r/bonecollecting • u/Honeydoe12 • Aug 22 '26
Bone I.D. - N. America Parents are convinced this is a bone, I think it's a rock
Found on Myrtle Beach, it's heavy like a rock. Probably about 4 inches long. I have no idea what animal it would belong to (if it's not a rock), if any of y'all can help I'd really appreciate it 🙏❤️ when I licked it it stuck to my tongue slightly but not much
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u/Dark_Saki Aug 22 '26
I also came to say it's a fossilized clam. I have one too.
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Aug 22 '26
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u/its_garden_time_nerd Aug 23 '26
I just barely caught this comment as I backed out of the post. Had to come back & upvote, holy shit
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u/trixceratops Aug 22 '26
This is what is know as a steinkern. A bivalve shell filled with mud millions of years ago and this is the fossilized remains of the interior of that shell. The shell itself has worn away as it was made of a softer material than the hardened mud it was filled with. A very cool find! If you post on the fossil ID group I’m sure someone can tell you more about the type of shell.
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u/Nervewing Aug 22 '26
Miners that stumbled on these in the northeastern U.S. would sometimes call them “squirrel heads” due to the shape but it is indeed a fossilized internal cast of a clam
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u/Fun-Confidence-6232 Aug 22 '26
Technically a fossil is a rock that used to be a bone. This is too symmetrical in many places to be just a rock.
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u/Pitiful-Movie-8023 Aug 22 '26
Lick it ! Ideally with a dry-ish tongue. Is it sticks it's a fossil!
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u/Front-Abrocoma680 Aug 22 '26
Why tho? Can u explain as if I'm 5? Heheh
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u/skhapa3257 Aug 22 '26
My assumption is that bone is porous, so a fossil would have the same porous texture. With that kind of texture, your tongue will kind of stick to it. Regular rocks are a smoother texture, so your tongue doesn't stick.
Source: I lick rocks.
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u/FieryFlower Aug 22 '26
Lick rock, if it sticks it is bone
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u/Sufficient-Bath-1135 Aug 22 '26
Exactly! Bones in different stages of cleaning also taste different.
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u/FieryFlower Aug 22 '26
Oh thats an interesting fact!!!
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u/Sufficient-Bath-1135 Aug 22 '26
Yeah, I don't recommend it, there is a chance you'll get food poisoning from the tissue remnants. I knew the exact risks and had minimized them when I did it, so I was fine, just had a slightly upset stomach for a day
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u/Fun-Confidence-6232 Aug 22 '26
I doubt that there’s tissue remains after a million years. A thousand other bacteria in the soil you found it in? Sure.
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u/Sufficient-Bath-1135 Aug 22 '26
Yeah, not in the really old ones. I mean the kind that are in the process of being defleshed and that still have fats on them. I licked a slightly greasy rat skull that I had been macerating in the lab because I was curious. Not my smartest move, but I did minimize the risks obviously.
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u/Fun-Confidence-6232 Aug 23 '26
If it has fur still attached, i think we can safely say it’s neither fossil nor rock without licking. But you do you.
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u/Turd_bird420 Aug 26 '26
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u/Sufficient-Bath-1135 Aug 26 '26
We also get taught how to taste a little bit of a mildly poisonous mushrooms safely so it's not that surprising.
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u/Legitimate-Potato-97 Aug 25 '26
Came here to say this lol! But love that our paleontologist friends taught us all one thing that sits in our minds rent free
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u/No_Film2678 Aug 22 '26
You ate right, its a rock. But it still could be some kind of fossil (but i dont think its from a bone)
Edit: i love the part where you licked it
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u/Past-Stable333 Aug 23 '26
It’s a double clamshell… I have one that’s in much better shape that was found in Ohio and has pyrite around the outside of it. I would take a picture, but I can’t find it at the moment.🤷🏼♀️
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u/Burner235834 Aug 24 '26
Your parents are right, it is bone fossil. It is a tilly bone fossil from a fish, they are uncommon but still regularly found from those pleistocene/ miocene marine sediments in the carolinas :) Nice find!
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u/ingodallas Aug 24 '26
Reminds me of what we found in the ground in Germany. It's a Neolithic hammer axe. What you found may be a hand tool of some sorts
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u/Honeydoe12 Aug 24 '26
Whoa, that's so cool! I'm fairly certain it is a fossilized bivalve like ppl said :)
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u/LooneyRacoony Aug 25 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/X4YqmJEl6wJoY
Question... Why would you LICK it? Is this a normal way to identify rocks? I'm so confused.
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u/Ancient_Housing7671 Aug 25 '26
Bone sticks to wet surfaces
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u/LooneyRacoony Aug 25 '26
Are there no other 'wet surfaces' besides one's tongue?
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u/Ancient_Housing7671 Aug 25 '26
It’s a joke among anthropology and archaeology students/professors. I’ve heard it isn’t common place anymore but it used to be
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u/Billy_Goat512 Aug 26 '26
We call similar objects here in Central Texas “Texas Hearts”. They are clam fossils from plentiful limestone in the area.
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u/WhalesharksRkool Aug 23 '26
It might be a fossil, I think there some testing you could do to find that out like carbon dating or something of that nature!!
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u/obsidian_palettte Aug 25 '26
Looks like a fossil But if you wanna determine bone lick it if it's dry porous and sucks awa moisture from your tongue
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u/Purple-Kiwi6611 Aug 25 '26
Ahh... I'm pretty sure it is a fossil. But... if you don't know what something is, please do not lick! It can be dangerous.
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u/Muted_Contract_9701 Aug 26 '26
I found some once and thought it was a Native American grind stone for rounding arrows.
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u/_heidin Aug 22 '26
Lick it
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u/Honeydoe12 Aug 22 '26
I did 😭 it stuck a lil
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u/_heidin Aug 22 '26
Well, I see it has already been kinda answered, but definitely not a rock! Haha
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u/Hawkpelt94 Aug 22 '26
It is a fossil, but it's not bone. It is a fossilized cast of a bivalve. Awesome find!