Hi All,
Any chance someone can please help with determining if these are fossilized bones? They were found on Holden Beach a couple of years ago after they rebuilt the beach by pumping sand in from deeper water. It was prime shark tooth finding! Several people found Megalodon teeth and we also found what we think are fossilized alligator fangs.
Thanks!
These are indeed fossil bones! I believe these really dense bones are Sirenian rib fragments, which are pretty devoid of marrow to act as a ballast since their bodies are very buoyant. I’m not really sure what the age of the Holden-specific bones are and I’m not sure if they could really be narrowed down; at the very least I couldn’t do it. The dugongs were the most prominent in the Carolina area from the Eocene to the Miocene(?), after which the manatees moved in during the Pleistocene.
I’d be interested in seeing the proposed alligator fossils as well, I might be able to help identify and narrow those down.
-Tony
Very nice! Your “fangs” are isolated mosasaur teeth from the Late Cretaceous Peedee Formation exposures offshore of Holden Beach, which are Maastrichtian in age, approximately 69-66 million years old. I’m not quite sure about the particular variety these are from, but I encourage you to look at the attached research abstract, Mosasaurs (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the Late Cretaceous (Late Maastrichtian)
of North Carolina, USA (Rempert et al., 2024). There are at least five different mosasaurs in the material that are described in the paper, and though I am not great with them overall, to me they look similar to Mosasaurus hoffmannii, one of the more common varieties.
The shark teeth are very nice as well! I can see some megatooth sharks (Otodontids) in there, as well as some nice Late Cretaceous “crow” sharks (Squalicorax). The Late Cretaceous sharks are my favorites from Holden Beach, since they’re something you don’t find in too many places compared to the younger varieties.
-Tony
TZ_328_3_Rempert.pdf (973.3 KB)
Thanks Tony. This is great information. I really appreciate the through responses!
Hello
I found this several years ago but I dont remember when or where and I have traveled a good part of my life so it could be from many different places
I would love to know what it is
I see a birds head and beak long neck ?? possibly a fossilized bird? But maybe a carving?
Any help is appreciated
Hey Bobby,
I’m not really sure what that is unfortunately! It resembles some sedimentary concretions I’ve found on NC beaches in the past, it doesn’t particularly seem like a fossil as a whole in my opinion. That being said, sometimes depending on the area these sedimentary stones may have some small fossils in them.
-Tony
Thank you Tony I thought maybe a turtle egg or maybe a American indian carving maybe just a unusual rock that caught my eye i had no idea only knew I had been holding it for years and I recently came across this site and decided to ask I do appreciate your expertise and reply
Bobby
