Hayley Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 I found this today in Monte Sano Park off the Sinks trail. The area is known for Mississippian fossils, but I have no clue what this could be. The rock that it is in is unfamiliar to others I have seen in the area. I can tell if it looks marine or something else. The park is right in Huntsville. Maybe somebody here has seen something like this before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kmiecik Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 It's an impression of something. Better focus and photos of the other five sides would help. It looks like plant material to me, but I may be way off. Let's see what the folks more familiar with that area say about it. P.S. -- welcome to the forum. Mark. Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayley Posted June 30, 2019 Author Share Posted June 30, 2019 Thank you! I will get another picture when I get home. I was thinking plant or bone but I haven’t seen many of those in this area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kmiecik Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 Yeah, it does resemble bone a bit. It may not be from that area. Sometimes rocks get carried by people or other means to areas hundreds of miles away. For instance, northern Illinois is covered in glacial drift that came from as far away as Canada, which includes rocks and some fossils that not formed anywhere near. Mark. Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayley Posted June 30, 2019 Author Share Posted June 30, 2019 It is also interesting there is another piece of the same “stuff” right next to it that I didn’t notice before. This was found on a mountain peak. It almost looks like there is a thin layer of “enamel” still left in the impression, where the rest has worn away. Like you would see with a shark tooth where the enamel has worn off. I reeeaaallllyy want to say something like Pleistocene because there have been some sloths found near here in caves, but I’m not sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayley Posted June 30, 2019 Author Share Posted June 30, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fifbrindacier Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 An ichnofossil ? Can you show us the other sides of your piece please ? "On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) "We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes." In memory of Doren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayley Posted June 30, 2019 Author Share Posted June 30, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayley Posted June 30, 2019 Author Share Posted June 30, 2019 This website makes it difficult to post photos, it keeps telling me the file size is too big... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fifbrindacier Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 You can crop them and refresh the page to post more photos. 1 "On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) "We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes." In memory of Doren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westcoast Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 I'm thinking possibly acanthodian fish spine maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 I am in the plant camp on this. Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kmiecik Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 With the more recent photos I'm not seeing plant material. It does resemble a fish spine very closely. Mark. Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarandWide Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 Alabama State Park Rules and Regulations: 220-5-.07 "It shall be unlawful for any person to destroy, disturb, deface, collect or remove any natural, cultural, historical, archeological, geological, mineralogical, etc., objects or artifacts from any Alabama State Park." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 On 6/29/2019 at 10:45 PM, Hayley said: This website makes it difficult to post photos, it keeps telling me the file size is too big... Sorry. Your subscription fees only cover a limited amount of server capacity. A jpg virtually always provides sufficient resolution without chewing up gigabites of data, unlike (for example) a tiff file. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archie Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 Interesting piece, reminds me of some lobe finned fish elements such as plates from the skull I've seen in the Pennsylvanian/Upper Carboniferous of the UK. Do you know if this is this from a freshwater formation or marine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayley Posted July 3, 2019 Author Share Posted July 3, 2019 3 minutes ago, Archie said: Interesting piece, reminds me of some lobe finned fish elements such as plates from the skull I've seen in the Pennsylvanian/Upper Carboniferous of the UK. Do you know if this is this from a freshwater formation or marine? I am almost positive it is a marine saltwater formation. It’s strange because I haven’t found any other fossils in the immediate vicinity other than some crinoid stems and brachiopods stuck in matrix (very scarce). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archie Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 Sometimes the odd freshwater fish scale or tooth turns up in the marine deposits I collect from but they are rare, plant material is also rarer than in the freshwater beds but does still occur. It does resemble some acanthodian and shark spines with the little denticle like bumps and the parallel ridges running down it but it seems a bit too flat for a spine, shame its not more complete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 If Tim says it is not fish I will take His word. It was My first thought. Now I wonder if it could be an amphibian? 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...
Hayley Posted July 4, 2019 Author Share Posted July 4, 2019 Those strange bumps are what is bizarre to me. And it looks like there is more of it in the rock in small fragments. I just wish I could hold it up and at least know how old it is. It’s kind of frustrating lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kmiecik Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 The "bumps" remind me a bit of a crab claw???? Mark. Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archie Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 Good shout @ynot, I'm also wondering if its tetrapod now you mention it. Every time I find what I think is a tetrapod bone its turned out to be rhizodont though! Crabs didn't appear till much later @Mark Kmiecik. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kmiecik Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 2 minutes ago, Archie said: Good shout @ynot, I'm also wondering if its tetrapod now you mention it. Every time I find what I think is a tetrapod bone its turned out to be rhizodont though! Crabs didn't appear till much later @Mark Kmiecik. Orthacanthus spine? Mark. Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archie Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 2 minutes ago, Mark Kmiecik said: Orthacanthus spine? Too flat. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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