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“150-Million Year Old Baby Bird Fossil/ Hide Scraper”
By Steven Montes,
I was using my metal detector in the foothills of Tucson, Arizona. As luck would have it, I never find anything that I am looking for. As I was walking back to my truck with my metal detector resting on my shoulder, I caught sight of an unusual-looking rock lying on the ground. I picked it up, and noticed a fossil that looked suspiciously like the head of a baby bird just off center in the stone. I turned the stone over to reveal more of the bird’s body.
After showing my unusual find to some of my friends, I decided to take it to the University of Arizona so I could learn more about what I had found.
When I arrived, I was told to take the stone to the Paleontology Department across the lawn in front of where I was. When I got there I saw a professor in his office. I asked him if I could talk to a paleontologist. He asked why, so I handed him the stone and proceeded to tell him how I found it. His eyes grew huge with excitement as he examined the piece, while we were walking down the hallway to another office. Soon there were several professors and other people examining the stone in awe. As they talked, I listened.
The rock I found was secondary sedimentary solidified limestone, which is not indigenous to this area. I was told that the original source could have been in Canada, China, or even South America.
I was told that the inclusion I had first noticed was indeed a baby bird fossil, and that and that birds had evolved from reptiles 150 million years ago. That is how they were able to determine the age of the fossil. Another professor pointed out to me other inclusions in the stone like plant matter, twigs, and other unidentifiable foreign objects. One professor stated that there was proof that his rock was found on the surface, like I had said, because it bore impact marks etched into the rock as the rain water hit the front of the stone for thousands of years while it lay on top of the ground. (Limestone is quite soluble in water; witness karst terrains or the deterioration of carvings on medieval European churches.) The marks were small, circular pockets about the size of a pencil eraser, grouped together. One fellow mentioned that there were once other bones near the chest of the bird that had fallen out over time, but the imprints left by the bones are still visible. They could not identify the species of the bird, because all baby birds look pretty much alike at birth.
I was asked by one of the professors if I wouldn’t mind waiting a little while longer for one more professor who was still in class to come and see the stone. This professor was part of their group, and they did not want him to miss seeing it.
As this man approached, I handed him the stone. He looked at it for a moment, and then stated that this stone was an artifact that had been carved by Paleo-Indians into a tool for scraping the flesh away from the hide after the game animal had been killed. It turned out that his speciality is in Archeology. A silence fell on the gathering as we all listened to the explanation he gave about this rare specimen.
The archaeologist then asked one of the other professors if he could borrow his microscope to look at the stone more closely. The group moved down the hall and entered a small office. As I stood by his side, he examined the piece and stated that there were shiny areas on the sharp edge around the stone that were not visible to the naked eye. He believed that tough tendons and ligaments had polished parts of the stone during its use. He also stated that the hide scraper was in mint condition and was and was not worn out. He went on to say that most hide scrapers that we see today in museums are small ovals that are badly worn from long use, and then discarded when they become useless. He said that he had never seen such a fine hide scraper before.
He wished that he knew what group of people had carved the hide scraper. He speculated that whoever carved the stone might possibly be the first recorded fossil collector. These tribal people were farmers, artists, and traders much like the people of today. The position of the bird and the way it was evidently intentionally carved into a tool made this a true specimen of fossil art.
One of my questions that I asked was how much was this unique item worth? His answer was that it was so unique that it was priceless. I asked how I might go about selling my fossil/artifact. A young lady, still full of excitement, suggested that I take a picture of the hide scraper and put it on the internet with a price tag of $20 million (an idea that did not sit well with some of the others there). Since this is the only known occurrence of such an unusual artifact, the chances of finding another are practically nil. She described it this way: there might be someone who owns the biggest diamond in the world, but other people have diamonds; someone else has the biggest in the world, but other people have houses. She said try to think of something that no one else has, and that is what you’ve got.
