Wednesday, July 15, 2009

overheard at the manor


WT: (poking his head in the back door) Hey, Honey, I brought you
a present.
.
Willow: You did? What?
.
WT: Look at this great fossil I found down at the river!
.
Willow: Wow...I think this is the biggest one you've found, yet.
.
WT: What do you think it is?
.
Willow: Giant slug. No, not you, silly...the fossil!

Maybe my bloggies will know what it is...


This just in:
Kate Blackwell just sent me a website that includes Rugose
corals, an extinct order of coral, as well as fossilized horns, as a
possibility. I'm adding this marvelous drawing by Ernst Haeckel
of Rugosa, 1904. Thanks, Kate!

62 comments:

  1. The only thing I can think of is a cow or ox horn. Do they fossilize?

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  2. Roy, I thought it kinda looked like an ox or cow horn, too. I'm not sure. Do they fossilize?

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  3. No idea. Is the nickel there to relate the size?

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  4. Lakeviewer, yes, for the size...it's a quarter!

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  5. it's the tooth of a saber tooth cat...see them all the time...lol. just kidding. no clue. but very cool.

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  6. My guess is some sort of shell.

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  7. Without looking at the other answers, looks like a bison horn.

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  8. OH yes, I think it is definitely a horn. Look here! http://www.uky.edu/KGS/fossils/didifind.htm

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  9. well, you know, as far as i'm concerned, it's ONE thing - and that's fantastic!!!!! what a find!! beautiful! but if it has to be more than that, maybe a unicorn???

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  10. I'm going to have to agree with the consensus that it's a horn or a tusc of some sort. Excellent find though!

    blessings!

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  11. I'm thinking horn, but no sure. Keep us posted if you figure it our.

    Incredible drawing!! Worthy of framing.

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  12. Kate, thank you so much for that link. I added it to the post, along with the fabulous drawing by Ernst Haeckel of the extinct coral.

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  13. Gypsywoman, I adore the notion of the unicorn horn. Yes, in fact, I'm sure that's what it is!

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  14. Looks a lot like a horn to me, but not sure what--certainly cow or ox-like, which could mean bison, too. Interesting!

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  15. Looks like a horn but I dunno!

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  16. I think that when that became a fossil there were no cows or ox. I think it is a sea creature. The matrix it is in has seashells surrounding it. It is a really nice specimen, Good for you guys finding it.

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  17. Wow, Willow!! This is so interesting.

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  18. And are they Darylized or fossilized?

    ha!

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  19. It's a great specimen for your artifact collection! I'm jealous....

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  20. Country Girl, good one! Haha! Anything "ized" seems to be the catch word today! It must be "Willowized"!!

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  21. wow, it does look like a horn of some kind, doesn't it?
    What a story that fossil must have to tell!

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  22. Too cool! Bot I haven't a clue.

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  24. Wow! That's pretty wild! Is there someone at a local school you could ask? Cool!

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  25. lol I did say "definitely horn cause of the structure... very like how a rams horn is built', cow horn is smoother but sheep type things have these almost flaking layers."

    but seeing kate's link I think you have it with the coral fossil... apart from it's obviously a unicorns horn as you said.

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  26. A unicorn horn? Are they lucky? You could hang it above the manor front door. Maybe it will ward off the ghosts!

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  27. Very cool, whatever it turns out to be/have been (fingers crossed for unicorn).

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  28. I like the idea of unicorn too...

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  29. i do think it looks like a horn but i know nothing about fossils! you gotta love a man who will lug a big rock home as a gift! i like to bring rocks home from our adventures and my hubbie good naturedly groans along!

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  30. Julie, our property backs up to the Scioto and he loves to go down there and mess around, dragging up all kinds of treasures. Sometimes an old glass bottle or two.

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  31. It looks like a horn to me and I love the poster who suggested unicorn horn! A unicorn running free at Willow Manor would be glorious. That is an amazing fossil! Wow! xx

    ps I'll keep you posted on Twitter, Willow.

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  32. What an amazing find! Love the idea of unicorn, but what if it was a dragon's horn?

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  33. Oh goodness! That is truly amazing and wonderful and a whole lot of other adjectives that escape my mind right now :D
    I remember living in KY and finding fossils all the time in the creek in the backyard.
    It's was a great experience!
    Thanks for sharing your find with us.

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  34. Not sure if anyone has offered a solution yet, but this looks to me so much like a sea cucumber.

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  35. No, no Unicorn horn:
    I know for a fact that they are straight and elaborately decorated! ;-)

    I would get in contact with the nearest Natural History Museum. You never know if such a find has been documentated before in your area. Scientists may be very interested in it.

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  36. I thought it was a horn. How odd and how beautiful!

    Many thanks to you and WT.

    Greetings from London.

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  37. I know exactly what it is - fabulous!

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  38. Fantastic! I have fossil envy :)

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  39. Oh heck, lets just call it the horn of a unicorn!

    What life without imagination!

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  40. Just been catching up om commenting Willow - life gets in the way of me sometimes.
    All posts wonderful as usual.
    What did I love the best?
    Your 'ancestral' poem, so moving.
    The ghost story.
    The eyebrows :-)

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  41. OK. This is a horn coral and I have them, but smaller, in many of the fossilized rocks we got years ago. We dug them out of a creek bed and paid the farmer $6.00 a trail load. Lots of work but well worth the effort. My kids dug them out of the stones and took them to school for show and tell.

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  42. I can almost assure you it is not a woolly Mammoth tusk. That eliminates one choice. Pappy

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  43. I like the pic but I dare not say what it might have been lol lol

    xoxo

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  44. That's GIGANTIC! Have never seen one that large!!

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  45. I just knew Abe had to have some of these, to go along with those fossil shark teeth! Cool!

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  46. Hello Willow,

    Well, I'm glad that everyone got to give their ideas before my visit! It does look like a horn but there do seem to be shell markings around it, so I'm happy to go with Abe! WT is obviously an explorer.

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  47. what a lovely present! and how intriguing too.

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  48. The fossil is amazing and the drawing is truly exquisite.

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  49. I've never seen a fossil in real life - well, in museums and things but I've never found one. This one looks enormous.

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  50. Wonderful! How exciting to be able to find something that old and mysterious...the first thing that came to my mind was a horn too...hope you can solve the mystery and let us know!

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  51. Oh for a minute there I was sure you were talking about the quarter .. LOL ... nice find!

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  52. Willow,

    Thanks for adding my little find to your post! I'm honored! :)

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  53. I think it looks quite like a tusk...but perhaps some kind of horn is more likely. Hmmm...

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  54. I must say that I thought like Roy - it does look like a horn of some kind - maybe a ram's horn.

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  55. What a great find this is! I love fossils! If you like, take a look at my favourite one, a big shark tooth from the chilean desert: http://mendoncajose1.blogspot.com/search/label/Fossils

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  56. JM, that is a huge shark tooth! Wow, thanks for the link. I didn't realize you had another blog.

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  57. It's obvious to me there were elephants roaming around during the willowstine epoch.

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  58. It looks like a ram's horn...but not really sure.

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  59. Somehow I missed this post......love it!

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)