Fleetwood Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Hello every one. I need help with these objects I recently found on my folks place in north east Texas. I believe it appears to be tusk. first I thought it was just petrified wood but I don’t know. The more I excavate the site the more that more pieces I find. I would greatly appreciate the advice and opinions. Thanks again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleetwood Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daves64 Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 The first 3 pics look man made, but the last one does look to be wood. 1 Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanrique Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 It’s wood but nice if petrified!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Agreed that wood is much more likely than tusk for the latter piece. I've never seen a tusk fragment looking that non-cylindrical. You can read up on Schreger Lines to learn more about what to look for if you suspect a fossilized piece of tusk. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schreger_line I'm confused on the first item pictured. This appears to be a piece of (man made) tile or other ceramic. If I only saw the send photo of the back with the perpendicular markings I'd suspect a piece of Native American pottery but the smooth front with perpendicular sides and a perfectly rounded corner would seem to indicate a tile fragment (no telling quite how old). I would suspect the textured back might have been a means of increasing adhesion. Tried an internet image search but I haven't found appropriate search terms to try to pull up images of the backs of tiles showing any texturing. Cheers. -Ken 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanrique Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Here are some of my tusk pieces to compare. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleetwood Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 Appreciate the info everyone. I have a lot more that looks like your picture Sanrique. Let me take some better pics of it. There’s a lot of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Yup. Those frags are reminiscent of what I find in the Peace River here in Florida. The tusks of proboscideans tend to fragment into thin pieces with the larger chunks still showing the curvature from the original cylindrical shape. Cheers. -Ken 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 The photos of the ends do very much resemble wood. I'm assuming this is hard as stone (petrified) and not soft (just old buried wood) and that you get a nice clinking sound if you were to tap it with something like a hammer (or shovel). If you've got some nice buried petrified wood on your property then you could make a nice display for the best pieces, decorate the yard with the less exceptional chunks, and if you owned a rock tumbler could likely produce some pretty tumbled pieces if it is well silicified and solid. Would be nice to have pet wood in my backyard--all I have is fossilized sea shells. Cheers. -Ken 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanrique Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 10 minutes ago, Fleetwood said: Appreciate the info everyone. I have a lot more that looks like your picture Sanrique. Let me take some better pics of it. There’s a lot of it. Ok we’ll be waiting on pics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleetwood Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleetwood Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 Bare with me it’s taking a while to load. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Looks like you've got a whole petrified forest on your hands there. Cheers. -Ken 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleetwood Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 It has rock growing in this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleetwood Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Wood RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleetwood Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 Thanks guys I appreciate it. We just unearthed teeth and skeleton remains. I’ll keep y’all updated. I gotta call the university. I let y’all know. This is exciting. And it is my bday. Later y’all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El_Hueso Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 eagerly keeping an eye on this Also, Happy Birthday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanrique Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 2 hours ago, Fleetwood said: Bare with me it’s taking a while to load. U actually have some very nice pieces there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 1 hour ago, Fleetwood said: I’ll keep y’all updated. I gotta call the university. I let y’all know. Sounds interesting--as long as it's not someone who's been missing. Let us know what the university folks have to say about your finds. Cheers. -Ken 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilNerd Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 18 hours ago, digit said: This appears to be a piece of (man made) tile or other ceramic. I agree with Ken on the first 3 photos. It looks like a piece of man made tile with mortar still adhered to the back. The parallel lines are probably trowel marks in the mortar. My brother owns a house “flipping” business (before it was cool ) and I’m an avid DIYer. I’ve laid way too much tile! Lol All the rest do appear to be wood to me, and some nice ones! Don't be disheartened because you didn’t find mammoth tusk pieces. Pet wood is still cool in my humble opinion! This is my favorite piece you have found so far. It reminds me of where a branch was once connected. I love pet wood with features like this. Where, if it wasn’t rock, you’d swear it just fell out of the tree next to you. One of the favorite fossils in my collection is a piece of pet wood that has similar features. 16 hours ago, Fleetwood said: 1 The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. -Neil deGrasse Tyson Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't. -Bill Nye (The Science Guy) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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