NE Okla. fossils, and a strange bone...

[naturegirl]

Hi all These weren't found by me, but I was asked to post pictures to see if they can be Id'd. found in north east ok, small creek, not near any large body of water,

the first two are especially nice, I think. Is the one a nautilus of some type? and a bi-valve?

The two little "discs" at first look seemed to be bone, they are very light in weight, and don't feel like stone, but after looking at them closer, I think they may be some kind of coral fossil? The finder is hoping they maybe a type of game piece, NA made, but I don't think so....

The last strange bone has obvioulsly been gnawed on greatly, is there any way to tell if it was a skull? It 'looks' like nasal cavities, but if that's the case, it was anextremely thick skull to start with, and there is no honeycomb-sinus look to it. and no eye sockets. A well chewed leg bone? It' iS as hard as stone. An alien skull?

Thanks for looking!
naturegirl

[naturegirl]

sheesh, once again, please disreguard my plastered fingers, I took these pictures at work......

[Neogeo]

You nailed the stone fossils,the other two are part of a legbone I think...The knawed one is def. the top of a leg bone.The other two prolly are as well.Mayhaps they kinda float like a knee cap does.

[Harry Pristis]

Good images, 'naturegirl'!

The first two objects are steinkerns, internal casts of a bivalve and of an ammonoid.

The disk is a growth plate, an epiphysis, from the centrum of a vertebra. I cannot say which one, but it appears to be from a mammal.

The last item is a piece of rodent-gnawed long bone, perhaps a deer cannon bone. Cannon bones (metapodials) are thick-walled because they bear all the animal's weight. They typically have a partition, an evolutionary holdover from when these bones were actually two separate bones.

Rodents of all sizes gnaw these bones (antlers are a favorite) for the minerals they contain. Look carefully to see that each mark is paired, the evidence of paired incisors.

[Neogeo]

Got 1 atleast...lol

[naturegirl]

Thank you Frank and Harry! Vertibrea would explain finding more than one, and I would never know a knee bone, but that may help me with future weird bones! I will pass on this info, thank you!

ng

[lamplighter36]

interesting how that thing was gnawed in a nearly symetrical fashion. nice conversation piece; you could stump a lot of folks with that one.