Jump to content

Large Mammal bone fragment?


Pamar

Recommended Posts

Good day all,

I’m fairly new to the hobby but have spent many hours coming Cape Town beaches(South Africa) in search of fossils. I Know both aquatic and land mammal fossils wash up on the beach and would like help identifying my latest find if it is even a fossil at all.It appears to be a bone fragment of some sort.i will continue to add more photos.

 Thanks P.

D049CFA9-A268-4895-A948-072EEFFBBE4F.jpeg

99CF6733-37A8-46FD-B520-7C68072E1085.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, ynot said:

Welcome to TFF!

Looks like a piece of asphalt to Me.

Does it stink? what happens when You hold a flame to it?

It passes the flame test without any smell and is the same material as the other more common fossils I find (teeth). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to the forum from rainy Florida. It definitely looks like an bone fragment to me. Is this one fossil in pictures?

  • I found this Informative 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello from Virginia, 2 hours south of Washington, D.C.

 

@Boesse may be able to help.

 

Do you happen to know anything about the local geology?

  • I found this Informative 1

Don't know much about history

Don't know much biology

Don't know much about science books.........

Sam Cooke - (What A) Wonderful World

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Bronzviking said:

Welcome to the forum from rainy Florida. It definitely looks like an bone fragment to me. Is this one fossil in pictures?

Yes it’s one fossil from multiple angles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, SailingAlongToo said:

Hello from Virginia, 2 hours south of Washington, D.C.

 

@Boesse may be able to help.

 

Do you happen to know anything about the local geology?

Fossils of Miocene and/or Pliocene age (12-3 million years), when the sea level was over 40 m above the present, have been recovered from the beach at the lagoon mouth. Tankard (1975) notes the existence of Miocene marine deposits with fossils near Ysterplaat, and submerged late Tertiary deposits at -10 m just off Milnerton, from which fossils derive. At the mouth of the Milnerton Lagoon J. Rogers (University of Cape Town, pers. comm.) cored through some 3 m of shelly marine deposit before striking bedrock. The fossils deposited on the beach at Milnerton Lagoon are mainly of whales, but include shark teeth and a small terrestrial element that includes a Gomphotherium (ancestral elephant). Equid and rhinoceros, may also fall within this time period. " - G. Avery. 1995. Archaeological and Palaeontological Survey: Milnerton Lagoon Mouth

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does look like a possible bone....one pic kinda makes it look like the end of a bone where it meets a joint like a knee joint. I can’t say anything else or really stand by my comments....just noting my observations 

  • I found this Informative 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 @Pamar

My fossil expertise is North America based, and I have no strong view on whether it applies to your hunting grounds.

I keep looking at your photos, and I am bouncing back and forth on whether I think this is bone. It might be. Do you have experience in finding bone in this area?  Is the texture and consistency comparable to other bones found in this area?

I have found mastodon foot bones approximately the same size,  but your bone is different....

I am not that familiar with whale bones, but your bone seems a little too complex to be whale bones (e.g Humerus) that I have seen.

Sorry to be so little help, If bone , it is one I have not previously seen. I would lean to land mammal over marine mammal.

  • I found this Informative 2

The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

 @Pamar

My fossil expertise is North America based, and I have no strong view on whether it applies to your hunting grounds.

I keep looking at your photos, and I am bouncing back and forth on whether I think this is bone. It might be. Do you have experience in finding bone in this area?  Is the texture and consistency comparable to other bones found in this area?

I have found mastodon foot bones approximately the same size,  but your bone is different....

I am not that familiar with whale bones, but your bone seems a little too complex to be whale bones (e.g Humerus) that I have seen.

Sorry to be so little help, If bone , it is one I have not previously seen. I would lean to land mammal over marine mammal.

@Shellseeker the fossil is very consistent to other more common ones I find ( usually vertebrae)  in the area almost daily - this one grabbed my attention because it seems like a far more complex fragment than I usually find. thanks for trying to help.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...