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My mammal experts out there, I wanted to know if you think this tooth is Pleistocene or modern? Unfortunately, I don’t have much information about it and I don’t have a ton of knowledge on mammal material in general. Description saber cat or feline tooth. Pleistocene The Dabou Caves, Ivory Coast, Africa please lmk

I found this small bone on my most recent trip to the North Sulphur River. I know the river produces Pleistocene material from the river terrace deposits every once in a while and this bone looks completely different from all of the Cretaceous vertebrate fossils I've seen in the river before (mosasaur, turtle, fish, etc.) so I assumed it must be Pleistocene in age. In fact, it looks exactly like the heavily-mineralized Pleistocene bones I find near Houston. The dark brown color, how smooth and heavy it is, and the high-pitched clink noise it makes when it's tapped by anything metal are all characteristics I'm used to seeing. I could tell right away that it was some sort of wrist or ankle bone, but because I've only handled astraguli and calcanea before I didn't know exactly which one. An hour of searching here on the forum allowed me to narrow it down to a scaphoid but beyond that I couldn't get any more precise. The only pictures I found that seemed to match the closest were scaphoids from bison and camels. Can anyone here confirm an ID one way or the other? I'll tag @Harry Pristis, @Shellseeker, @garyc, @fossilus to get some better-trained eyes on this. Thanks!

I was out most of the day hunting the Peace River...It was a gorgeous day, getting warmer. My success started slow but picked up at the end.. I will need another thread for displaying the finds, but tomorrow maybe.. I was very pleased with this. I have only a few bear fossils. When I got home , I started searching... Not too many photos on the Internet of this tooth and I noted that few of the photos identified the tooth position ( lower, left m1) for example. This looks like bear, maybe an upper right P4 of Ursus Americanus.... but I am really guessing and need some confirmation. On the loss of enamel, is that natural or post mortem? Thanks for the assist, Jack

With the Peace River water depth coming down, and easing on the cooler temperatures. I was out hunting Wednesday, Friday, Sunday... basically checking various locations. It was a little cool, so I wore a 5 mm wetsuit. There were numerous places waist deep with some gravel.. A newer layer had moved in with small colored teeth, but almost everything we found were marine fossils and not very numerous. But there are always some interesting finds. A few were larger, some even complete There were a couple of types of urchin spines , one much more common than the other, Then some shell material transformed to silica... This last one had a silica cave complete with Botryoidal Chalcedony globes. Finally, a tooth, more likely Croc than gator.... All sorts of little treasures....

Hello! I have a question, I have become very interested in the Lower Pleistocene site of Leisey Shell Pit in Florida. I have read that a few species of sharks, bony fish and even rays are present there. Does anyone in the forum actually have any of these in their collections? If so be sure to post them as I have never seen any! Cheers. Adriano.

This link on a Facebook post in the Dallas Paleontological Society group had a comment from someone who saw a biface found with the Waco mammoth material that was rejected as unassociated and wondered if that could have been a mistake. https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/texas-am-archeologists-projectile-manis-point-mastodon-rib/?fbclid=IwAR2dNh5SEN_gZq2AcyBP_iY0lqVLx1d1Qa4n9UIa3JheVgmlQVPhaFGjTDY&mibextid=S66gvF

Came across this paper (actually a chapter from a larger work) that was published back in 2017. Was doing an internet search and my keywords proffered this as a search result. This paper covers a bit about the early geology of the landmass that became the state of Florida but contains a more in depth look at the climate and geology over the last 50 Ma. It is not a very long read and contains some interesting graphics. I'd recommend this as fundamental reading for any Florida resident interesting in geology and fossil hunting. A really nice concise background into the geology of our state that due to its location and elevation has been very susceptible to ocean level changes throughout its history. https://floridaclimateinstitute.org/docs/climatebook/Ch15-Hine.pdf Cheers. -Ken

These are from the Pleistocene of Mississippi

Hello, I think this is a fossil as it seems heavy and old looking. I found it in Chiswick England by the River Thames. Google lens search of the bone brought me to this site and comes up with a being a deer Bone from Pleistocene Period. Can anyone tell by the pics if this is a fossil, what bone it is, and what period it is from if it is in fact a fossil. Am I correct or even close? Thank you in advance for your help.

