A Study on a Carboniferous Human Femur Fossil
Last updated: Feb. 20, 2009
By Lin Liangtai
Abstract

Mr. Ed Conrad, the discoverer of the subject material, has claimed he has found thousands of “fossils” in the Mahanoy City and Shenandoah region of Pennsylvania, USA. Before this study, the author has studied over 20 different specimens of those “fossils” and found they are all animal fossils, including a petrified human calvarium, well preserved down to the microscopic level. The subject material was still partially embedded in an immense piece of slate in the Carboniferous rock layer when it was first photographed. The author found it was a fossil because it contained Haversian canals, which are found only in animals’ compact bones. It belonged to a mammal because it possessed plentiful remains of scarlet, round, anucleate and concave cells, which were red blood cells found only in mammals. It was a fossilized human femur bone because it displayed the following features: (1) It is nearly straight, round and quite slender, with maximum length estimated at 52 centimeters, and mid-shaft diameter of 3.3 centimeters; (2) It bears resemblance to a right femur of a Peking Man and to an educational model of human femur, and the average diameter of its shaft is smaller than 7% of its maximum length ; (3) It possesses plentiful round, anucleate and concave red blood cell remains as large as eight micrometers in diameter. Only human femur bones match the above three features. The author has searched various fossil records and data banks, but found no other mammals possessed a bone that displayed the above three features or the first two features in the case of an extinct mammal. So, it was a femur of a Carboniferous mammal with a human calvarium.

Introduction

The author found on the internet a photograph showing an object claimed to be a Carboniferous human femur fossil embedded in slate near Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. As the discoverer of the object did not present detailed evidences for his claim, the author contacted the discoverer and asked for a specimen of the object in order to examine it in details. The discoverer sent one half of the object to the author by post for study (Fig.1-2-2). Before this study, the discoverer has claimed to have discovered thousands of Carboniferous animal --some human--fossils in the same area in the past 28 years (note 1). The author has studied over 20 different specimens of those objects and found they are all animal fossils, including a petrified human calvarium (Article 1), all preserved down to the microscopic level (Fig. 0-1, Fig. 0-2).

Material and Methods

(A) Material found in situ

The object (Fig.1-1-1)was discovered in situ by Mr. Ed Conrad, who had lived in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, USA for over 30 years. He discovered the subject material over 20 years ago in the suburb of Mahanoy City ( Note 3, Fig. 5-1-3), a few kilometers from Shenandoah, where he lived. When he first discovered the “femur fossil”, it was still partially embedded in a rock, which he claimed had been dumped there by a coal mining company during surface-mining operations. He took three pictures of the object before removing it from the surrounding rock. A veteran Pennsylvania policeman, who is a polygraph expert, conducted a polygraph examination on its discoverer and issued an examination report (Fig. 4-4-5).The report proves the discoverer showed “no deception” when asked if he found the majority of the questioned objects in the Mahanoy City/Shenandoah region (note 4).

Mr. Ed Conrad advised the author in writing that the object was 17.5 inches long while still embedded in rock.To demonstrate its length, he put a measuring tape and a 16-inch educational model of human femur beside the object before he took the three pictures of the object. According to the geological map published by the Pennsylvania state government, the area around Shenandoah and Mahanoy City is situated on the rock layer of the Carboniferous age. The Pennsylvania state government’s geological unit also confirmed in writing to the author that fossils discovered in those areas are all 307 (+/- 5) million years old. Figures 1-1-1 to 1-1-4 show the object was partially embedded in the rock. This point was supported by visual examination of the object’s surfaces, as the object’s under-ground surface had turned into black coal while its above-ground surface did not turn into black coal (Figure 1-3-2).

(B) Material received for study:

The specimen received by the author measures 22 centimeter long and 3.3 centimeter in diameter at the mid-shaft (Fig. 5-2-3, Fig. 2-3-5). The author had the specimen that he received from the discoverer cut at the mid-shaft for the specimen’s transverse section by Mr. Liang at the Department of Geology, National Taiwan University. The transverse section was further cut into two equal parts and ground into two thin sections (Fig. 2-4-1), which were then covered with glass slides for viewing under light microscopes. The two thin sections are never stained with chemicals to change their original colors. Later, the specimen was cut again transversely at mid-shaft and another sample was obtained for viewing with Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The SEM sample was ground and coated with a thin layer of wax as required for SEM viewing. For orientation purpose, the SEM sample was marked by the author with a felt pen and a diamond-tipped pen. The SEM sample and the two thin sections were variously viewed with a stereomicroscope, a digital microscope, a transmitted-light microscope, and SEM (Hitachi S3400). Images were captured with a camera (Canon EOS 350D), SEM (Hitachi S3400), or a digital microscope itself. Finally, the specimen was sent to Alberta Research Council (in Canada) for three-dimensional scanning with their Computed-Tomography imaging system. All figures mentioned in this article are displayed and explained in an on-line album at: http://www.wretch.cc/album/album.php?id=lin440315&book=21

