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  • Surely Not!?

    Found this odd looking piece while artifact hunting in Park County, Colorado. Not suggesting, but looks like a turtle! But the area was mostly hills scattered profusely with volcanic rock, not a drop of water throughout the entire area. Between what appears to be the top layer and the bottom layer is sandwiched a material that looks like muscle fibers (think meat). Therefore, this is surely not a fossil, but looks fossil-like. Nothing for miles around that could suggest that it's a turtle, but that's exactly what it looks like! Maybe someone might recognize it as something else?
    Old Colorado Cowboy

  • #2
    could be somebody's patella and the end of a long bone (epiphysis) that fits with it....
    Professor Shellman
    Tampa Bay

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    • lovetahunt
      lovetahunt commented
      Editing a comment
      I thought patella, too, but I could not figure out what the "stringy" stuff is that is between the upper and lower plates. What kind of critters have a knee cap besides humans? Lot of questions about this, but I suggested a patella plate right away to my wife. Maybe the best guess 'cause turtle doesn't quite fit. Thanks for your input. Hope you can comment further.

  • #3
    Not a patella I think. It looks like a femoral structure from a medium sized mammal (not human).

    One piece appears to be the convex epiphysis (end cap) from a limb bone, and the other appears to be the concave acetabulum (socket) into which it locates... both detached from their parent bones. The gap between them would be filled with articular cartilage.
    I keep six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.

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    • lovetahunt
      lovetahunt commented
      Editing a comment
      Did a bit of research today and am back to thinking "turtle" is a possibility. The top of the specimen is clearly bone with apparent matrices. I discounted a turtle shell because I thought the shell was a keratin structure. I learned that the turtle shell consists of three pieces: The carapace (upper shell); the plastron (bottom of the shell); the bridge (fuses the carapace to the plastron). The bridge is part of the bottom plastron. The shell is bone, but is completely covered, top and bottom, with keratinized scales or plates called scutes (pronounced "scuts"). These plates serve to protect the underlying bone structure which, apparently, is an extension of the animal's ribs. The keratinized plates are kind of like horn material. These plates are missing from this specimen, and only the underlying bone of the carapace is showing, plus the bridge (the plastron is missing). The material between the carapace and the bridge looks like "turtle jerky". It is apparently desiccated soft tissue. So that's one idea, but I think your idea of an epiphysis/acetabulum is a credible idea as well. Thank you!

  • #4
    Cool find! I get as excited finding fossils as I do points.
    Child of the tides

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    • #5
      Love, once I thought found fossilized bison kneecap, then decided could be dinosaur toe bone because in its hollow was crystallized “stringy stuff”. forming kinda honeycomb. But learned from Tom and Pain, mine just a rock, an incredible squashed geode. But If you do have fossilized bone, maybe you’re seeing latticework of “trabecular” tissue within “cancellous interior”.

      Check out this virtual tour where viewer can go inside cancellous interior and cruise around trabecular “stringy stuff”:

      This virtual collection was last curated by Jaleigh Pier on August 20, 2019. Each model is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Unless otherwise indicated, each model was created by Emily Hauf using specimens at the Paleontological Research Institution, Ithaca, New York.DinosaursTheropods Vertebrate: Tyrannosaurus rex skull (MOTE) by Digital Atlas of Ancient Life on Sketchfab Specimen is an artificial ... Read More


      Digging in GA, ‘bout a mile from the Savannah River

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      • Hal Gorges
        Hal Gorges commented
        Editing a comment
        Very cool, thanks Sis.
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