Have No Idea What This Is, Looks Like An Alien Fly Head

[mgashop]

I have no idea. kind of looks like an oyster, but too much depth to curves, maybe a vertibrae? It is approx 40mm x 30mm.

Any help would be appreciated. found in Indiana burried.

If you can not see the photos embeded, I uploaded a zip file with them in it.

fossil_mgashop.zip

[Xiphactinus]

It's the internal mold of a brachiopod shell. Took me a second.....

[mgashop]

It's the internal mold of a brachiopod shell. Took me a second.....

wow, excellent. Now permission to pick your brain? I looked on the internet with what you said and can't really find anything to compare it to in the fashion mine is in. Do you have a reference that I can look at?

Is the white actually the shell that didn't break away? Is it possible to age these? I read that they typically were sea bed living. Typical for Indiana? I really don't know alot about fossils, so would something in this fossilized condition possibly be hundreds of years old? Also in reading after you said what it was, does this look like limestone to you? There are small shiny specals like crystals. What could have gotten inside the shell then harden like this? Don't shell usually break in half?

Anyway, I will continue to research and any knowledge you might have would be great. Like how is the actual condition of mine, common, etc?

thanks again.

chad

[worthy 55]

Sorry guys it's one of those petrified brain's LOL !!!!!!! Just could not stop myself LOL!!! Sorry!! :ahah3: :ahah3: :ahah3: :ahah3:

[Guest solius symbiosus]

wow, excellent. Now permission to pick your brain? I looked on the internet with what you said and can't really find anything to compare it to in the fashion mine is in. Do you have a reference that I can look at?

Is the white actually the shell that didn't break away?

It is the internal mold. It looks like the thing is silicified, and yes, the "white" is probably the only part of the shell that was replaced with silica.

Is it possible to age these?

If you can give a location where in Indiana it was, whould be able to narrow it down.

I read that they typically were sea bed living. Typical for Indiana?

Brachiopods are very common in the Paleozoic

I really don't know alot about fossils, so would something in this fossilized condition possibly be hundreds of years old?

If it was found in Indiana, it is probably hundreds of millions of years old

Also in reading after you said what it was, does this look like limestone to you?

It looks like chert to me

What could have gotten inside the shell then harden like this? Don't shell usually break in half?

Google "fossilization". Shells don't always break. Probably, most are found whole. It depends on the environment.

Anyway, I will continue to research and any knowledge you might have would be great. Like how is the actual condition of mine, common, etc?

thanks again.

chad

That is a pretty cool internal mold ... especially for a first. It shows the muscle scars very well(adductor/diductor).

Welcome to the forum. That is a good start for a collection, and Indiana has some prime fossil hunting sites. In the gallery, you can see a couple of Trilobites that if found in Jeffersonville In.

[mgashop]

I grew up on Muskatuck National Wildlife Refuge during my childhood years and I found it approx. 20 years ago in a field next to Sandy Creek probably about 200 yards. You can probably google it, it is in seymour Indiana Jackson County (I'm pretty sure it was sandy creek) I will double check. My father worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife and we lived on the Refuge for years.

I saw the gallery, one looked like a bird egg insides.

It is the internal mold. It looks like the thing is silicified, and yes, the "white" is probably the only part of the shell that was replaced with silica.

If you can give a location where in Indiana it was, whould be able to narrow it down.

Brachiopods are very common in the Paleozoic

If it was found in Indiana, it is probably hundreds of millions of years old

It looks like chert to me

Google "fossilization". Shells don't always break. Probably, most are found whole. It depends on the environment.

That is a pretty cool internal mold ... especially for a first. It shows the muscle scars very well(adductor/diductor).

Welcome to the forum. That is a good start for a collection, and Indiana has some prime fossil hunting sites. In the gallery, you can see a couple of Trilobites that if found in Jeffersonville In.

[Guest solius symbiosus]

That would probably put it in the DEVONIAN. I used to collect in Southern Indiana when I lived in that area; great hunting.