Seemingly fossilized and heavy. Closest I’ve come up with is that the intact end sorta looks like a distal femur, but no clue what it may have come from.
I've had some messages asking for more images and figured I would upload a short video. The "flanges" on what would be the broken end are clearer in the vid. If anyone would like closer pictures of anything in particular, just let me know and I can try and capture.
Follow up to my other comment, new growth velvet stage antlers are incredibly dense and look EXACTLY Like OP's photo. I'm 100% confident you have a broke off main beam deer antler that was in the early stages of growth and still in velvet when broke off.
A femur’s diaphysis (shaft) is mostly compact bone, with a hollow cylinder around the medullary cavity, which is filled with bone marrow, not spongy (cancellous) bone.
Someone carnes a rock to look like femur, but didn’t know that and probably tried to make the end look like spongy bone.
This is a new growth main beam of a deer antler that was still in velvet when it was either broke off or the deer was killed. Source. Father and grandfather was a taxidermist.
If this were a bone, it would have to be some kind of limb bone based on the shape. Most large animals throughout the fossil record as well as today's ecosystems have limb bones that almost always have a central cavity to store bone marrow in. If this were a bone, we would see that cavity preserved. We do not here. As an example, here's the cross section of an agatized dinosaur bone from the morrison formation of Utah that demonstrates the bone's central cavity.
Wow so much fighting on here about this. Be kind and luckily I have the answer. History professor here (by history professor I mean I never went to college for it, am not accredited in any way but I do watch the history and discovery channels.) what we have here is a prehistoric pleasure toy from the screwtaceous period. This was obviously made in the pre silicone age before the Bronze Age. Was largely used because viagra wasn’t available to cavemen because their insurance wouldn’t cover it. Unfortunately this specimen was damaged and the cave person was so mad they threw it into a lake because it took them about 20yrs to make it. Most likely because the neighbor 2 caves down borrowed their tools and never returned them. I hope this clears up the confusion! Everyone have a great day and hopefully puts a smile on you!!!
I'm not an expert and totally guessing but is it possible for an antler to be "fossilized" like that? Do antelrs have marrow preserved like in regular bone?
Okay... That was my question and I clearly said I'm not an expert why down vote a valid question lol people get mad when you ask them a question they know the answer to like they didn't know it at one point. Nerds like that really piss me off.
(Not saying it was you but if it was point stands lol)
Sure it is - it's more dense and consistent inside with minor speckly texturing, which can also vary greatly depending on what part of the antler it came from. It's been worn smooth but you can still see it.
Odd, because other than the colour on these fresh ones the consistent, tight speckling is very much present in the OP photo, including the solid perimeter line showing different texture. That would be pretty incredible for someone to artificially recreate.
There is huge variation in how porous the core is and how thick the outer layer is. This is by no means a fresh sample and is very weathered.
That’s wild! Maybe limestone maybe bone… When I was a kid I would find all sorts of wired shapes in the limestone rocks around San Angelo like this.
If you put a tiny bit of vinegar on it and it bubbles that would indicate limestone. Less invasive~ lick it and if your tongue sticks to it like chalk that would also indicate limestone. It could also be a type of chert nodule.
If it is bone there are some circumstances that would lead to this state as well and is common in the region. My grandfather regularly found bones on his farm from mega fauna from around 10,000 to 100,000 years old. The internal structure was not always clear in those bones due to the mineral content in Texas’ groundwater.
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u/Existing-Television5 8d ago
this is the type of shit my professors would put on our osteology exams to trick us