Fossil

[garyankrom]

Ok, I was wondering if anyone new what this was. My husband, found it a long time ago by his parents house when he was a kid. He always believed it to be some kind of fossil. Like a claw or something.

[DrClapeyron]

It looks like a cobble. Flat and smooth due to running water. Do you know the lithology?

[garyankrom]

i found it in a swamp about 19 20 years ago.
Park Forest, Illinois used to be nothing but swamp land.
its not cobble though.
also it weighs around 3 pounds

[Evo]

i found it in a swamp about 19 20 years ago.
Park Forest, Illinois used to be nothing but swamp land.
its not cobble though.
also it weighs around 3 poundsThe 3rd picture doesn't look like the first 2, are these two different rocks?

[Astronuc]

The 3rd picture doesn't look like the first 2, are these two different rocks? Prehistoric Pet Rock?

[B. Elliott]

Or possibly some kind of hammerstone used by someone. IMO, it doesn't look like any kind of fossil I've ever seen.

[hypatia]

The 3rd picture doesn't look like the first 2, are these two different rocks?
I believe on the third photo, we are seeing it on edge. To me, it does not resemble a claw. Even in a fossil state claws still look very much like claws.
Most of IL. was a shallow Cyprus swamp, and did have Mastodon and other animals. It could be a bone fragment. In the first photo, the dark area on the bottom left, may be the spongy area inside a bone. A extreme close up of that area would be more telling.

[Equate]

It's a precambrian fossilized potato, judging from the first two pictures.

Pic #3 - who knows?

[garyankrom]

all the pictures are of the same rock, potato LOL!!!

can i take it to the field museum, does anybody think they would be able to tell me???

[matthyaouw]

Having someone identify it in person will be much easier than over the net. I can't see anything in the pictures that screams 'interesting fossil' though

[Xnn]

The surface of Illinois is basically ground up soil from the ice age.
Not a good place to find many fossils. A smooth rock found near the surface was probably polished by water over many years.

If this were encased within a sedimentary rock or strata, then it might be something, but it looks like a piece of quartz or marble.