Result

Major findings in the study of the material include:

1. Fig. 1-1-4 shows the object was discovered exactly as in the picture, still partially embedded in the rock. The object articulated to the “rock”, which might be other remains of the same limb.
2. Fig. 1-1-5 , Fig. 4-1-1, Fig. 4-1-2 show Haversian canals, which are found only in a compact bone’s osteons. Fig. 3-1-3 shows remains of soft blood vessels, an osteocyte and a Haversian canal.
3. Plentiful scarlet red blood cell remains were found on the transverse sections of the specimen (Fig. 4-2-3, Fig. 4-2-4, Fig. 4-2-5). The red blood cell remains are round, concave and anucleate, some as large as eight micrometers in diameter
(Fig. 4-2-1, Fig. 4-4-2).
4. The subject material is nearly straight, round and quite slender (Fig. 1-1-1, Fig.1-3-2), measuring 3. 3 centimeters in diameter at mid-shaft (where the specimen was cut for making thin sections, Fig. 2-2-4, Fig.2-3-5). Its colorful surface is covered with remains of soft tissues (Fig. 1-4-2, Fig. 3-3-5, Fig. 3-4-2), such as tendons ( Fig.5-2-4, Fig. 3-1-4,). SEM Fig. 3-1-4 shows the transverse side of the tendon with fascicles containing bundles of collagen fibrils. On the coal-black surface there are three knob-like protrusions (Fig. 5-2-2). They are found to contain remains of tendons (Figures 7-1-1 to 7-1-5). Such tendon remains are also found on a femur bone of a Java Man (Fig. 2-2-5).

5. The top side of the specimen (the superior surface at the uncut end, Fig. 2-2-2) contains plentiful remains of chondrocytes of a hyaline cartilage (Fig. 3-3-1, Fig. 3-3-2) near its center and edges. Those cell remains point to a growth plate (Fig. 3-2-1, Fig.3-1-5) that was still active before the bone died. The subject material also bears resemblance to a right femur of a Peking Man ( Fig 2-3-1). The previous figure also shows the Peking Man’s right femur has no femur head at the proximal end. In fact, dead femurs of juvenile animals are often found broken at the growth plates, as those growth plates were less rigid and not completely ossified before adulthood. After death, the subject femur was damaged possibly in intertrochanteric fracture type III (Fig.2-3-3) .

6. A femur’s lesser trochanter was found at the uncut end of the specimen
(Fig. 4-4-3, Fig. 2-2-2, Fig. 5-4-2). The femur neck was found fractured at the base, which is evidenced by many remains of osteons and Haversian canals (Fig. 6-4-2 , Fig. 6-4-3, Fig. 6-4-4, Fig. 6-4-5 ). Based upon findings mentioned above, the author identified the subject material as part of a right femur with colorful posterior surface( Fig. 1-1-1) and black anterior surface(Fig. 1-3-2). The anterior surface is smooth while the posterior surface is covered with a thin layer of soft tissue remains of various colors ( Fig. 3-3-5, Fig. 3-4-2).

7. The maximum length of the femur before death should have been 52 centimeters approximately according to the following calculation:
Maximum length of the femur = the sum of (A) and (B)
(A): the length of the material found in situ;
(B): the length of the missing femur head and neck at its proximal end.

A: 44 centimeters ( 17.5 inches, as measured by its discoverer)
B: 8 centimeters, as measured from an educational model of human femur, starting from the top of the femur head to the base of the femur neck.

Hence, the maximum length of the femur should have been 44+8=52 centimeters.

Discussion (Questions and Answers)

1. Could it be a rock, a plant, a collection of microbes, pollens, invertebrate animals in origin?

No. Micrographs of the object show numerous rings of six to eight microns in diameter ( like erythrocytes). Minerals at that size are called silts, which are all flaky (in 3-dimension) and angular (in 2-dimension), not rounded like red blood cells. The cells of plants are usually rectangular in shape and much larger in size (about 20 to 30 microns across). Microbes are smaller in size (about one to five microns in length). Pollens are much larger, over 80 microns across. Invertebrate animals don’t have Haversian canals, which are found only in compact bones.

2. Could someone bury it there recently?

No. The environment surrounding the object is shown on the object’s under-ground surface as well as on its above-ground surface. Its above-ground surface is not black or coalified, while its underground surface is all black and coalified (Fig. 1-1-1 , Fig. 1-2-3, Fig. 1-3-2 ). The coalification shows its age and agrees with the environment of the coal region. It was unlikely to artificially bury the object so flawlessly. The author expanded Fig. 1-1-4 by 500% and still saw continuity from the object to the surrounding rock.

