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Bone from Holland. Mammoth?


FrostbyteFossils

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This bone fragment was sold as mammoth bone from holland. Is it actually mammoth or was that just a guess?

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I agree.

I don't think one can know if it's a mammoth for sure unless it was found associated with other mammoth bits.  

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12 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I agree.

I don't think one can know if it's a mammoth for sure unless it was found associated with other mammoth bits.  

Yeah, I had thought that. I'll have to just assume the sellers are right and that it is mammoth material :)

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The colour looks correct for a North Sea fossil. But a fragment like this cannot be identified. Mammoth bones from Holland are fished up from the North Sea and so there is no context. There is no way to know if it's woolly mammoth or another animal from the same area unless there are clear identifiable features on the bone. So if it's indeed from Holland then the best you could say is that it's from a large mammal.

 

There does seem to be some type of muscle attachment on the outer surface though.

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Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite

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I guess it could have come up in a dredge that was full of identifiable mammoth bone, but that would only be taking someone's word for slightly increased odds.

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12 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

I guess it could have come up in a dredge that was full of identifiable mammoth bone, but that would only be taking someone's word for slightly increased odds.

There You go mudding the water again.:blink:

Even if this chunk was found in a pile of mammoth bone it would be irresponsible to call it mammoth, unless it could be reconstructed with other fragments into something with identifiable features. But since it is so worn down it would still be impossible to make sure the fragments went together.:D

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5 minutes ago, ynot said:

There You go mudding the water again.:blink:

Even if this chunk was found in a pile of mammoth bone it would be irresponsible to call it mammoth, unless it could be reconstructed with other fragments into something with identifiable features. But since it is so worn down it would still be impossible to make sure the fragments went together.:D

Isn't that what I said ?

Myself, if I knew the dredgers were knowledgeable of their waters, and knew their bones, I would trust their instincts. 

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7 hours ago, Rockwood said:

My guess is that you will have to take their word for it.

34 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

I guess it could have come up in a dredge that was full of identifiable mammoth bone, but that would only be taking someone's word for slightly increased odds.

Its very common practice to give names to unidentifiable fragments to make them more marketable. I wouldn't take a sellers word for it.

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6 minutes ago, Kosmoceras said:

Its very common practice to give names to unidentifiable fragments to make them more marketable. I wouldn't take a sellers word for it.

I don't disagree. 

Perhaps I should be more aware that others may not share my interest in the purely conceptual though. :)

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7 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

Perhaps I should be more aware that others may not share my interest in the purely conceptual though. :)

In that case I'd recommend labeling such a specimen as an unidentifiable mammal bone, and list some of the possibilities it could be. ;)

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8 minutes ago, Kosmoceras said:

In that case I'd recommend labeling such a specimen as an unidentifiable mammal bone, and list some of the possibilities it could be. ;)

Would be a lot easier than finding and interviewing the captain of the vessel. :)

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1 hour ago, Rockwood said:

Would be a lot easier than finding and interviewing the captain of the vessel. :)

Depending on when it was found it might be easier or harder. There's not a lot of vessels that fish up fossils from the North Sea nowadays since they banned the type of bottom trawling that yeilded a lot of fossil catches. There's not a lot of fossils coming out of the North Sea anymore. It's not that the supply has dried up, no, the sea is still absolutely filled. But they banned that type of fishing because it was bad for the bottom dwelling fauna.

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Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite

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21 minutes ago, FrostbyteFossils said:

Ok. Also, those "mammoth hairs" that people sell. Are they actually mammoth hair or fake?

Probably depends on just what people you are talking about, but my sense is that the supply is likely adequate to fill the demand with the real thing in most cases.

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38 minutes ago, FrostbyteFossils said:

Ok. Also, those "mammoth hairs" that people sell. Are they actually mammoth hair or fake?

There was some good info posted by Roger (painshill) in this thread a few years ago.

 

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1 hour ago, FrostbyteFossils said:

Ok. Also, those "mammoth hairs" that people sell. Are they actually mammoth hair or fake?

A bunch of them are likely real. But those aren't found in the North Sea of course. Those come from the frozen tundras of Siberia.

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Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite

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31 minutes ago, LordTrilobite said:

A bunch of them are likely real. But those aren't found in the North Sea of course. Those come from the frozen tundras of Siberia.

Haha yeah. I doubt hair can survive long under water XD ;)

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