Bone Fossil? Rattles!!

[KaliCo]

This was found in Texas years ago. When you shake it, there is something inside that rattles. I always thought it was a bone fragment with a piece broken off inside that is rattling. But, I wanted to see if anyone here had any other ideas on what it could be. Thanks!!

 

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[Treasureman25]

Interesting! I look forward to reading the experts opinions on this one!

 

[camichael]

Looks like a meteorite to me....

 

[old digger]

That is an interesting find. It looks similar to Hematite. And with a void inside containing another small piece of hematite. Or something else?

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

When I enlarged the pictures I picked up a lot of different colors almost like oil does when in water.Being it was found in Texas it might be some type of rock found around oil deposits?

 

[KaliCo]

It's not ferrous. Got to be something else. Just not sure. I have liminite cubes here and it does not react like they do. Found those in Lincoln County, Georgia. This was found in Texas. I've been collecting anything I found interesting, odd or unusual, rocks and shells for years and this one is like nothing i have ever seen or found since. Wonder if I can have it xrayed. haha Some people have tried to get me to break it open. Nope, not doing that. That is part of the odd I like about it. It rattles. Plus the shape.
I really appreciate your looking at it and trying to figure it out. Thank you!! Hopefully we can find out what it is.

 

[KaliCo]

Back-of-the-Boat - Ah, yep, that makes sense! I saw the colors also. And, it was found in south Texas. There is a lot of oil in that country. This was not found in one of the oil fields, but I know they have dug up some very interesting fossils in those fields.

 

[Treasureman25]

Do we rule out petrified wood??

 

[KaliCo]

Treasureman25 - I think so. I have a lot of different pieces of petrified wood (all found in Colorado) and even though this was found in south Texas (below San Antonio) it does not look like petrified wood to me. I have some old fossilized bone pieces that are black with age and this more resembles those in color. There are some interesting lines on this thing, too. I will try to get some more pics today of other angles. It really has me puzzled on why the rattle with it. You can hear something in there rolling around.

 

[Garscale]

Lignite coal?

 

[KaliCo]

Garscale - Interesting...could be! But this is super hard and I am not able to scratch it. I have found some old coal on the property I am on now in Georgia and it does not match it. But, if it's older or...? Here are some more pics of different angles of it.

 

[halo71]

Found those in Lincoln County, Georgia.

Hey, I live in Lincoln County, GA as well. I'm close to the Anthony Shoals and Hester's Ferry on the north end of the county.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

A hot needle test might eliminate some things.I think it might be something man made like a broken piece of a hard plastic or something made with a petroleum base. If a hot needle penetrates.It wouldn't be stone and the smell could give a clue as to what it is made of.Just a thought.

 

[Fossils]

That looks like a phosphate concretion to me. I would often find nodules like that when beach combing for fossils in South Carolina.

They are the same type of mineral that is often found in petrified wood and bone. Although they are not fossils themselves, they are often found in regions that have fossils.

Some examples of phosphate nodules are shown at the bottom of the picture below:

 

[KaliCo]

halo 71 - Hi neighbor!! I'm in Wilkes County now.
Back-of-the-boat - I just did the hot needle test. Nope, it did not penetrate. Not a tiny bit.
Fossils - VERY interesting! I do know south Texas was under water at one time. So, could be. Then something got caught in it and it rattles?? I do have some of those nodules and had not thought of that. Those I found at the beach in SC and GA also. I posted some interesting fossils I found in a creek in Colorado on here, also.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Not bone, definitely not gar scale.

 

[Garscale]

Not bone, definitely not gar scale.

Huh? I agree its not bone. If its hard its not lignite either.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Huh? I agree its not bone. If its hard its not lignite either.

LOL, sorry. I thought somewas said that it might fossilized Garfish scale. I missed that some was mentioning your name.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

When I was a kid I recall roofers brought in big tubes of hardened tar in fiber-board sleeves and melted them with an on-site furnace. The tar was black and brittle - almost glasslike - until molten. I loved the smell.

That reminds me of what the raw asphalt tar looked like - which does occur in nature ("bitumen").

 

[TonyG]

I am interested in knowing what this is too, as I have a similar specimen, minus the rattle, that was found in the Caprock Escarpment of Texas, along the Southern edge of the panhandle. If I can find where I put it, I will post some pictures of it this week. I have found Triassic age fossilized material in other parts of the Caprock Escarpment, including some that are black, but nothing about my specimen or yours, leads me to think it is a fossil. My first thought was that it was some sort of iron-manganese mix, but it does not react with hydrogen peroxide, which should cause bubbling if manganese was present and it will barely react to a very strong magnet, 1.5" neodymium sphere magnet, and will not visibly react to a normal magnet at all.