A lot of identification is based on the age of the rock in which a fossil is preserved. A lot of the age is determined by specific location. Where was this found?
Look up the Strimple Award. It is presented each year by the Paleontological Society to amateurs who have made a significant contribution to paleontology. Over the past 30 years, four of the Strimple Award winners were members of the fossil-collecting club I belong to. Each of them contributed to peer-reviewed research papers in the field. In addition, the head of paleontology at our university - ranked in the top 10 in paleontology by US News - stated that none of their graduate students earned degrees without assistance from the local amateurs.
It is modern, not a fossil.
Not a fossil. That is a rock.
Any chance the judge Frederick Spiegel is the father of the federal judge Arthur Spiegel? Or related?
That would be his grandson. Frederick Spiegel's son, also named Arthur, was also a judge - so it's a three-generation judicial dynasty.
A lot of identification is based on the age of the rock in which a fossil is preserved. A lot of the age is determined by specific location. Where was this found?
Not a fossil.
Awesome, thank you so much!! Would you mind explaining what is meant by off axis/oblique section through? I’m somewhat new to all of this.
It was sliced through at an angle, rather than along the length or across the width.
That is not petrified wood. It is a metamorphic rock.
That doesn’t appear to be a fossil.
What?? What could it be?
The comments about septarian nodules are probably in the right direction.
Rock. Not a fossil.
That is not a fossil.
Going with cool rock. That is not a fossil.
Look up the Strimple Award. It is presented each year by the Paleontological Society to amateurs who have made a significant contribution to paleontology. Over the past 30 years, four of the Strimple Award winners were members of the fossil-collecting club I belong to. Each of them contributed to peer-reviewed research papers in the field. In addition, the head of paleontology at our university - ranked in the top 10 in paleontology by US News - stated that none of their graduate students earned degrees without assistance from the local amateurs.
That is a heavily abraded chunk of matrix that incorporated some gastropod shells.
Not a fossil.
It’s not a fossil. That’s a mineral formation.
How do the minerals form into such neat patterns? Is there a more appropriate sub I can ask about this on?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concretion
The Wine Bibber's Bible, by James N. Pratt, Jacques De Caso
He found it in the Chicago suburbs and is about 2”x1” in size.
Coral.
That's a rock.
Thanks, any idea what could those strange shapes inside be?
This specimen was heavily distorted during or after preservation. It's difficult to say anything about it.
Beige leather shoes with thick soles.
Not a fossil.
Not a fossil.