If you need any information on this topic, or would like pictures of my rare find please feel free to call me at (520) 749-1105 or e-mail me at [email protected] or visit my web site at:
http://www.worldofrockhounds.com/fos...s-scraper.html
Steven Montes
9000 E. Indian Canyon Rd.
Tucson, Az 85749
By Steven Montes,
I was using my metal detector in the foothills of Tucson, Arizona. As luck would have it, I never find anything that I am looking for. As I was walking back to my truck with my metal detector resting on my shoulder, I caught sight of an unusual-looking rock lying on the ground. I picked it up, and noticed a fossil that looked suspiciously like the head of a baby bird just off center in the stone. I turned the stone over to reveal more of the bird’s body.
After showing my unusual find to some of my friends, I decided to take it to the University of Arizona so I could learn more about what I had found.
When I arrived, I was told to take the stone to the Paleontology Department across the lawn in front of where I was. When I got there I saw a professor in his office. I asked him if I could talk to a paleontologist. He asked why, so I handed him the stone and proceeded to tell him how I found it. His eyes grew huge with excitement as he examined the piece, while we were walking down the hallway to another office. Soon there were several professors and other people examining the stone in awe. As they talked, I listened.
The rock I found was secondary sedimentary solidified limestone, which is not indigenous to this area. I was told that the original source could have been in Canada, China, or even South America.
I was told that the inclusion I had first noticed was indeed a baby bird fossil, and that and that birds had evolved from reptiles 150 million years ago. That is how they were able to determine the age of the fossil. Another professor pointed out to me other inclusions in the stone like plant matter, twigs, and other unidentifiable foreign objects. One professor stated that there was proof that his rock was found on the surface, like I had said, because it bore impact marks etched into the rock as the rain water hit the front of the stone for thousands of years while it lay on top of the ground. (Limestone is quite soluble in water; witness karst terrains or the deterioration of carvings on medieval European churches.) The marks were small, circular pockets about the size of a pencil eraser, grouped together. One fellow mentioned that there were once other bones near the chest of the bird that had fallen out over time, but the imprints left by the bones are still visible. They could not identify the species of the bird, because all baby birds look pretty much alike at birth.
I was asked by one of the professors if I wouldn’t mind waiting a little while longer for one more professor who was still in class to come and see the stone. This professor was part of their group, and they did not want him to miss seeing it.
As this man approached, I handed him the stone. He looked at it for a moment, and then stated that this stone was an artifact that had been carved by Paleo-Indians into a tool for scraping the flesh away from the hide after the game animal had been killed. It turned out that his speciality is in Archeology. A silence fell on the gathering as we all listened to the explanation he gave about this rare specimen.
The archaeologist then asked one of the other professors if he could borrow his microscope to look at the stone more closely. The group moved down the hall and entered a small office. As I stood by his side, he examined the piece and stated that there were shiny areas on the sharp edge around the stone that were not visible to the naked eye. He believed that tough tendons and ligaments had polished parts of the stone during its use. He also stated that the hide scraper was in mint condition and was and was not worn out. He went on to say that most hide scrapers that we see today in museums are small ovals that are badly worn from long use, and then discarded when they become useless. He said that he had never seen such a fine hide scraper before.
He wished that he knew what group of people had carved the hide scraper. He speculated that whoever carved the stone might possibly be the first recorded fossil collector. These tribal people were farmers, artists, and traders much like the people of today. The position of the bird and the way it was evidently intentionally carved into a tool made this a true specimen of fossil art.
One of my questions that I asked was how much was this unique item worth? His answer was that it was so unique that it was priceless. I asked how I might go about selling my fossil/artifact. A young lady, still full of excitement, suggested that I take a picture of the hide scraper and put it on the internet with a price tag of $20 million (an idea that did not sit well with some of the others there). Since this is the only known occurrence of such an unusual artifact, the chances of finding another are practically nil. She described it this way: there might be someone who owns the biggest diamond in the world, but other people have diamonds; someone else has the biggest in the world, but other people have houses. She said try to think of something that no one else has, and that is what you’ve got.
If you need any information on this topic, or would like pictures of my rare find please feel free to call me at (520) 749-1105 or e-mail me at [email protected] or visit my web site at:
http://www.worldofrockhounds.com/fos...s-scraper.html
Steven Montes
9000 E. Indian Canyon Rd.
Tucson, Az 85749
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