Cool fossil i found (possibly a femur bone)!!!!!!! what ya think

[JiggerMan]

I was walking along a lake with GF looking for Carp and looked down and seen what i thought was a odd shaped rock and picked it up.  As i looked closer I realized that it was a fossilized piece of bone.  I have know idea what kind of critter it came from but it has to be very old if it was turned completely into stone.  I think that it is a piece of a femur bone.  what do you guys think.  Do you think it is worth getting it checked out buy someone. 

Here is a picture of one side of it in my hand.


Here is the other side of it.


Here are two pics of the end of the fossil.  If you look close you can see the Bone section and the bone marrow section.

[Pikeguy]

I don't know what it is but it's pretty cool 

[flockshot]

thats definitly cool..id do some research..you may have something rare.

[Water Wolf]

I defiantly appears to be a bone and by the looks of it, the end of the femur. If it's a dinosaur bone it's in darn good shape, most of them are back or brown depending on the minerals in the soil it was in. More than likely is later in time, it may be from the old form of bison. I would show that to the nearest museum that had dinosaur or other prehistoric animal bones.
Cool find indeed.

In my area we were under a prehistoric sea during the dinosaurs time. I have found a few fossilized clams.

WW

[JiggerMan]

Thanks for the replies guys.  I was not thinking it was dinosaur old but i figured it had to be old.  I saw a thing on the news the other day that had to do with some archeologists finding a (i might be wrong) ancient roman womens bones in one of there digs that were in pretty good shape and did not look to bone our fossilized.
I would like to take it somewhere and was thinking that about the nature preserve they got at the park where i found but i am afraid they would want to keep it and i would not get it back.  I am not sure where any museums that would have lots of fossils except for maybe philly or pittsburg. 

Thanks guys

   

[venisonman]

You are right ...they would probably confiscate it. I believe it is illegal to remove such things from public land.

[buzzbomb]

Buffalo bone.  Maybe split open for the marrow.  If it is, there should be lots more in the vicinity because they're big.  To be petrified (not fossilized)  I think something has to be at least 150 years old.  This one would be on the short end because you found it at the water's edge.  If it was up in a dry area and had the same degree of calcification  it could be 500 - 700 years old.  I have a place next to an old traditional native hunting and fishing camp and the shoreline is full of the stuff so when the little dog brought in 2 out of 3 pieces of a femur from under the cottage I took them to the museum of natural history and had a geek check them out.  You should be able to find a bunch more in the same area.

[vipercat64]

One thing that any expert would want to know is where you found it.  The layers of rock/soil in an area are all a particular age,and that would help to tell how old it is.  If it is in a place where native americans lived, it could be just as buzzbomb said.  I think I have to agree with him.