Is This Fossilized Bone? Still On My (Seemingly Never Ending) Quest To Be Able To Distinguish Bone From Wood And Rock.

[claire01]

This is from the cretaceous Eagle Ford formation in Texas. Likely cenomanian.

This fragment is Approx. 1.5" x 1.5"

As always, thanks for any help!

[claire01]

Have my bone questions become tiresome?

[Auspex]

Have my bone questions become tiresome?

Not at all! Everybody benefits from questions

IMHO, this specimen does not display any of what I recognize as bone-like structure; the interior seems too homogeneous.

I held off because I can make no suggestion as to what it is.

[claire01]

Oh good. Thanks Auspex.

[siteseer]

Claire01,

A lot of people don't like to say, "I don't know" as they don't think it will help so they don't reply. Don't feel like you are bothering anybody. This is the ID section so post as many possibles as you want. Your specimen could be a piece of weathered bone but it's hard to tell. I don't know what that is either.

Distinguishing bone from rock is mostly a matter of knowing the formation (rock types and the range of color) and then having examples of unquestionable bones like a plesiosaur vertebra or rib in the case of the Eagle Ford. It's also one of those things when it is better to be there in person. A longtime collector will likely lick it to see if it sticks to his tongue or say whether it tastes more like rock (this last part is more a joke).

When I started collecting, I was able to dig at a Late Miocene site in Scotts Valley, California. Most of the fossils were pieces of well-worn marine mammal bone. You could tell the bone from the pebbles because the bone had a certain grain to it and evidence of canals in it, but even then, some of the more heavily-tumbled fragments were rather nondescript. It's more difficult with Cretaceous marine reptile bone fragments, especially if they are worn, because they don't have the same kind of structure/texture.

Jess

Have my bone questions become tiresome?

Edited July 6, 2014 by siteseer

[claire01]

Thank you so much, Jess, for taking the time to respond and explain. I sincerely appreciate it.

[mammothhunter]

I would also say rock,

[jpevahouse]

A concretion..... Bone fragments can look like concretions sometimes and visa versa. Doesn't hurt to get another opinion.