tracer Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 tj has laser eyes or something. he's always spotting interesting things that don't even look like anything. so anyway, he spotted this thing. it was pretty small - maybe the size of a quarter. he asked me what i thought it was. told him i wasn't sure. later found out exactly what it was. figured i'd let ya'll guess a bit before i tell you, though. hah! oh, sorry for the photo quality. cellphone product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fowells Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 tj has laser eyes or something. he's always spotting interesting things that don't even look like anything. so anyway, he spotted this thing. it was pretty small - maybe the size of a quarter. he asked me what i thought it was. told him i wasn't sure. later found out exactly what it was. figured i'd let ya'll guess a bit before i tell you, though. hah! oh, sorry for the photo quality. cellphone product. Imbedded brach or pelecypod, hinge portion exposed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 To me, it has an air of vertness about it; a certain vertitude, if you will. "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...
fowells Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 A barnacle holdfast? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanceH Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 Looks like a vert. reptile? Cretaceous? Permian? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
makoken Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 I also think vert. Possibly snake? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Bowen Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 Vert was my first impression also. Dave Bowen Collin County, Texas. Paleontology: The next best thing to time travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted August 2, 2009 Author Share Posted August 2, 2009 ok, well, since this was pretty much a trick question anyway, i won't drag it out longer. i thought it looked like a vert of some kind myself, but something about it just wasn't quite right. i took the picture of it, and then tj tried to pick it up. it didn't budge. so he sort of trenched around it a bit and tried to move it, and it didn't move. bottom line, it was just a teeny bit of a very large buried object. as far as i can figure from anatomy references online, it is a eustachian canal in the basioccipital bone at the back lower portion of a skull. so here's what the other side of this upper back portion of a very large gator skull looked like when he finally got it out of the ground. from doing comparative length/width analysis of a known-size gator skull online, this animal would have had about a 21" long skull and been 10-12 feet long. too bad more of the skull wasn't there, but it was still a very interesting and surprising find for a young man picking at what he thought was a very small bone. link to look at for comparison gator skeleton the bottom picture - the little black hole near the back of the underside of the top of the skull is what was exposed. got it? good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 Now that's just cool! Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron E. Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 Shazam! Beautiful find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fowells Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 Fabulous. In what setting did yall find such a thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted August 2, 2009 Author Share Posted August 2, 2009 Fabulous. In what setting did yall find such a thing? we go as far as we can as often as we can, but my son kind of likes exploring coastal-area waterways, and he apparently also likes using his cupholder on his kayak for things other than drinks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fowells Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 Is he using it for a bait well, or is that a fossil in there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted August 2, 2009 Author Share Posted August 2, 2009 Is he using it for a bait well, or is that a fossil in there? well, both, kinda. to me, it looks like he's got some kinda small fossil in with a not-nearly-fossilized juvenile member of the apalone spinifera persuasion. i'm thinkin' the turtle leapt in on him temporarily until he could convince it of the error of its ways and send it off with a reminder to keep away from drugs and kayaks and be home by 10:00. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamalama Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 This is a modern bone I assume by the size and preservation? Or possibly Pleistocene? -Dave __________________________________________________ Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPheeIf I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPheeCheck out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted August 3, 2009 Author Share Posted August 3, 2009 This is a modern bone I assume by the size and preservation? Or possibly Pleistocene? "modern" is such an ugly word. no, this sucker is from a gator who was coincidanterly buried in a giant hurrilcano clamity at 2359 hours on new year's eve 10,000 years ago. and besides, his ancestors were fossils. p.s. - this brings us back to the "what's a fossil" discussion, and i've looked at a lot of bones now, and can safely say that i'm fairly sure when i see stuff at both ends of the spectrum, but not sure on the stuff in the middle. the environments in which the stuff gets buried vary so widely that i no longer really believe that you can tell just from the degree of mineralization, unless the thing has turned to pure agate or chert and has stoney matrix all over it too. but all seriousness aside, i'm certain that the monster gator tj found a substantive remnant of was both old and large and mean and could have benefited from a laxative, except they hadn't been invented yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkeye Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Ancient or new, that is a very cool find! Unfortunately, my wife only lets me keep the old bones, she says the other ones stink. I can usually hide them in my 8 year old's room, you can't tell them from the normal stink of an 8 year old's room. If you believe everything you read, perhaps it's time for you to stop reading... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hieronymus Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 VERY nice find. Here in Belgium most of the verts that are found (in plio/miocene outcrops) are all broken because most of our outcrops consist of transported sands. If you look at it from a distance, it looks like an alien watching you, or an aztec mask or something . Nevertheless, very nice find! http://rhaetianlorraine.webs.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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