New Members 14a1881 Posted December 3, 2018 New Members Share Posted December 3, 2018 (edited) This is a fossil of unknown origin, it was allegedly found burried in sand near the shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia; or possibly on the banks of the James River. The previous owner believed it to be an intervertebral disc of some kind of whale. It is clearly fossilized and has some areas encrusted with a sand like mineral. It also has a few spots where a shiny black mineral has been deposited. Can anyone provide an identification and possible an estimated age? Edited December 3, 2018 by 14a1881 add images Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnBrewer Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 Welcome to the forum! in order to get some sort of id we need many more pictures from as many angles as possible with a scale in inches or cm. John Map of UK fossil sites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf89 Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 Looks like a cookie. Don't remember the actual name, but they are a part of vertabrae. Also I'm not sure but I'd assume miocene in age @WhodamanHD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 Possibly a cetecean vertebral epiphysis? @Boesse 2 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 IPFOTM -- MAY - 2024 _________________________________________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf89 Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 Yeah that's it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 Yeah definitely a big ole whale cookie (epiphysis). If fossilized, I’d guess late miocene or early Pliocene in that area 1 Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members 14a1881 Posted December 3, 2018 Author New Members Share Posted December 3, 2018 Thanks for the quick replies, its does appear to be an epiphysis of some kind. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailingAlongToo Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 Definitely a cetacean vertebral epiphysis. Depending on where exactly along the James River and your or the previous owner's definition of "near", it is either from the Yorktown Formation of the Pliocene or the Eastover Formation of the late Miocene. I've seen almost identical specimens come from both. The Pliocene - Miocene boundary occurred around 5.3 million years ago (MYA), give or take. The contact between the Yorktown and the Eastover Formations is known for big teeth and big cetacean bones in eastern VA and NE NC. Based on it's size and my frequent hunting along the same area, if I had to hazard a guess I would say some species of baleen whale from the Yorktown Formation along the James River. Though, there is the same exposure on the York River at York River State Park. I don't know how you would ID it to even a Genus level much less a species. Given you don't have any more info on the location, it's the same for a more accurate age I'm afraid. Nice specimen. Be careful with it, they do break fairly easily. Cheers, SA2 5 Don't know much about history Don't know much biology Don't know much about science books......... Sam Cooke - (What A) Wonderful World Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hndmarshall Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 cant find many of these online so figuring from what I did find that stated that the 1-3 inch ones are rare to find whole then this one being as big as it is would be almost unheard of. Given that I would say its quite rare? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 32 minutes ago, hndmarshall said: Given that I would say its quite rare? I see a lot of them - too many for something that rare. (scarce maybe, but not rare.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronzviking Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 Here is excellent pictures of Epiphysis disks - "Cookies" from Calvert Cliffs MD Miocene era. https://www.fossilguy.com/sites/calvert/calv_vert.htm#cookie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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