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found our first fossil but need help


brian alabaster

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Hi all

Very new to this but we found this in Suffolk England in a shallow valley under 1.5 meters of sand and flint in the top 200mm of a deep layer of grey clay with some chalk and flint in it. on its own 

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I think this is older than Mammoths would be.

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Looks more like a plesiosaur to me. 

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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I would agree with Tidgy's Dad: Plesiosaur vertebra.

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Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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Looking at my book it resembles a shark or whale vertebra or centrum.

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thinking of the geology of suffolk and the dirt on it which reminds me of the red crag which is pliocene, it is maybe a whale vert, hiwever, if it came from the chalk, it could be plesiosaur but i find whale more likely^_^ nice find btw

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Seeing the foramina (nutrient holes) in the fourth photo down I am in the plesiosaur camp.

 

Mike

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Marine reptiles are not animals you would expect to find as fossils in Suffolk as the local rocks are not the right age. Perhaps it could have come from glacial clays found in the county which were deposited by large ice sheets from northern and western Britain.

 

Here's an example of one of my plesiosaur vertebra found in similar deposits from East Anglia. 

 

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Regards.....D&E&i

The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty.

https://lnk.bio/outfossiling

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Thanks everyone for the help, we were very lucky with our first find especially as my son saw it from the seat of a 24 ton excavator! Still looking

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2 hours ago, brian alabaster said:

my son saw it from the seat of a 24 ton excavator!

Lucky there wasn't a bean counter objecting to the dollars/hour being lost while he climbed out to get it. ;)

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" Suffolk England in a shallow valley under 1.5 meters of sand and flint in the top 200mm of a deep layer of grey clay with some chalk and flint in it."

This description points towards the cretaceous sediments known in the Suffolk area.

However, the Paleogene sediments can be quite similar in appearance, so that it depends on exact location and depth of the find, to make a sure ID:

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/8793769.pdf

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Großbritannien_(Insel)

 

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If you don’t mind me asking Brian, roughly where in Suffolk did you find this? I live in Framlingham so very interesting for me! 

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I am having a hard time seeing the foamen in the fourth photo.  Maybe there is one above the 3 on the ruler?  But plesiosaur was my first guess as well.  

 

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