DESCRIPTION
This is a 9.6cm wide slab of agatized dinosaur bone that has been polished on both sides to expose the inner cell structure. It has wonderful coloration and the cell structure is very well defined. Based on the size of the cells as well as other features of the bone it is almost certainly Sauropod in origin.
Agatized bone, sometimes referred to as "gembone", is fossilized dinosaur bone in which the original fossil material has been replaced by silica. The impurities within the silica are what give the bone color. Interestingly, this silica replacement often happens at a sub-cellular level leaving the internal structures intact.
Agatized gembones are known as one of the rarest and most beautiful fossils types. They form when there is a presence of a silica-based material in contact with the fossil. They are beautifully coloured and the cell structure can be seen very clearly.
The Sauropod is one of the most commonly depicted dinosaurs, characterised by its large size, long neck and tail, a four-legged stance, and a herbivorous diet. It is the largest of all dinosaurs and largest of all the land animals that ever lived. Its long neck enabled it to take foliage from even the tallest trees, in somewhat the same manner as modern giraffes do.
By the Late Jurassic (150 million years ago), sauropods had become widespread. However, as with all other non-avian dinosaurs alive at the time, they died out in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Fossilised remains of sauropods have been found on every continent, including Antarctica. Complete sauropod fossil finds are rare. Many species, especially the largest, are known only from isolated and disarticulated bones.