I had a question about the ID of croc teeth from the Solo River, Java, Indonesia. While the bigger tooth is more easily identifiable as Crocodylus siamensis (syn. Crocodylus ossifragus) just on the size and shape, I was unsure about the smaller one. Croc teeth from the Pleistocene deposits (not sure what formation it's called) are usually just sold as Crocodylus ossifragus, but Gavialis bengawanicus also appears to have been present. The smaller tooth does have prominent fluting, but I'm not sure if that's even a distinguishing feature. I haven't really seen a whole lot of Crocodylus teeth, fossil or extant. Not sure if smaller teeth from this region are even identifiable. If anyone has any knowledge of distinguishing gharial from crocodile, help would be appreciated. Measurement in centimeters. Last image here is just a comparison with a Thecachampsa americana (left) from Bone Valley, Florida.

The Crocodilians (Crocodilia) are a resilient group of reptiles, with the order originating around the Late Cretaceous 95 million years ago and still very prevalent globally in many aquatic ecosystems. But it was not too long ago that this group was even more diverse. Though way more diverse between the Paleocene-Pilocene eras between 64-2 Million years ago, the Crocodylomorpha (mainly Crocodillians) were still fairly diverse during the Pleistocene-Early Holocene eras - more diverse than they are today. This lack of diversity today is mainly due to the climate change that occurred between the Pleistocene and Holocene and (Unfortunately) overexploitation by Humans. Human induced Climate change since the Industrial Revolution and direct overexploitation by people still plagues many crocodilians today. It is only because of global Conservation efforts that some of the most endangered crocodilians today have a fighting chance at survival. I've decided to make a quick list of the unique crocodilians of the Pleistocene-Early(to part late) Holocene which can hopefully demonstrate the diversity of these magnificent animals during this time. Let me know if I forgot any examples. Australia - Quinkana fortirostrum (Pliocene-Pleistocene) Possible Unnamed Quinkana sp. (Possibly Q.fortirostrum) (Queensland Museum Specimen QM F57032) (Note: Quinkana could have grown to between 10-20 feet in length) Paludirex vincenti (Pliocene-Pleistocene 5.3-0.012 years ago) (Note: Plaudirex species could grow up to 4 meters (13 feet) in length) Paludirex gracilis (Pliocene-Pleistocene 5.3-0.012 years ago) (Note: Plaudirex species could grow up to 4 meters (13 feet) in length) Gunggamarandu manunala (Pliocene-Pleistocene 5-2 Million years ago) (Note: Gunggamarandu manunala could have grown up to 7 meters (23 feet) in length) Japan - Toyotamaphimeia machikanensis (Pleistocene 0.8-0.1 years ago) (Note: Toyotamaphimeia machikanensis could have grown up to 7.7 meters (25 feet) in length) Taiwan - Unnamed Toyotamaphimeia sp. (Pleistocene 0.8-0.1 years ago) China - Hanyusuchus sinensis (Early-Late Holocene (up to the 1400s A.D. around 600 years ago)) (Note: Hanyusuchus sinensis could grow up to 6 meters (19 feet) in length) Africa - Euthecodon brumpti (Pilocene-Early Pleistocene 3.5-0.781 Thousand years ago) (Note: Euthecodon brumpti could grow up to 10 meters (33 feet) in length) Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni (Pliocene to Pleistocene 5.3-1.8 Million years ago) (Note: Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni could grow up to 7.6 meters (25 feet) in length) Crocodylus anthropophagus (Pleistocene 1.845-1.839 Million years ago) (Note: Crocodylus anthropophagus could grow up to 7.5 meters (25 feet) in length) Madagascar - Voay robustus (Late Pleistocene-Holocene 0.1-0.01 years ago) (Note: Voay robust could grow up to 5 meters (16.4 feet) in length) Thailand - Gavialis bengawanicus (Early-Middle Pleistocene) Indonesia - Gavialis bengawanicus (Early-Middle Pleistocene) New Caleodonia - Mekosuchus inexpectatus (Holocene 0.012-0.004 years ago) (Note: Mekosuchus species could grow up to 2 meters (6 feet) in length) Fiji - Volia athollandersoni (Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene) (Note: Volia athollandersoni could grow up to 3 meters (10 feet) in length) Vanuatu - Mekosuchus kalpokasi (Holocene 0.012-0.003 years ago) (Note: Mekosuchus species could grow up to 2 meters (6 feet) in length) New Guinea - Murua gharial (Ikanogavialis papuensis) (Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene) What do you guys think?

