Fossilized Egg Or Concretion?

[baconinaz]

Greetings! Went out rockhounding yesterday with my hubs and two young boys. I found what looks like a fossilized chicken egg to me. Of course I am just a 3rd grade teacher, so that is why I am here today

Info on my find: found in the Vulture Mine are south of Wickenburg north of Tonopah AZ, it was found on a hill side that was covered in geodes. Near the top of the hill there appeared to be several large holes dug out (mining?) and searching through the piles I found this odd looking thing. There was not another red looking rock in the vicinity so it stuck out. It was actually part of an even large rock that I smashed. Guess my curiosity got the best of me when I saw the egg shape so I picked up the big rock and dropped it to break it out. I realized this was a bad move when I almost lost my little egg shaped friend, but luckily he was by my feet. The host rock appears to have obsidian (I think) in it, there were patches of it near the hole. I am thinking it was obsidian, I have only found this in small "Apache Tear" form before. Anyway, I found it, showed it to my husband, we thought it was cool and dropped it in the bucket. I took photos with my iphone, hope they are good enough. Could it be an egg, or is it just a fun little egg shape rock that I will still probably pass off as a fossilized egg to my 3rd graders

Thanks,

Lyndsey

[Raggedy Man]

I do not see anything that suggests this is a fossilized egg. I will say that it looks interesting and a neat find. With that said, passing it off as an egg to your students is dishonest and counterintuitive to the educational process.

It's still an interesting geological specimen and should be presented as such.

Best regards,

Paul

P.S. Please do not take offense to my post.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Raggedy Man

[abyssunder]

I do not see anything that suggests this is a fossilized egg.

I agree with Raggedy Man,but is a nice find.

[baconinaz]

It was a joke! Lighten up Paul Thanks for your reply! Shall I break it open then?

[jpc]

I also don't see a fossilized egg in there... a fossilized egg would have an actual eggshell layer. It would have a somewhat crystally sturcture in which the crystals run perpendicular to the shell surface. The crystals are almost big enough to see with the naked eye... compare to your local chicken egg. Also, the surface of the egg, even when fossilized, would have some sort of distinctive texture. Again, see you local chicken egg. Dinosaur eggs have rather different texture. If you are finding obsidian, there is also very little to zero chance that there are fossils in the same rock. Obsidian is igneous, and fossils are 99.99% found in sedimantary rocks.

Why pass it off as an egg to your kids? I agree with Raggedy Man. Why not use it as an excellent example of one way to identify a find? Or even that sometimes we can't ID a cool rock. Lying to kids is not the way to go. I work in a museum and we get this same exact question a lot. I could be nice and tell people, "yes, that is a fine fossilized egg", but that would be dishonest. Then I tell them what they do have, or that I don't know if I don't know.

I remember being a young birdwatcher and going on a bird walk woith a so-called porofessional. At one point he mis-identified an easy to ID bird and my brother and I looked at each other and instantly lost all respect for the leader.

Enjoy the cool rock...

[baconinaz]

Ok, you people are crazy! You obviously have zero sense of humor and know nothing about being a teacher!

Yes, I am actually planning an entire lesson right now on this rock I found in the desert! I have nothing better to teach the kids! We don't have high stakes testing or anything else important going on. So yes, I love to make up lies to teach my students! Are you kidding me!

It WAS A JOKE! Quit attacking me as a teacher, I am a great teacher and I don't lie to my students. I am a scientific thinker and never teach students unreliable information. I take pride in that, so you can keep your condensing responses to your narrow minded selves.

Sorry for the poor joke that you all have taken way too much offense to! I will not be posting in the forum ever again! You have broken my spirit! All I did was make a joke and you have attacked me. Do you not have a sense of humor?

[jpc]

Hi baconinaz... I guess I owe you an apology, and I am glad to hear your point of view, but at the same time , keep in mind that jokes in writing are often not obvious, esp when we don't know you at all. Also we have had several people on this forum over the past few months/years show us their fossilized eggs, and after we have given our opinions they have refused to believe us, so we might be a bit wary of these types, and again, we had no reason to believe that you are not like them. One guy even went as far as to drive from the northern midwest to see me here in WY to show off his egg, which was not an egg., and many of us here had already told him so.

So forgive us, but please understand where we are coming form as well.

And thanks for taking your time and energy to teach the future of our country.

[Auspex]

...Sorry for the poor joke that you all have taken way too much offense to! I will not be posting in the forum ever again! You have broken my spirit! All I did was make a joke and you have attacked me. Do you not have a sense of humor?

Ummm, seriously? I see an unfortunate misunderstanding, but I cannot quite comprehend your extreme reaction (unless you are still joking).

[njfossilhunter]

If One thing I learned from my 58 years on this earth and dealing with people is not to give people....and especially someone you don't know... a lecture on morality.....The first thing they are going or thinking of is... Who ... are you to tell me.......Its best to keep your mouth shut at times.

[Auspex]

Yeah, this was a stunning fail.

[abyssunder]

The people around here are very serious,sober men, ready to help especially the new members,but believe me,sometimes have a lot of unexpected humor.
Trying to understand your reaction and given that for some of us is Easter, it might be better(I think) to break the egg.

[Bullsnake]

If One thing I learned from my 58 years on this earth and dealing with people is not to give people....and especially someone you don't know... a lecture on morality.....The first thing they are going or thinking of is... Who ... are you to tell me.......Its best to keep your mouth shut at times.

Your expletive links to a MS Outlook email address!

[njfossilhunter]

Yeah, this was a stunning fail.

