Hell Creek Large Partially Articulated Bones, Rex?

[Ozzie123]

Hello all, looking to get some opinions.  5-6 years ago I came across a ton of fragmented bones while scouting out a new collecting site.  One of the first things that really caught my eye was this, lets call it a "claw". 

Like I said this was among a ton of shattered bone so it kind of stood out right away.  I followed the bone fragments more up a very steep hill that turns into a cliff.  This led me probably 50-75 feet from the initial sighting of bone to a place that was dangerously steep, but I could see more bone weathering out of the hill. 

 

It was in very bad shape and turned out to be a few vertebra. On my way up I also several pieces of what turned out to be a vertebral process. I collected what I could but a lot of it had turned to dust. I could tell there was more but there was almost no feasible way to safely dig.  I began to look at what I was able to collect and I started seeing some interesting things. Some of the pieces of vertebra were very porous with large pores and I had found the "claw" at the base of the site.

Could it be?  Life got in the way, and I was not able to get back out until this year.  To my surprise there is still bones weathering out. I found another vertebra in bad shape, and a shattered rib that I was able to reasonably piece together.

 

This came out with minimal excavation and I saw there was more bone exposed at the same level around 6 feet away.  It appeared to be another rib or flat bone, but it was in an even more difficult spot.  Could these be Tyrannosaurus bones? I will include many more photos soon. Dawson county, MT.

[Ozzie123]

Vert fragment 1

[Ozzie123]

Rib, 17.5in along the curve.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Ozzie123

[Ozzie123]

Claw?

[Ozzie123]

Vert fragment 2

[Ozzie123]

Vert fragment 3

[Ozzie123]

Vert fragment 4

[Ozzie123]

Vert fragment 5

4 and 5 pieced together along with a smaller piece.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Ozzie123

[Ozzie123]

Process

[Flx]

I am no expert on cretaceous dinos.

However, it really looks like part4/5 are a vertebra centrum (with a huge diameter). Simply because of the size I would assume it is either Edmontosaurus or Rex.

[Mahnmut]

Hi Ozzie123,

not an expert either.

When I look at online pics of "edmontosaurus bone fragment" the spongiosa in most pics has smaller pores than what your images show.

On the other hand, I did not find images of vertebrae split down the middle, and yours show smaller pores closer to the cortex, where my references are damaged.

As cancellous bone often gets more dense from the marrow to the cortex, I think your find does not necessarily show a lighter structure than I would expect from an Edmontosaurus.

Still a very cool find, and maybe someone with much more experience than me can tell you if it is even cooler, I just say it does not have to be.

Cheers,

J

 

 

[Troodon]

The large honeycomb pneumaticity that you see in the centrums along with size is definitely points to those belong to a Tyrannosaurid.  If the other items were found in proximity of the centrums its very possible they belong to the same animal.

 

Example of a Trex

 

I've collected scores of Edmontosaurus vertebrae this pneumaticity definitely not seen on them.