Hello Everyone, I recently went on a trip to Norfolk (I'll do a trip report soon) and collected some bulk samples from the West Runton Freshwater Bed, a famous Pleistocene deposit. I've been washing the first batch of it today and found several small seeds (~1-4mm) which I currently have in a small jar of water as a few started to split when they began to dry. I was wondering if anyone could advise me on how to preserve and stabilise the seeds. My goal is to be able to try micro mounting them to take pictures and see how many species there are, I've counted at least 6 different shapes so far. The seeds themselves are subfossil and as a result still quite fragile and pliable. while some of them may survive controlled drying without splitting I'm intrigued to see if anyone has another suggestion. Thanks for the help, Benton

After learning about the burn test, I tried this bone that I was skeptical of after learning that my coyote jaw was a modern bone. After the test this fossil did not smoke or turn black, so I am more confident that it isn't a regular bone. It looks to be a fossilized leg or wrist bone of some sort, and there are visible cut marks on the bone. It appears to have been fairly cleanly cut off, which was another reason I was worried about its age. I don't have the whole bone to go off of but it measures 10.5 cm to the longest point where the joint area is, 1.9 cm wide at the narrow end, and 2.5 cm wide at the base of the joint. The area where it would have connected to another bone or bones is 2 cm long and about 3cm wide. Photos show the structure of the bone, and if anyone knows what it could be I'm really interested in learning more about it. Found in north central Florida in the same area as the previous bone I posted.

Hello, I found this fragment of bone earlier in the year from the West Runton Freshwater bed in Norfolk. The age is Cromerian, about 450,000 to 780,000 years old. Even though it's mostly a fragment, is it possible to identify the type of animal it came from? Thank you!

Hello everyone Thanks for looking. I found these yesterday at a Savannah River Dredge Spoil Island after fairly heavy rains and tides. Unfortunately the dredging and river action damages pretty much everything. Most of what is found is Pleistocene to Miocene. These have me stumped. The following are my guesses as to what the following 5 items are: #1 Camel or Horse Canine? Doesn't look like others that I've found or google image searches-Doesn't have a color/texture change from root to crown-Has a ridge on the back side and sharp edge at the end-Looks too symmetrical to be just phosphate #2 Fish Skull Plate? I've seen one of these before but it isn't a ray crushing plate or sea robin skull #3 1/2 of a Mammal Tooth-Doesn't look like a horse tooth from the chewing surface and doesn't have the angled crown of a tapir tooth-May not be able to ID as too fragmentary #4 Broken 1/2 of a Sloth Tooth-Had sea lettuce growing in it and is badly beaten up-Looks like other sloth teeth that I've found there before but has a little rougher interior structure than the others and is not quite as smooth on the exterior #5 Medium sized bone that looks vaguely jaw like-Thick and tapered to a narrower point-beaten up a little-No tooth sockets visible Any ID's or thoughts would be much appreciated Thanks a bunch

