Portola Hills Ca Fossil

[schlechtc]

Hi,

I found this 20 years ago when the land for my house in Portola Hills was being graded. The house is in the foothills around 1,200 feet above sea level.

Anyone have any idea what it is? I can post higher res photos if needed. Here are higher res photos:

Craig

Edited April 12, 2015 by schlechtc

[finderskeepers]

some closer photos would help I think, looks interesting

[caldigger]

Most likely marine animal bones locked up in a concretion. Whale perhaps.

[finderskeepers]

I was thinking the same

[Boesse]

This is from the middle Miocene Ladera Sandstone - the same unit produced a skeleton of the giant hippo-like desmostylian Paleoparadoxia repenningi (now Neoparadoxia repenningi) during excavation of the SLAC in the mid 1960's, and the skull of the pinniped Allodesmus packardi.

Almost nothing else is known from the unit. Your specimen could be quite important; could you post some higher resolution photos? I'm afraid they're too small to tell what is inside the rock, but there are several bones and some of them look quite complicated in shape, which means that perhaps some skull elements are included. It's in the size range of a small baleen whale, dolphin, desmostylian, or pinniped.

[schlechtc]

This is from the middle Miocene Ladera Sandstone - the same unit produced a skeleton of the giant hippo-like desmostylian Paleoparadoxia repenningi (now Neoparadoxia repenningi) during excavation of the SLAC in the mid 1960's, and the skull of the pinniped Allodesmus packardi.

Almost nothing else is known from the unit. Your specimen could be quite important; could you post some higher resolution photos? I'm afraid they're too small to tell what is inside the rock, but there are several bones and some of them look quite complicated in shape, which means that perhaps some skull elements are included. It's in the size range of a small baleen whale, dolphin, desmostylian, or pinniped.

Hi, I posted the higher res photos above. Please let me know if there is anything else that I should provide?

[Boesse]

Those are almost certainly baleen whale bones; several ribs are present, along with some larger bones I can't identify (limb bones, or perhaps part of a skull). The other possibility could be desmostylian bones. There is one dense element that could be an earbone - a diagnostic element.

The rock looks hard, and any scientific study would require careful preparation of the bones out of the hard rock.

[schlechtc]

Those are almost certainly baleen whale bones; several ribs are present, along with some larger bones I can't identify (limb bones, or perhaps part of a skull). The other possibility could be desmostylian bones. There is one dense element that could be an earbone - a diagnostic element.

The rock looks hard, and any scientific study would require careful preparation of the bones out of the hard rock.

Thanks for the feedback. What do you recommend I do next

Craig