barefootgirl Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 (edited) got my loop out and looked. Do I see cross hatching marks on that thing? The first thing not the other two things that resemble something other then wood. Edited October 24, 2010 by barefootgirl In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted October 24, 2010 Author Share Posted October 24, 2010 Looks more like fossilized peat moss ( Does that fossilize?) Okay so I don't see fossilized wood in either pict or at least I've never seen wood like that anyway. Looks like something else to me. Are you trying to tell me the first pict is a bone of some animals foot? If not then I hope TJ's foot wasn't stinky! no, that wasn't a hint, it was just current-events reporting...i actually grabbed the cat's calcaneus. wanted to make sure the tendon was still attached and in working order. don't you ever check your pet's mechanical functions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 no, that wasn't a hint, it was just current-events reporting...i actually grabbed the cat's calcaneus. wanted to make sure the tendon was still attached and in working order. don't you ever check your pet's mechanical functions? Okay, the cat......makes a lot more sense then the kid. Let me guess he likes to get on the keyboard when your at it. Mine always think it's time to take a nap on the key board every time I try to use it. In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted October 24, 2010 Author Share Posted October 24, 2010 ok, sooo...here's a picture of the end of the specimen. if you look closely, you'll see the bottom "layer" is laminated, and looks totally different from the top layer. so what's the deal? what are the two materials and why are they together like this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foshunter Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 (edited) It's looks like fiberglass and resin that was left in the yard and came in contact with dirt-Tom Edited October 24, 2010 by Foshunter Grow Old Kicking And Screaming !!"Don't Tread On Me" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 enamel covering over the ivory? In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worthy 55 Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 (edited) I would say a small piece of water polished tusk bark (ivory). Edited October 24, 2010 by worthy 55 It's my bone!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 so that would be cementum and dentine. In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted October 24, 2010 Author Share Posted October 24, 2010 yes, proboscideans use their tusks to do work, fight, etc., so the outer surface is hard cementum, to limit wear and damage. but cementum is laid down in a laminated fashion so it adds an identification issue to the "ivory" equation. you can find samples that don't look like rock exactly, don't look like bone, and don't look exactly like ivory, and don't have the schreger lines of ivory. here's a couple more pieces... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 Your right! I would have never thought either one of those were part of a tusk. In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 yes, proboscideans use their tusks to do work, fight, etc., so the outer surface is hard cementum, to limit wear and damage. but cementum is laid down in a laminated fashion so it adds an identification issue to the "ivory" equation. you can find samples that don't look like rock exactly, don't look like bone, and don't look exactly like ivory, and don't have the schreger lines of ivory. here's a couple more pieces... If I had found those they would have ended up in my I don't know bin. HMMM, I think I'm gonna go look at my I don't know bin. In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worthy 55 Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 (edited) The criss cross pattern is the dentine and the outer layer is the enamel that makes up the tusk.Why their together? I would say to make it very strong. Edited October 24, 2010 by worthy 55 It's my bone!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted October 24, 2010 Author Share Posted October 24, 2010 Your right! I would have never thought either one of those were part of a tusk. would you think that this was a piece of tusk? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 would you think that this was a piece of tusk? No, from here it looks like a piece of bone. In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worthy 55 Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 No, from here it looks like a piece of bone. Yes, I to would have to take a better look at it first. It's my bone!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted October 24, 2010 Author Share Posted October 24, 2010 oops, gotta watch how i phrase stuff - i meant, would you have thought it was a rotten piece of tusk... if you're looking at a piece of tusk like that, and somebody asks, "can you dig it?" - the answer is "NO!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 oops, gotta watch how i phrase stuff - i meant, would you have thought it was a rotten piece of tusk... if you're looking at a piece of tusk like that, and somebody asks, "can you dig it?" - the answer is "NO!" :notfair: Very very sad to see that. I've learned a lot tonight Tracer, thank you. In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted October 24, 2010 Author Share Posted October 24, 2010 :notfair: Very very sad to see that. I've learned a lot tonight Tracer, thank you. don't worry about it at all - it wasn't our first rodeo, so the "tragedy" wasn't nearly as big a deal as it would have been before. besides, i salvaged the pieces, dried them in ethanol and acetone, and as we speak they're being restored into an eighteen-foot megalodon tusk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worthy 55 Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 These are small pieces of tusk that I find often and we call it tusk bark becouse the tusk peel apart like tree bark. It's my bone!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 (edited) I found 2 very good websites pertaining to Ivory and how to preserve it and identify the different types. Would have never found them and learned something new without your help Tracer. Kudos to you to Worthy. http://www.australiangemmologist.com.au/images/rareivories.pdf http://www.melfisher.org/aboutivory.htm Edited October 24, 2010 by barefootgirl In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 Hey Tracer, Just discovered this thread. Very entertaining, but mainly very educational. Thanx heaps! Roger Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angus Stydens Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 I had never heard of "schreger lines" before, so thanks for the new vocabulary word. For the rest of you who also may not have heard of these, here is an interesting link on elephant vs. mammoth/mastodon ivory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schreger_line Angus Stydens www.earthrelics.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 (edited) Based on the two images of the specimen (from this original post and the next one a little later on--a photograph of the reverse side of it), I would say that the specimen pretty well matches a worn chunk of igneous rock. I see no obvious, definitive petrified wood or bone structure there. (I read portions of later comments and the talk ranged to speculations about tusks? I just don't see that identification at all). Sometimes, weathered igneous or even metamorphic material (schists and gniesses, for example) can imitate "laminations" (aka, growth rings) in fossil wood, or even the "splintery" aspects of fragmental bone. http://inyo1.110mb.com/middlegate/middlegate1.html A complete fossil leaf from an evergreen live oak, Quercus pollardiana, I collected several years ago from the famous Middle Miocene Middlegate Formation of Nevada. The fossil oak is virtually identical to leaves produced by the extant Canyon live oak (also called maul oak) Quercus chrysolepis now native to the western slopes of California's Sierra Nevada and to California's Coastal Ranges. http://inyo1.110mb.com/middlegate/middlegate4.html An on-site photograph of typical outcrops of the leaf and seed-bearing Middle Miocene Middlegate Formation, Nevada. Actually the first two picts of the tusk I thought did look just like petrified wood. At least the kind we find around here. It was the 3rd photo of the tusk portion that told what it was. Besides rock would have been way to heavy for a pirates leg, an ivory leg is much cooler! Edited October 24, 2010 by barefootgirl In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Owens Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 So, what's the final verdict? Fossil or rock? -----"Your Texas Connection!"------ Fossils: Windows to the past Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 So, what's the final verdict? Fossil or rock? Ivory "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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