Mosasaur Jaw & Tortoise Skull: Real Or Fake?

[Username*]

I've just acquired a couple of fossils at a local auction. Two of them (a mosasaur jaw and a tortoise skull) were allegedly found in Khouribga, Morocco. As we all know there are many fake/constructed Moroccan fossils around, but since these were rather inexpensive and will be a nice decoration anyway, I was willing to take the risk.

Firstly, the mosasaur jaw. The teeth are probably real, but what about anything else?

Edited July 8, 2015 by Username*

[Username*]

And secondly, the tortoise skull. The auction house stated it was "approximately 80 million years old", but I'll leave that judgement up to the experts.

Edited July 8, 2015 by Username*

[Troodon]

Teeth are real so is the bone but not sure what from. Entire assemblage has been reconstructed. You are dead on, nice display item.

Edit: Tortoise skull looks fake to me. No detail or sutures.

Edited July 8, 2015 by Troodon

[Username*]

Teeth are real so is the bone but not sure what from. Entire assemblage has been reconstructed. You are dead on, nice display item.

Edit: Tortoise skull looks fake to me

Thanks for your reply. What bothers me personally about the turtoise skull is that it is red-brownish while the matrix itself is more of a light brown sand color. Furthermore, the skull seems to be asymmetric at the back, which is odd imo.

[Auspex]

I suspect that the skull is an "artful recreation". The symmetry is off, and it lacks the sutures normally present in turtle skulls.

[Troodon]

They are skilled artisans.

Edit

Here is a real one from a on line dealer. You can see detail and sutures.

http://www.paleodirect.com/tor01.htm

Edited July 8, 2015 by Troodon

[Fitch1979]

Hi,

The jaw is definately a composite. Even some of the teeth are composite (tooth + piece of bone).

The entire turtle skull is a fabric in my honest opinion.

Best regards,

Dries

[Redlichia]

Warning!

Composite all two!

Hi,

The jaw is definately a composite. Even some of the teeth are composite (tooth + piece of bone).

The entire turtle skull is a fabric in my honest opinion.

Best regards,

Dries

[LordTrilobite]

I agree. Both are constructed.

BUT!

If you look at the first photo of the "jaw" the tooth on the far right looks like a genuine rooted tooth with possible some real jaw attached to it. Though the other teeth seem to just have contstructed roots, though the crowns seem nice. With a low enough price (maybe under 40 euros), I would say that this piece might be worth it just to break it apart and salvage the teeth.

[Doctor Mud]

Leatherback Turtle Skull

Your "skull"

Funny - I was in the Brisbane museum the other day for a dinosaur exhibit and came across some turtle skulls. I thought photos might be useful reference material since suspicious turtle skull fossils seem to come out of morocco so often.

I would say based on comparison that yours is a piece of art rather than an actual turtle skull fossil. Many things are wrong. Suture edges are too simple, nasal cavities lack detail. This is a caricature of a real skull.

Edited September 9, 2015 by Doctor Mud