Washington State Dino Tooth?

[kitty]

I found this fossil in a river north of Seattle. Could it be a dinosaur tooth?

[Carl]

Sorry - I see no details that would mark this as a fossil. And welcome to the Forum!

[TNCollector]

Welcome to the forum. That piece appears to be a piece of gravel that has been smoothed by the river. Unfortunately, not a tooth.

[Fossildude19]

I agree with the others here.

I see no enamel, or root bone ... sorry, but it is just a suggestively shaped rock.

Regards,

[kitty]

Sorry - I see no details that would mark this as a fossil. And welcome to the Forum!

Thanks Carl for the welcome and also for responding to my question. I'm new to this so could you be so kind and tell me what marks to look for that indentifies a fossil. Thanks for your help.

[Carl]

Wow... This is the hardest question to answer satisfactorily. We fossil nerds have immense catalogs in our heads of minute details of structure, grain, color, translucence, anatomy, context, weathering, etc. The only way to learn this is to look at enormous amounts of real fossils and non-fossils. And the real things are so much better than photos, of course. You can probably easily tell the difference between a bowl of yogurt and a bowl of sour cream just by looking, but explaining how you did that is the tricky part!

Edited July 7, 2015 by Carl

[Auspex]

Wow... This is the hardest question to answer satisfactorily...

Dare we even try? Some very fundamental visual clues can be used to 'arouse suspicion'; symmetry and/or repeating patterns come to mind. These are not exclusive to organic remains, by any means, but are often the first observable data in the winnowing process.

[Troodon]

I'm new to this so could you be so kind and tell me what marks to look for that indentifies a fossil. Thanks for your help.

One approach would be to pick up a general book on fossils or go online and take a look at images. There is a lot of information out there and this forum has a wealth of knowledge.

[lissa318]

I consider myself new at this as well but have found that learning what is NOT something is just as important as learning how to recognize what is. If that makes sense?! lol. Researching the area you are hunting in and looking up the fossils that can be found there is a great start as well! Welcome to the forum btw.

[Miatria]

Could be petrified wood, which is a fossil. I'm heading that way (north of Seattle) next week and I've been reading about the petrified wood, agates, jaspers, etc. in that area. I'm looking for directions to a couple of spots where I could collect some small palm frond fossils. Please message me if anyone has suggestions.