Hi Fossil Forum, I found this centrum last Tuesday (Fort Bend county, TX, Beaumont Formation-Pleistocene) that has an odd hole running straight through the middle of it that I suspect is pathological. While I know isolated vertebra (and partial ones at that) are near impossible to identify, I was curious if anyone had any ideas on possible candidates for an animal it could have come from and what might have potentially caused the pathology. I'd appreciate any feedback you'd care to offer. Dimensions at the widest points are roughly 7.2cm top to bottom, 7.6cm side to side, and 5.5cm front to back. Bottom View Top View Hole from the top Hole from the bottom The hole has cortical(compact) bone on the two opposite sides, cancellous(spongy) bone on the other anterior/posterior(front/back) surfaces and doesn't show any marks that suggest it's been drilled or carved into the bone by burrowing clams or tools. It's roughly circular from the bottom and surprisingly rectangular from the top. Thanks for your time! -Cdiggs

@Uncle Siphuncle has a great saying that I think of often - "To the motivated go the spoils". To embody that sort of spirit, I have focused my efforts into some hard to reach places in less than ideal conditions, and not always to success. But, now and then it pays off... I was back home for the holidays, with ample Cretaceous strata in every direction. I have been looking forward to this planned week and a half bonanza for months. With the Ochem monkey off my back, my thoughts were now more pleasantly filled with Cretaceous sea life again. Finding it easy to wake due to the dreams I was having about my coming day all night, I zipped up in four layers and shot out. Temperatures for most of the days of this trip report were ridiculous for Texas standards, at one point dropping as low as 17 degrees F (-8C), but more consistently floating at less than 30 F (-1 C). I figured I was the only person mental enough to do any creek stomping in these conditions, and so soon before Christmas. On my first excursion, hopes were high, as a previous storm several days before brought creeks way up, though now the waters were back to normal levels. I was delighted to find my my assumption about the extent of my fossil addiction was correct - no one else had hit my favorite gravel bank yet. The flood spoils weren't of their usual quantity this time, but I was happy to see one of my personal best Cretolamna cf. appendiculata teeth. Shortly after, a nice Ptychodus mortoni made an appearance, to my continued delight. Every Ptychodus I find probably adds weeks to my life. Other finds included a broken Enchodus palatine, a Scapanorynchus tooth from a gravel bank a little further down, and this interesting bone that I can't seem to make anything of: With my first gravel hunt of the behind me, and my eyes finally tuned into the fossil "frequency", I drove home happy to have spent some time outdoors, looking forward to the coming day. The next morning (Christmas eve day) brought me to a new Eagle Ford spot. As with my hunt the day before, success was limited. This time however, the creek I was meant to be stomping in was completely frozen, so, spending some time on the exposure above the bank, I found some success in the Ptychodus realm again. The best of the few Ptychodus from this exposure is shown below. I assume Ptychodus anonymous, but I haven't seen this exceptionally high-crowned morphology in the species from the cenomanian Bouldin Flags member before. I moved downstream, carefully rock hopping, until I settled into an inconspicuous nook sporting some intensely shelly hashplates. The increased current here kept the ice at bay. I didn't hit it particularly hard, as I would like to wait for water levels to drop a bit there, but the look of that layer is exactly what I peel my eyes for in the lower eagle ford, as I have had great success in that horizon in other sites in the past. Below, in order: Squalicorax falcatus, Cretoxyrhina? and Ptychodus cf. occidentalis. Little did I know that the meager Ptychodus finds were just a build up to a Ptychodus grand finale, only a few days out. The next day was Christmas, and I was out again. My family celebrates on Christmas eve, as is German tradition (My family is South African, but my German raised Namibian step mom is boss... not that I'm complaining since the Germans really have Christmas figured out with their interesting cookies and Stollen, my seasonal favorite) My creek stomping efforts at first were thwarted, as the thought of soaking myself to get to the most desirable gravel bars was unbearable. However, I still made a nice find in a less productive spot, Scapanorynchus texanus. Redemption started coming quickly though, at a bank half a mile away, where I began stumbling into artifact after artifact. Three is an unusual number to see in a day for me. Unfortunately, I'm not much of an artifact guy, so I'm not sure of the dates or types of these yet. I suppose I should ask a forum, but if anyone on this forum knows, spill below: In the next few days, temperatures began warming, and I made the drive back out to the recent Mosasaur dig site, with the intent of exploring a spot of bone left in the bank. I made little progress, but in exploring a small Atco deposit in the vicinity, I noticed a small Scapanorynchus tooth. The day after I found myself wading through deep water for many long stretches. The water physically burned, and I was frozen to the core - the air may have been warmer but the creek itself was unchanged. Despite