Word......

[njfossilhunter]

Your expletive links to a MS Outlook email address!

Holy.... ...Thats to funny.... . I didn't mean to do that.. I was wondering why it was in blue...It didn't hit me.

Thank You for telling me.

[baconinaz]

I am a fun-loving, young lady, bubbling with sarcasm and this forum of "very serious, sober men" has made me feel unwelcomed. I had actually put a "jk" after but replaced it with a funny face, that I thought people would interpret as a joke. I thought is was clever, why would I take the time to join a forum like this and try to educate myself on my find and then just ignore what people told me and lie about it. I didn't know there was some crazy guy on here who did that, but you shouldn't assume everyone is like that, because most people are not.

You can't comprehend my reaction because you are using your head rather than your heart. Perhaps it has fossilized (Sorry, I had to. I bet you have a lovely well beating heart) I am emotionally driven by what I do and I take great pride in teaching my students to be scientific thinkers. Rock and mineral hunting/collecting is my hobby and I have shared some of my finds with my students. I even inspired a student to start a Rockhounding Club outside of school where students/families join and we explore the AZ desert looking for treasures. I love learning and my curiosity was struck by this silly rock, this is the first ever post I have ever made on a forum and now I wish I hadn't

[abyssunder]

Welcome to the Forum!

[njfossilhunter]

I am a fun-loving, young lady, bubbling with sarcasm and this forum of "very serious, sober men" has made me feel unwelcomed. I had actually put a "jk" after but replaced it with a funny face, that I thought people would interpret as a joke. I thought is was clever, why would I take the time to join a forum like this and try to educate myself on my find and then just ignore what people told me and lie about it. I didn't know there was some crazy guy on here who did that, but you shouldn't assume everyone is like that, because most people are not.

You can't comprehend my reaction because you are using your head rather than your heart. Perhaps it has fossilized (Sorry, I had to. I bet you have a lovely well beating heart) I am emotionally driven by what I do and I take great pride in teaching my students to be scientific thinkers. Rock and mineral hunting/collecting is my hobby and I have shared some of my finds with my students. I even inspired a student to start a Rockhounding Club outside of school where students/families join and we explore the AZ desert looking for treasures. I love learning and my curiosity was struck by this silly rock, this is the first ever post I have ever made on a forum and now I wish I hadn't

I would like to say that I'm sorry for the remarks people made about your teaching skills,,I'm sure you are a wonderful teacher. There are people here that tend to take things to..serously and sometimes go a little overboard with the way they say things....I know because I'm on different types of forums and come across members that make comments that I don't like,,,but there are many wonderful members here on this forum and hopefully you will not judge everyone here because of some unpleasant remarks.....So if you can find it in your heart to give the forum another chance I would think that you will make many friends here... as I did.

PS.....I thought it had a chance of being a fossil egg at first glance...I have and seen many of Fossil eggs....I.Iliked it and thing its a very cool thing you found.

And Welcome to the Forum......

Edited April 12, 2015 by njfossilhunter

[Herb]

Lyndsey, you sound like a wonderful teacher. I am sorry your first contact with the FF was unpleasant. I am definitely NOT a serious person . If you feel you can't give us a second chance, feel free to PM me and I will help you if I am able.

Best wishes.

[Auspex]

You are not too far off with 'fossilized head'...

I feel terrible that we antagonized you; please take me at my word that the things we take most seriously are courtesy and respect.

I am very glad that you might be willing to give us another chance.

[njfossilhunter]

I was just thinking that since Baconinaz is a elementary school teacher and to show her that we are really a bunch of nice people,,,, that members can donate a few fossil from their area of the world... being a state or country. The fossils can be sent to her in ...C/O.. of the school she teaches at. I'm will to send a bunch of New Jersey fossil I collected......Since I have so darn many of them plus I'm always giving them to the kid's in my neighborhood.

[Bullsnake]

I was just thinking that since Baconinaz is a elementary school teacher and to show her that we are really a bunch of nice people,,,, that members can donate a few fossil from their area of the world... being a state or country. The fossils can be sent to her in ...C/O.. of the school she teaches at. I'm will to send a bunch of New Jersey fossil I collected......Since I have so darn many of them plus I'm always giving them to the kid's in my neighborhood.

Cool idea...teacher's pet!

[njfossilhunter]

Cool idea...teacher's pet!

Thanks.......Always.....

[Diceros]

Baconinaz - I'm sorry they made fun of your rock, they shouldn't have, and realize it now. The Fossil ID forum should be a safe place to post anything you want to know something about, whether it turns out to be a fossil or not. Posters are our guests, and should be treated as such. Teachers, in particular, should be able to post pics of anything, and not be mocked. Stuff is what it is.

I once identified a bison horn-sized and shaped specimen for a pair of very nice elderly ladies from Hackensack, New Jersey, who'd come to the AMNH to get it identified. The problem was, it was pretty-obviously solid plastic. You could see where the little plastic cubes had melted on the thick end, then were drawn out into a recurved cone toward the thin end, where the initial section was cut off. It was the plastic which first came out of an extruder at a plastics factory, when they first turned it on in the morning. I explained all this to them, and told them it was really neat, and should go on their mantle.

On the other hand, a lady from Brooklyn once called in to get her late husband's dinosaur egg identified. We all assumed it was a nice big river cobble. When she brought it in, I asked if her husband had ever been in China, and she said yes, he'd been there during the war. Turned out it was a beautiful complete giant ostrich egg (the museum had shell frags.), from the Pleistocene of China. It's both unwise and unkind to mock any find.