Pseudofossils

(Fossils that really aren't!)

Fossils that look like something else

   Those on this page are not really pseudofossils, but are fossils resemble other fossils. For example, horn corals may look like claws, teeth or vertebrae (backbones). Honeycomb coral appear to be petrified honeycomb or wasp nests. This is where learning about the age of the rock where the fossil was found is very important. A dinosaur claw around the Falls area is most likely a horn coral. Dinosaurs are 200 million years younger than the rocks at the Falls!

                    Not a claw or tooth - a Devonian horn coral                         Not a vertebra - a Silurian horn coral

             Clark County, Indiana / Jefferson County, Kentucky                   Jefferson / Oldham County, Kentucky

          Not a petrified wasp nest - a Devonian colonial coral        Not a petrified beehive - a Devonian colonial coral

                                     Clark County, Indiana                      Clark County, Indiana / Jefferson County, Kentucky

                   Crinoids in limestone (looks like eyes)                       Pentremites blastoids look like flower buds

                           Bullitt County, Kentucky                                   Breckinridge, Grayson Counties, Kentucky

Calcite (travertine) thought to be fossil sponges

Anniversary mine, Arizona (J. Wyatt photos)

                 A branching colonial coral - not a hand!                 Needles of a Red Cedar in holes in a Silurian sponge

                         Fossil beds, Falls of the Ohio                  (stromatoporoid), Oldham Co., Kentucky (W. Crisp photo)

“Not-Quite Ready for Primetime Fossils”

Bone-Like                      Egg-Like                        Scale, Skin & Turtle-Patterns                     

Wood-Like                         Faces & Oddities 

Pseudofossil Main Page

Created February 23, 2010, Updated May 5, 2010