this bone is 3 foot deep in a wall of dirt which is 6 foot tall it looks very stange to me so i need help thx. jeff

I don't know. I find old buffalo bones all the time in cut banks like that, down deep. Where are you located?

kentucky

If it is petrified dinosaur bones it will be rock. If its still bone it could still be very old just not prehistoric. Its big enough to be buffalo or extinct elk.

Ghostwind I live in Kentucky too and recently found some rocks that are shaped so much like "huge" bones it makes me wonder if that is what they are. Reckon we're looking in the same spot?

Does anyone know if bones of prehistoric animals are white? Someone once told me they are usually dark in color...almost black.

What is a good site that teaches how to identify prehistoric bones?

Everything I have found as far as buffalo bones are still somewhat white. From what I have heard and seen, you're right, the prehistoric bones are a drak gray or even somewhat black color.

Thanks Cinch....now I know for sure....

I'm not familiar with fossils from Kentucky, per se, but I have collected fossils for 50 years and can offer a couple of points. Not all fossil bones are black, for instance.
Many of the mammal fossils of western states, from 65 million years down to the ice age, are white to cream in color. Dino bones are dark, and in some cases as colorful as petrified wood when cut and polished. Just did a google search and found there are no dino fossils found in Ky. And most fossil bones found in Kentucky will date to the last 1 million years. Short description of Kentucky mammal fossils at the site below.

www.uky.edu/KGS/fossils/quartern.htm

Charlie

CMD wrote:


Well, one thing I just discovered is that it's really tough finding photos that aren't copywrited. But here's a page that shows ~30 million year old mammal fossil bones still fairly light in color. The rabbit skeleton in particular displays the creme color common among those fossils. Here in the east, most of the ice age bones I've seen tend to be more light to dark brown to black.

www.fossilmuseum.net/Fossil_Sites/badlands.htm

Well, I know this doesn't answer the original question regarding the bone from Ky., but where fossil bones are concerned, there is no standard color that applies to all.

Thanks for the info CMD, knowledge is wasted unless it is passed on and that is exactly what you are doing.
I(We) feel your pain here about copyrighted material, there is so much information out there we could use, but no sense complaining if you cant do much about it.
Btw, if you find any other info, post it up, I enjoy learning about these kinda things

Interesting piece............
I find bone every once and a while
Did you get it out?
Did it deteriorate or is it crystalized?
It looks very long
I would take it out the bank before winter comes,the bank will slump on it and make very hard to find again...........

From the picture it looks like a backbone or spinal column..it could be pliestocene it might not...How fragile is it..Thats alwys a good way to tell....Could be ice age.The fact its coming out of the ground says much.....why would someone bury right?..

Whatever animal died,the silt and sand covered it pretty good,I dont keep them...............just long enough to check with modern cow bones
Never hurts to check one out................
I did find a jaw-bone of Bison once on a sandbar!
There might be more bones come out after another flood......
I took a picture one year of a fire-pit......that Spring it slumped and filled in
No Arrowpoints from the Fire-pit rock though

Yep, looks like vertabrae. Clean a spot off on it and touch your tongue to it. Your tongue will stick to bone like velcro. You'll know immediately. Very cool find!

Lance

Very clearly NOT a fossil. It is several vertibrae still connected, perhaps elk, bison might be a stretch. Could also simply be cattle thats been compacted into the mud during flooding of whatever creek you found it in.
Regardless, you can have these identified. Take them to a museum.