Fossil bone?

[David Kite]

Hi! I have what I believe to be a fossil bone. I'm guessing it's a bone due to its structure, and not just a rock, and I'm guessing it's a fossil and not modern because it appears to have mineralized. Location of find is Parke County, Indiana just outside of Rockville. Whatever its back story, unfortunately when I found it, it was resting alone in topsoil, and I found it while walking in my horse pasture (which I understand is a huge red flag, but it is not, as far as I can tell, a rock or modern bone). It's possible we unearthed it, because we had spent a couple years uprooting a pasture full of multiflora rose, so its resting state had already been disturbed before I found it. It's been on a shelf for the last 15-20 years, so my recollection of how rocky the soil was where I found it may be hazy.

 

I have several photos to post. Please let me know if you need more or better ones.

 

Anyway, thanks for your help in advance.

David Kite

[David Kite]

[David Kite]

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[David Kite]

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Edited November 27, 2018 by David Kite
images didn't attach

[David Kite]

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Edited November 27, 2018 by David Kite
images didn't attach

[Kane]

I would wager that this is a fossilized rugose coral with clearly evident septae present on the ends. Cancellous bone material would look more porous and "spongy" by comparison. If I'm not mistaken about the geology, the area in which you found this is quite rich in Paleozoic deposits. 

 

A simplified geologic bedrock map of your state:

 

[Manticocerasman]

I concur with Kane, a piece of fossil coral.

 

[ynot]

+1 for coral.

[Fossildude19]

Nice Rugose coral.   

[Innocentx]

The shape of this coral seems unique to me. Excellent find!

[SULLY]

+1 on the coral prediction. Nice find

[Ludwigia]

11 hours ago, Innocentx said:

The shape of this coral seems unique to me. Excellent find!

It was "budding" at the time.

[Innocentx]

12 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

It was "budding" at the time.

Thanks for that suggestion. It put me on the trail where I found this interesting 1981 thesis of a Thomas B. Rich. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6847&context=etd

Here I found his theory of sedimentation as a cause for growth disruption (page 118) and thought you might be interested.

 

 

[David Kite]

Cool. Thanks for your input, everyone. So if it was "budding" when it died, does that mean that the larger end should be on top and I've had the poor thing upside down all this time?

 

 

[Harry Pristis]

 

This appears to be a Mississippian geodized pseudomorph after coral.  Here are some examples from the Harrodsburg Limestone:

 

 

[lissa318]

54 minutes ago, David Kite said:

Cool. Thanks for your input, everyone. So if it was "budding" when it died, does that mean that the larger end should be on top and I've had the poor thing upside down all this time?

 

 

Yes and you should feel terrible about it...