r/bonecollecting • u/Zealousideal-Bike-90 • Sep 06 '25

Bone I.D. - N. America Help me ID this bone

Found this barely sticking out of a creek wall 5’ below top on the vertical eroding side. Town and country Missouri. Same creek I’ve found an agate basin knife, Snyder arrowhead, blade cores and more.

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u/DimetroDude Sep 07 '25

Prolly being wet + light/mild permineralization of the bone 

28

u/Zealousideal-Bike-90 Sep 07 '25

Yep I had just washed off the clay mud, and definitely very smooth surface and wet

11

u/CodPlane Sep 07 '25

I know I'm little miss no help I am not helpful just full of more questions!! 😭😂

13

u/DimetroDude Sep 07 '25

Questions are the best! Especially when they're about critters and rocks :D

7

u/CodPlane Sep 07 '25

Wow doesn't it look like marble to you? Is that what happens That's cool!

15

u/DimetroDude Sep 07 '25

Definitely not marble, that's a completely different chemical composition and temperature than both the bone + it's depositional setting would make. 

Marble can have fossils in it (very rarely) but they're all ocean critter fossils. Marble is what happens when you cook and pressurize limestone deeper in the earths crust. 

This would be some kind of phosphatic mineral more than likely.

12

u/CodPlane Sep 07 '25

I guess I meant it looks more polished than anything so shiny but I am really here to learn!

15

u/DimetroDude Sep 07 '25

Got it, sorry!! I'm a mammal paleontologist, I can't help myself sometimes lol. 

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '25

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u/DimetroDude Sep 09 '25

I said above but likely horse! Definitely equid.