I found a lot of clam and baculite casts today of what must have been clay or shale. I’d pull them out, the white shell surface would remain in the spot I removed it from, but then the cast would crumble in my hand. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberta NJ CA Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 Thanks Tony, I now have a new hobby - cleaning these things!! Happy New Year and thanks for your all your guidance here! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 It has the shape of bone, I think it would be worth further cleaning to make sure. “...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 January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 1 minute ago, WhodamanHD said: It has the shape of bone, What bone? 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...
Miocene_Mason Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 6 minutes ago, ynot said: What bone? Just curves in a way bone would (I know, not incredibly scientific). Could very well be (and most likely is) a concretion, but I would rather be safe than sorry. “...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...
Tidgy's Dad Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 6 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said: Just curves in a way bone would (I know, not incredibly scientific). Could very well be (and most likely is) a concretion, but I would rather be safe than sorry. I agree. I wouldn't be able to sleep nights if i left it. probably nothing, but...................... Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 2 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said: but...................... The single resounding word that goes through my head whenever I see something that might be a fossil, most of the time it’s nothing but every now and again.... “...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 January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 5 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said: 12 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said: Just curves in a way bone would (I know, not incredibly scientific). Could very well be (and most likely is) a concretion, but I would rather be safe than sorry. I agree. I wouldn't be able to sleep nights if i left it. probably nothing, but...................... I would have taken a closer look at it Myself, but I am still of the opinion that it is not bone. The fact that neither of You can say what bones it might be confirms My opinion (in My mind anyways). 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...
Tidgy's Dad Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 1 minute ago, ynot said: I would have taken a closer look at it Myself, but I am still of the opinion that it is not bone. The fact that neither of You can say what bones it might be confirms My opinion (in My mind anyways). Quite agree. i think you're right. But I hope you're wrong. Happy New Year, Tony, my friend. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 3 minutes ago, ynot said: The fact that neither of You can say what bones it might be confirms My opinion (in My mind anyways). Wouldn’t be the first time I couldn’t name which bone a fossil was, wouldn’t be the last... “...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...
KimTexan Posted January 1, 2018 Author Share Posted January 1, 2018 They are concretions. Some of them do have shell and baculite material in them though so they were not a total waste to dig up. Also, while digging them up I found the nicest piece of baculite I have ever found under one of them. I was about to dig up a second baculite when I heard a pig fight break out around the bend in the creek and so I ended up leaving it there, because I didn’t want any part of the wild boars. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KimTexan Posted January 1, 2018 Author Share Posted January 1, 2018 1 hour ago, Roberta NJ CA said: Thanks Tony, I now have a new hobby - cleaning these things!! Happy New Year and thanks for your all your guidance here! All I can say is wear gloves and whatever other protection you may need. My hands get so dry and rough from working with the fossils and my nails break. Also, I have hurt myself a few times via cut or gouging myself accidentally. I think the rock material and minerals tend to remove oils from the skin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 8 minutes ago, KimTexan said: I didn’t want any part of the wild boars. Neither do I unless it is prepared appetizingly in a restaurant 1 “...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...
Roberta NJ CA Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 I'm relieved to hear that Kim... My hands are so beat up from this task at hand (no pun) that its embarrassing. I was a concert pianist at one point in my life, and these hands today would put them to shame! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bone2stone Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 5 hours ago, KimTexan said: All I can say is wear gloves and whatever other protection you may need. My hands get so dry and rough from working with the fossils and my nails break. Also, I have hurt myself a few times via cut or gouging myself accidentally. I think the rock material and minerals tend to remove oils from the skin. 28 degrees, WOW DARLIN YOU GOT IT BAD! We down here in Texas we just ain't used to that kind of drastic climate.. We do not want to hear about you succumbing to hypothermia. Discoveries in my own garage. That's my idea of days just too cold. Going through forgotten gatherings. The more porous the matrix the more apt it is to absorb the moisture from your skin. Use eye protection as well, your vision is utmost. Dropping a rock/specimen on your foot ain't no party either. Dreadlocks, sounds interesting. Happy New Years. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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