the admirable attempt, nothing came of that hunt. While I was happy to be out in the field and interacting with the little gems above, I was itching to start making big finds and see redemption for the day I spent submerged with nothing to show. That redemption came from my next hunt, just a few days ago. It was back to looking in gravel at a honey hole I've left undisturbed for nearly 5 months. I was always confident in the secrecy of the spot, as it's pretty hard to get to and quite unassuming once you're there. Much to my dismay, I was immediately met with foot prints - that was a punch to the gut. Rather than moving and stopping along the bank as a fisherman would, the footprints followed in a zig zag, as a hunter would . I could only hope that I was instead seeing the traces of an arrowhead hunter. While they have sharp eyes, they're more likely to miss a fossil. My gloom was dashed quickly when, much to my delight, I was met with a tooth that had me whooping and hollering. Sitting like a beacon in the gravel was a preposterously large Ptychodus tooth (also, I guess that guy wasn't a hunter, because you couldn't miss this one...PHEW!) First, the in situ: Picking it up, I found it to be quite water worn. That's ok though, how can one possibly complain when they're holding a monstrous beauty like this? ...and is that it? Is it's size all that had me excited? No!! As if it couldn't get better, I quickly realized that this species was a first for me - P. latissimus, and of this I'm about only 90% certain, and take the ID based on the very thick, sharply triangular transverse ridges. I knew some species like P. mortoni, P. marginalis, and P. polygyrus could reach colossal status, but never have I heard of P. latissimus reaching these proportions. Here it is in hand, below. In it's very worn state, it's still 4cm in width, (about 40-41 mm). I can only imagine the size of this tooth before tumbling into the creek. To be fair though, I also don't have a clear understanding of where to draw the line for Ptychodus sizes. At what width is a tooth considered big? Huge? Not sure, but other Ptychodus enthusiasts like @LSCHNELLE, @siteseer, and @Thomas.Dodson might be able to offer some insight into size ranges, as well as corrective ID if opinions are different. All I know is that this the the biggest tooth I've so far seen in person. With the adrenaline pumping and the day young, I got right back at it. Not far up, I made another find that had me jumping with joy: While a mosasaur vert may not seem like big deal to those accustomed to the North Sulpher River, these are hard to come by in the creeks I frequent, and this is the first I've found in the entire watershed. Watching the ordeal were several dozen (indeed, dozen) vultures in the trees above me. Being watched by scavengers with an overcast sky and leafless wintering trees, the setting was a stark contrast to the elation I was feeling. I soon found the source of the vulture's attention though. Some paces away laid a freshly dead boar - not yet stinking too badly but already crawling with flies. I decided to steer clear, a mistake that thankfully reversed itself on the way back. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I traveled up further, finding odd bits here and there, nothing of note. When I came to my usual turn around point, marked by a deep stretch of river, I was pleasantly surprised to find my watery obstacle had been mostly filled in with gravel. Jumping on the opportunity to explore further than I have before, I waded in and discovered a beautiful bluff around the bend. My hopes were not high, as my old turn around point nearby is anyway historically barren, but I didn't mind. Exploring a new spot is usually just that - exploring more than hunting. The huge sheet of late Cretaceous cliffs along one side of the water was epic, and I spent a lot of time admiring them. Running at the bottom was the clearest water I've encountered in the area, I couldn't help from wanting to drink it (thankfully I left that thought alone. ) In the pic below, the foreground gravel is underwater too. I eventually came to another deep section, and not in the mood to swim, turned around once again, this time to be met with a lovely Ptychodus mortoni at the base of one of these bluffs. I was ecstatic. Gravel finds this well preserved are hard to come by. The trek back continued, and after lots of sloshing from gravel bar to gravel bar, I finally came ashore to the large bar containing the dead boar. Feeling lucky, I held my breath and walked to it, to explore the only section of gravel I'd skipped so far. As I approached, I saw this, sitting off to the side of the carcass: My first glance said "bovid", then it registered that this tooth had actual color to it... Pleistocene! Bison! Picking it up, it then dawned on me that this was not bovid, but rather my first Pleistocene camel tooth - Camelops sp. What a helluva way to end the day, and my last hunt back at home (for a week at least - work pulled me back to College Station so I'll be back this weekend for sure). In two weeks, a paleo friend of mine is coming down from North Dakota to do some creek stomping with me, so in the best interests of giving him the greatest experience possible, it's time to let these creeks recharge. When I return, it'll be to explore more new spots from the backlog I have marked in my library. I hope you all find some time to get outside this winter, and if the snow is keeping you in, may your prep projects keep you busy and surprised

