Bone found

[bonedoggle]

Found this bone in the Bohemia river in norther Chesapeake MD.

My initial reaction was land mammal and possibly a tusk but As I considered it I think it’s a partial rib bone of a whale. While it’s mineralized I think it’s ice age ish. Thoughts are appreciated. Be safe TreasureNet.com world. I believe there is a predator bite mark on the bone. Could be pre mortality or post. Curious to what you all think.


@bonedoggle

 

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[GoldieLocks]

Are you sure it isn't petrified wood or a metal of sorts?

 

[Red-Coat]

Good find.

I believe that’s a dugong rib bone. It’s one of the easiest bones to identify, even if you have only a small piece, since they’re completely solid (sometimes with growth rings, a bit like a tree in cross section).

Unlike most other bones they don’t have a spongy interior (what many people call marrow space) surrounded by a thinner layer of solid cortical bone, but are solid throughout for buoyancy reasons. The animals are so blubber-rich that without this kind of bone structure they wouldn’t be able to submerge for feeding (they mainly eat sea-grasses from the ocean floor).

Most usually, they will be Miocene to early Pliocene, so perhaps only a few million years old but that’s just a probability guess and it could be more recent. Predatory bite marks aren’t uncommon, but closer examination would be needed to confirm it. From what I can see in your pictures, I wouldn’t be surprised.

 

[bonedoggle]

Thanks but this is not a solid interior. Well identified marrow. I believe it is ice age or slightly older by its level of mineralization.

 

[Red-Coat]

Thanks but this is not a solid interior. Well identified marrow. I believe it is ice age or slightly older by its level of mineralization.

OK... I had to enlarge your picture and run it through 'Photo-Fix' since it's not well-defined in the picture. I wouldn't disagree with 'whale' based on what I can now see.

 

[bonedoggle]

100% certain not wood or metal and that it is a bone.

 

[bonedoggle]

Thanks Red Coat. Strange bc I think it’s ice age and don’t imagine whales were in the Bohemia river back then.

 

[Older The Better]

Related question. When bones are black like that, are they Pleistocene? Lots of the research I do seems to indicate black = Pleistocene or older but I wonder if the environment where it was found would impact color. Curious if black color is a reliable indicator of age

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

As a guess I would offer the middle section of a mammoth or possibly mastadon rib.

Mastadon

 

[Kray Gelder]

I think that's a reasonable suggestion, Charlie. It's a cool find! I would wrap it in a lot of newspaper, so that it dries out slowly. If it dries quickly, it will delaminate, and you'll have nothing.

 

[A2coins]

Awesome find hope you can take it somewhere for a ID Im sure they would need to do some kind of tests on it.

 

[bonedoggle]

Thanks all. @kray it’s pretty dry already as it was a surface find. Still should be wrapped? Also. Did anyone note the damage to the middle of the bone which I think is a predator bite? Cheers @bonedoggle

 

[Kray Gelder]

Thanks all. @kray it’s pretty dry already as it was a surface find. Still should be wrapped? Also. Did anyone note the damage to the middle of the bone which I think is a predator bite? Cheers @bonedoggle

You're probably good then, if it's been drying for some time. Can't say on the bite. Is there a corresponding hole on the opposite side?

 

[bonedoggle]

@kray no bite mark on the other side. I wouldn’t expect one unless it was bitten post Mortem.

 

[bonedoggle]

Adding that it’s possibly a mammoth rib.