This is my grandpa's most precious gift to me. When I was a little kid, he worked at a nearby rock quarry putting in telephone lines.
He knew I loved dinosaurs and fossils, so he brought this back for me. From the moment I saw this thing, I knew it was something special.
I've had to people tell me it's just an oddly shaped piece of limestone (a middle school biology teacher and some guy my mom emailed), but I've examined a lot of rocks since and I still keep my suspicions.
There's no way it's just limestone. The texture, how dense it feels, the way it passed the tongue stick test, I'm certain that this is a remnant of a creature from the past. Especially that little notch where it looks like a joint used to be.
I have no clue what creature this belonged to, but I plan to sometime take it to an expert to identify it and find out if it's really a fossil.
For context, it was found in Central Illinois at a rock quarry outside a small town called Tuscola. I've heard that other fossils have been found there, so it makes sense that a rock quarry might have ancient bones hidden in the rocks.
