Big Brook Canine Remains
So my latest obsessive interest has become fossiling. It is exactly what it sounds like it is, and it is precisely as nerdy. A free set of waders from Craigslist and $26 worth of wood to build a sifter and I'm like, practically official. 
What you have there is your classic, that there is your classic exogyra. So I was hopeful, and I had my eye on a shark tooth. I knew it wasn't unheard of to score dozens in a single trip at Big Brook, all I wanted was 1! I set out with my thigh-high rubber pants, shuffling upstream, stopping to sift at spots where I could see exposed quartz stones that weren't covered in sediment, figuring these were deposit areas for anything picked up by the current. I hadn't been at it much more than an hour (time flies) when, this little fella turned up in my sifter:
So on Tuesday I set out from work at Sandy Hook to a little spot on the Colts Neck/Marlboro border called Big Brook. It's kind of like the mecca for fossiling in New Jersey, and is pretty well known throughout the country for giving up late cretaceous shells and shark teeth. Not to mention, Gina scaled a dirt wall and recovered this puppy just a week prior:
What you have there is your classic, that there is your classic exogyra. So I was hopeful, and I had my eye on a shark tooth. I knew it wasn't unheard of to score dozens in a single trip at Big Brook, all I wanted was 1! I set out with my thigh-high rubber pants, shuffling upstream, stopping to sift at spots where I could see exposed quartz stones that weren't covered in sediment, figuring these were deposit areas for anything picked up by the current. I hadn't been at it much more than an hour (time flies) when, this little fella turned up in my sifter:
My initial reaction upon examination was "Guhhhh, human jawwwww". For some reason I also jumped to the conclusion whoever threw the body that this bone came from was still around, so I did that little paranoid look around you thing. I'm sure waiting around for decomposition and fossilization is generally the accepted practice in the criminal world when you dispose of a body. You follow the fragments and murder anyone who finds them.
ANY WAY, it is not human. It is, in fact, canine. Apparently, some experts who know much more than me feel I should take it to the State Museum, as it may be something of some note. Depending on how old it is, it could be (to the best of my research skills) the first Dire Wolf found in the state of NJ. Grey wolves did live in the state, but not at the period that most of the fossils at Big Brook date from. So if this fossil is old enough, it can likely only be a dire wolf remain.
Additionally there is some interesting chemical changes going on with the bone. The coloration is indicative of diagenesis with siderite (FeCO3), which (from what I can ascertain) is essentially iron taking the place of the bone through natural processes. Pretty darn cool!
I also got that shark tooth:
