Re: Unidentified Fossilized Objects

[Stratigraphy@aol.com]

Gav, 

Ok, here is my wild@#! guess.  First of all I would be interested to know a 
little more about the matrix that surrounds the (thing).  It looks to me like 
shale (not slate), perhaps Oxford Clay?  As to the fossil, my best guess 
would be a piece of a ichthyosaur/pleisiosaur/swimming sea thing.  It appears 
to be a chuck of rib(s).  Perhaps with some other part on top of it. The 
interesting thing is the way the piece on top is contouring the rib(?) below 
it.  This looks similar to a chunk of a specimen at our museum (ichthyosaur). 
 However without context, this may remain an anomaly.  If you do take further 
pictures, I would be interested in some close ups of the contact between the 
rib thing and the plate that is conforming to it (ontop).  And also some 
shots of the cross section of the rib looking thing.  So, with all that 
speculation, I wish you good luck, and thanks for the interesting brain 
exercise.  If you do find an answer, I would love to hear about it.

Dave Lovelace