This is a piece of actual fossilized mummified dinosaur skin found with the upper limb bones of an Edmontosaurus. It was found in Eastern Montana, Hell Creek Formation. It is large at 5 1/2″ x 2 1/4″ approximately. This is NOT merely fossilized skin impressions, which also are quite rare; this is actual fossilized MUMMIFIED skin WHICH IS AS RARE AS IT GETS for dinosaur fossils. This specimen perfectly demonstrates that it is the actual positive fossil from mummified tissue extremely well. Notice the edge-on photos which show the highly 3-dimensional preservation of the scales. The scales are seen in high relief and exhibit a variety of sizes and shapes. The entire fossil has a smooth lengthwise curvature, preserving perfectly the shape of the forelimb. The scales themselves have beautifully preserved texture and the black color, which is totally natural, provides excellent color contrast. I believe the black color of these scales is likely not the actual preserved original living color, but is likely due to carbon preservation of bacterial mats, which is how skin, hair, feathers and other soft tissue are usually preserved as fossils.
How might a dinosaur become mummified? It would seem to require a rare sequence of unlikely events. The dinosaur would have to die and its carcass would have to be left largely untouched by scavangers. It would have to be exposed to extreme dryness for a very long time and it would have to dry out to the point of becoming very hard, including the soft tissues and internal organs. One scenario that has been put forth is that it would be lying on a spit of sand in the middle of a stream. (Still, it would seem to me vulnerable to crocodiles and pterosaurs.) Next, it would have to become rapidly buried, perhaps carried downstream in a flood and buried in sand, and through permineralization, the mummy would become fossilized. Only a few dinosaur mummies have been found and they are considered among the rarest and most valuable of all dinosaur fossils. The most famous dinosaur mummy was an Edmontosaurus, described by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1912, AMNH 5060, residing at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. And, as pointed out by Osborn regarding AMNH 5060, “There is no remnent of actual skin preserved only its imprint.” The lucky purchaser of this fossil will have a dinosaur mummy skin fossil superior to that found on the most famous dinosaur mummy!
This is about as good as fossilized skin gets: Obvious 3-D preservation of scales, original preserved body contours, striking color contrast, and superb detail. I trust you will not find a higher quality piece of dinosaur mummified skin anywhere on the web, on a National Geographic Special, in a book, and maybe not in any museum! Touching this as as close as it gets to touching a living dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous!
Ret-r0 on March 8th, 2021 at 14:16 UTC »
Is there any chance you have the link for this post so I can see what kind of skin it was?
throwbackturdday on March 8th, 2021 at 14:42 UTC »
How many Lacoste wallets can it make?
Hanede on March 8th, 2021 at 14:54 UTC »
More info:
Source: https://paleonews.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/