This was found on the Brazos river in southeast Texas. It almost looks like a eroded shell material, but I cannot make out at all what it is. Could this be a coprolite? I have never found one before, so I have no idea what a coprolite would look like in this area.

Below is a great lecture about dating the Missoula floods and the Channel Scablands that they created. Dating the Ice Age Floods Nick Zentner, Central Washington University CWU's Nick Zentner presents 'Dating the Ice Age Floods' - the 22nd talk in his ongoing Downtown Geology Lecture Series. Recorded at Hal Holmes Center on March 7, 2018 in Ellensburg, Washington, USA. Yours, Paul H.

Hi folks, I recently found this Pleistocene mammal bone in an alluvial deposit midway up a cliff. Part had broken off when I found it, but I was able to collect all the pieces of what appears to be a Megalonyx femur. My stumbling block now is that I have zero prep experience and this is obviously a pretty good find so I don't want to mess it up... I had been reading up on the posts here about prepping and was waffling between paleobond or butvar to consolidate it and then paleobond to repair the breaks. I am also leaning towards having someone with more experience/a professional do the prep work but don't know what that would cost me and the logistics of it (it is located in Santa Barbara County, CA). Does anyone have some suggestions or advice on the best course of action at this point? Thanks!

This heavy, solid as a rock fragment is what I believe to be a skull fragment. I'm thinking Columbian mammoth? Maybe a juvenile? I have found juvenile pieces in the same area. I found this yesterday, Thursday, on a rock bank...can't even say gravel because there are sooo many rocks on the ground in this one particular area. And this appeared no different than most of what's out there when I saw it. I just so happened to look at this piece a little more carefully than anything else. Everything is covered in mud or dry dirt and green algae and many of these foramen holes were filled in by sand and small rocks. So when I picked it up I still couldn't see bone so I brought with me to clean it up a little later on and to my surprise this is what is was. But there has to be so many more possibilities for more like this in this section I found. I'm guessing it's the lower back end of the skull? I think I had a much smaller one where occipital condyle was mentioned? I didn't know how to orient this to take pics...so I just tried to get as much as I could. Also there is some cool blue colors on it in some areas the pictures may not show. I'm definitely going back tomorrow to really check this area out. But I appreciate any thoughts and if maybe bison or others might be possibilities as well. Oh, and found here in Southeast Texas...low river levels are exposing quite a bit.

I found this bone in the river, possibly from Pleistocene (bone color + some kind of subfossil procceses) and what is that? I made a research, and this is smillair to nothing, maybe somebody knows what is that possibly.

Well here is another bone that I wanted to post with the age being in question. It's heavier than a recent bone so it has some mineralization to it. I think it's an Equus sp. humerus. It's much lighter in color than an earlier humerus I've found and posted which was flakey actually...perhaps it is around the same age and where this may have sat on a topside surface and the other humerus sat submerged underwater for longer...I have no clue. Still nice to have and to see. I'm still learning and appreciate any thoughts on identifying the age of bones when they aren't fossilized but have some mineralization to it.

A follow-up/continuation of my previous post, here are some of the fossil invertebrates from the Pleistocene Waimanalo Formation of Oahu, Hawaii, USA. First the echinoids. I haven't speciated these yet