Pleistocene find

[soldier]

Ok here was something kinda neat i ran across at one point. on this day not much was found blowing out of the site i check so on the way back to the car, i was walking low ground between dunes as its easier walking instead of up and down, and well the sand had blown east enough to expose the bottom layers, and came to some white chalky scattered bone, that you could clearly see was a crumbling spinal column, so i stopped to examine it and at one end was a small scatter of enamel. Now usually alot of bone fragments out there just turn to dust and blow away as the wind blows them out, which is what was happening here, but on a hunch i scratched where the enamel was and well it was the tip to the iceberg! the first pic is the exposed crumbling bone, the second is the skull insitu, and very gingerly i popped it out to get a photo. I almost was going to notify someone of it, but like i said the wind exposes than destroys what left, or covers it up to be lost again, so i got the pictures to identify it and for memories/records. parts were so soft it was like soft crumbly rotted wood, and just sluffed. but from researching it and talking to others it appears to be some species of the pleistocene horse, like a zebra/donkey.

[Flyjunkie]

now that's a most interesting find!! the skull seems intact and it looks good..

Did you take it home for a clean up and possible display??

[soldier]

yes i took it home and have been slowly working on it. I have pondered how to save it, and that one left side of skull is about all thats left, it needs to be st in some sort of matrix to encase it to display that side. What i did and am in the process of is making a type of concrete slab that i poured into the back open side, than assembled it into a wet concrete substance layer, that way they both slowly dry and cure and hopefully stay together. I need to get some more and kinda pour/pipe into the rest of the spaces and gaps to really make it solid. I will probably get flak for doing it all wrong, but so far the concrete seems to be holding it well, and concrete is pretty close to a natural ground matrix, than when it all cures/dries I will seal the exposed bone surfaces with a diluted epoxy to hopefully preserve it. I didnt have much time to tinker, so got a plan and went with it, if it goes wrong i at least tried, and learned

[Flyjunkie]

I'd set it in a Resin base.. concrete will not look good and weight too much. Make sure it's 100% dried out before coating it with the thinned epoxy.. do not want to lock in any moisture by mistake..

Hopefully your clean up and preservation efforts will come out well for You..

[Kevin Young]

That's a great find! It does look like horse. When i first seen it i was thinking camel.

[soldier]

When I first was looking at it i thought maybe camel as well, but the teeth on camel are different, especially the shape of the front incisers, and they have an almost tusk like tooth as well

[joshuaream]

I haven't heard of that method before but I hope it works. I'd still go for Gomer's acetone/duco mix before I use epoxy. Let us know how it works.

[kliff]

Cool find I hope you are able to preserve it.

[latrans]

Just out of curiosity - what makes you think that it's not a modern horse or donkey?

[soldier]

latrans well what makes me know its not modern is the shape and size of the bones, color and condition, the location was once a pleistocene lake/marsh. Also i have found petrified fish vertebrae in the same locale/general area.