3. Could it have come from a younger layer of rocks?

No. It was not a tiny object or a singular case. As mentioned above, thousands of fossils had been found in the region and the author had microscopically examined over 20 of them, which are all found to have been animal fossils –some human. Mahanoy City and Shenandoah are in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania
(Note 3, Fig.5-1-3). The discoverer has repeatedly claimed that his fossils were dumped there by coal-mining companies during strip-mining operations. So, his fossils could not have been moved into multi-layers of coal-bearing strata by rivers after coal was formed there.
That region’s surface rocks/soil have been repeatedly excavated away by surface coal-mining since 1900. When the discoverer found his first fossil there in 1981, the region’s surface rocks/soil of the 19th century had been removed almost completely. Moreover, the Pennsylvania state government’s geological unit has confirmed in writing to the author that fossils found near Mahanoy City are all 307 (+/- 5) million years old. The discoverer has found thousands of small broken fossils that lay miles apart, all well preserved down to the microscopic level. This fact precludes the possibility that some animals fell from a hole long ago into the present-day region. So, the subject fossil could not have moved vertically or horizontally from a younger rock layer.

4. Could it be a non-human bone?
Unlikely. The author has searched various sources and fossil records (note 6), but
could not find a non-human mammal that possessed such a bone. This
Carboniferous fossil bone possessed the following features:
A. It resembles an educational model of a human femur bone (Fig. 1-1-1) and a right femur of a Peking Man (Fig. 2-3-1)
B. It is nearly straight, round and quite slender (Fig. 2-3-2), with maximum length estimated at 52 centimeters (7th point, Result Section) and mid-shaft diameter of 3.3 centimeters (Fig. 2-3-5).
C. It possessed round, anucleate and concave red blood cells of eight micrometers in diameter (Fig. 4-2-1, Fig. 4-4-2).
D. The average diameter of the shaft is 3.5 centimeters (Fig. 3-3-3), which is 6.73% of the maximum length (52 cm) of the femur.
The combination of above four features is not found in any non-human mammals, extinct or extant.
Concerning feature D, any non-human femur that is longer than 52 centimeters is invariably much thicker than 6.73% of the femur’s maximum length. For example, an elephant has a femur longer than 52 cm, but its femur shaft is much thicker than 3.5 cm in diameter. That’s because non-human femurs that are over 52 cm long belong invariably to animal bodies that are much more massive than human bodies are. Such heavy animals, extinct or extant, need much thicker femurs to support their much heavier bodies. The average diameters of their femur shafts are always over 7% of their femurs’ maximum lengths, never as slender as human femurs are.

5. Doesn’t the object look like the fossil of a tree branch, as there are three knob-like
protrusions on its anterior surface (Fig. 1-3-2) ?
The object was not a tree branch, although it may look like one to some people.
Fossils usually don’t have soft-tissue remains, but this one is unusual. Its surface
has a lot of soft-tissue remains (Fig. 1-4-2), including numerous remains of tendons
(Fig. 3-3-4, Fig. 3-3-5, Fig. 3-1-4, ). The three knob-like protrusions (Fig. 5-2-2)
actually contain remains of tendons (Figures 7-1-1 to 7-1-5) on their top sides. Tree
branches don’t have tendons or blood vessels.

6. Could it be contaminated with red blood cells?
No. Such red blood cell remains were also found in over 20 other specimens that were discovered by Mr. Conrad and microscopically examined by the author. The thin sections were cut by a professional with over 10 years’ experience in cutting and grinding for thin sections in the geology department of National Taiwan University. The professional technician produced over five thin sections every working day.

7. Why were there so many red blood cells on a single horizontal plane in thin sections of a compact bone?

They might be squeezed out of the blood vessel remains remaining in Haversian
canals when the bone’s transverse sides were ground into thin sections.
In normal health, the red blood cells are all contained in blood vessels.This bone shows no sign of serious injuries (See X-ray and other images in Fig. 2-3-2, Fig.1-2-3, Fig. 1-3-2 ).


8. Why the red blood cell remains are still red after 300 million years?

Normally they don’t remain red for a long time. However, if they were preserved
before or soon after death of the body, they could remain red for a long time. One
example of such cases is the red blood cell remains in the femur bone of a T. Rex
dinosaur, whose red blood cell remains were still scarlet in micrographs taken by
Dr. Mary H. Schweitzer.

9. Why some red blood cell remains are white while others are brightly red?

This bone shows different preservation results in different areas which may be only 100 microns apart from each other.

