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Turtle skull...?


TheSuddenFox

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Hi all!

I’ve been on this site before, asking about a vertebrae I found. I figured since y’all were so kind and welcoming maybe you would help me again! I was walking along the Myrtle Beach, SC this morning and saw this strange looking rock. Washed it off, and I’m positive it’s not just a rock. It looks like a turtle shell to me, but I’m not so sure. as for dimensions, I didn’t have a ruler on me, but an estimate is 3 inches long by an inch and a half at the thick end. I’ll post more photos if necessary, but it has a size limit for the post. Thanks again guys! 

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5 minutes ago, TheSuddenFox said:

I’ve been on this site before, asking about a vertebrae I found. I figured since y’all were so kind and welcoming maybe you would help me again!

Sorry, one shot is all You get!:default_rofl:

 

The piece pictured is the internal cast of a clam shell. These are called steinkerns.

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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.

 

 

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Tony is quicker on the draw--but I'm more verbose. :P

 

We have a fancy name for these which is steinkern which comes from the German meaning something like 'stone seed'. The inside cast (mold) of lithified sediment formed between the shells of a bivalve mollusc tend to look a bit like a pistachio nut and since smaller specimens of these tended to look like seeds but were made out of stone, the name stuck.

 

Agreed that the shape of your steinkern does have a vague resemblance to the head of a turtle but that is just your mind seeing similarities in the patterns and shapes (something we are wired to do). A real turtle skull would have had a more boney texture and would, of course, have had to have eye sockets and some sign of the jaw.

 

So not a turtle skull but also not "just a rock". It's the internal mold of a deep-bodied bivalve of a decent size--something like a modern day cockle shell.

 

We're always will to help--despite Tony's joke that it's "one and done". ;) We have a pretty good supply of patience for folks learning the basics and making all of the same mistakes that we did when starting. The only thing that strains our patience is folks who are not open to learning and insist they have found a huge hoard of dinosaur eggs in their backyard and won't accept the reasonable explanation that they are just concretions. Learning is a two-way process and TFF is a great way to "bone up" :) on your fossil knowledge if you are willing to accept that sometimes your initial guess may be far off the mark. I've been schooled many times on this forum and continue to do so regularly on topics that I'm unfamiliar with (and sometimes on topic I thought I knew better). ;)

 

Cool steinkern--let us know when you find other rocks of interest.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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  Yep, just mud and dirt that filled the inside of a clam and turned to stone.  Shell is long gone. 

 

RB

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46 minutes ago, digit said:

Tony is quicker on the draw--but I'm more verbose.

Ya can say that again!:default_rofl:

46 minutes ago, digit said:

-despite Tony's joke that it's "one and done".

At least someone figured this out!:thumbsu: (My energy was not wasted. :P)

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.

 

 

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Nice bivalve. Maybe Cucullea .

Sometimes called deer heart clams.

    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM APRIL - 2015  

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"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
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wow! Thanks everybody for the help. It would’ve been cool to have found a turtle skull, but I’m glad I know what it is at least. Y’all are so nice on here! Thanks again!

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12 hours ago, TheSuddenFox said:

Y’all are so nice on here!

We try to make this forum's vibe more welcoming that the majority of the "social" sites on the World Wild Web. Collectively, the membership has made this a great forum for learning and information exchange. I enjoy finding fossils that lead to a bit of learning. You now know more about fossils in general (and steinkerns in particular) for having picked that item up off the beach and posted it here.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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