10. Do you consider the subject material an artifact?
Yes, considering the marvelous result of its preservation and the unknown method
that preserved the subject material.

11. Couldn’t it be a femur of a new species of Carboniferous mammals?

Yes, it could be a femur in a new species of a Carboniferous mammal with a human calvarium (note 1, note 2, Fig. 0). For a petrified Carboniferous human calvarium has been positively identified by Dr. Wilton Krogman, the author of
“The Human Skeleton in Forensic Medicine”.

Conclusion

Mr. Ed Conrad, the discoverer of the subject material, has claimed he has found thousands of “fossils” in the Mahanoy City and Shenandoah region of Pennsylvania, USA. Before this study, the author has studied over 20 different specimens of those “fossils” and found they are all animal fossils, including a petrified human calvarium, well preserved down to the microscopic level. The subject material was still partially embedded in an immense piece of slate in the Carboniferous rock layer when it was first photographed. The author found it was a fossil because it contained Haversian canals, which are found only in animals’ compact bones. It belonged to a mammal because it possessed plentiful remains of scarlet, round, anucleate and concave cells, which were red blood cells found only in mammals. It was a fossilized human femur bone because it displayed the following features: (1) It is nearly straight, round and quite slender, with maximum length estimated at 52 centimeters, and mid-shaft diameter of 3.3 centimeters; (2) It bears resemblance to a right femur of a Peking Man and to an educational model of human femur, and the average diameter of its shaft is smaller than 7% of its maximum length ; (3) It possesses plentiful round, anucleate and concave red blood cell remains as large as eight micrometers in diameter. Only human femur bones match the above three features. The author has searched various fossil records and data banks, but found no other mammals possessed a bone that displayed the above three features or the first two features in the case of an extinct mammal. So, it was a femur of a Carboniferous mammal with a human calvarium.


Note 1: Other “human fossils”found by Mr.Ed Conrad in Carboniferous stratra:
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/FINGERSx.jpg
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/OldestHumanSkull.JPG
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/z11calv.jpg
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/skullb.jpg
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/TestResults.jpg
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/Skullx.jpg
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/SkullBoulderSide.jpg
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/FirstDiscovery.jpg
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/newtibia.jpg
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/HumanJaw3.jpg
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/GallBladder2.jpg
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/GallBladdery.jpg

Other discoveries:
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/OldestTool.jpg
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/MoreFossils.jpg
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/InSlate3.jpg
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/InSlate2.jpg
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/InSlate11.jpg
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/Scorpion.jpg
http://www.edconrad.com/pics/PetrifiedPP.jpg

Note 2: The following article proved the existence of a Carboniferous human calvarium fossil: http://groups.google.com.tw/group/first-human-neurons/web/article-updated-feb-20

Note 3: Mr. Ed Conrad advised the author in writing that he discovered all of his
fossils within 20 miles of Mahanoy City/Shenandoah , and that the vast majority of his fossils were discovered within two miles of Mahanoy City/Shenandoah, both of which belong to Schuylkill County of Pennsylvania. According to the geologic map published by Pennsylvania Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey (Fig. 5-1-3),
the youngest stratum within 20 miles of Mahanoy City/Shenandoah is the Permian stratum, while the youngest stratum within two miles of Mahanoy City/Shenandoah is the Pennsylvanian stratum, which is 290-330 million years old in the state of Pennsylvania.

Note 4: The test was conducted at Mr. Conrad’s residence. Before the test, the policeman saw many of the “rock-like” objects which Mr. Conrad claimed were fossils. As the policeman did not accept them as fossils, he used the term “ artifacts” in the polygraph test. However, the two men knew perfectly well that the term meant the rock-like objects they saw before the test.

Note 5: The discoverer advised the author that he found the subject material nearly broken in half when he first found it in situ, and that it naturally broke into two halves of almost the same length when he dug it out. So, he did not cut it into two halves, but the specimen had already been cut at mid-shaft when the author received it from Mr. Conrad (Fig. 1-3-2) .

Note 6: The data bank and the books that the author consulted include:
a. http://www.genomesize.com/cellsize/mammals.htm
b. Mammalian Osteology, by B. Miles Gilbert (1990, Missouri Archaeological Society)
c. Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life, 2001, Dorling Kindersley Limited, London
d. Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life, 2003, Dorling Kindersley Limited, London

e. Eyewitness Handbook: Mammals, 2002, by Juliet Clutton-Brock, Dorling Kindersley Limited, London

f. Field Guide to Skulls and Bones of Mammals of the Northeastern U.S., by Richard Wolniewicz, 2004, published by Richard Wolniewicz

g. A photographic atlas for physical anthropology, by Paul F. Whitehead, William K. Sacco, Susan B. Hochgraf