Bone excavated from deposit above Stainton gravel beds.

I found these rib pieces today in my main excavation at Stainton beck, the end of one of the ribs can be seen just below the end of the tool. Other parts of the two ribs fell away as i removed the clay, they can be seen in the top right of the image.

The image below shows the packed sandy clay layer just above the Stainton gravel bed, before i started digging.

Note how tightly packed and previously undisturbed the clay around the bones are.

The image above shows one rib above the other in the centre.

This image shows the sandy clay layer that contained the bones now removed, the layers above and there are at least two were created by the last actions, of the retreating ice of the last major cold stage.

Rib and distal tibia fragment excavated from Stainton gravel beds.

I found this rib piece over 2 metres into this dig, just above the packed gravels.

I also found what i think is a fragment of a distal tibia.

Note how packed the gravels are around the bone.

There are at least six different layers in this excavation, including the ever present red clay beneath the gravel layer. These two layers are to be found at all the locations i have excavated in the south west area of Cleveland, so i now think there is more than a good possibility that this sequence of layers extend from at least Stainton to Ormesby beck in the cypress road area of Marton Middlesbrough.

 

More can be viewed regarding the Stainton gravel beds by clicking the link below

The Stainton gravel beds

Example of the magnetic properties of the Cleveland dyke at Stainton.

I dug this cobble from Stainton Quarry and as with the majority of the whinstone ive tested in this area, it attracts a magnet. 

As far as i can gather at this preseant time the Andesite dyke stone from this area has never been reported as magnetic ie attract a magnet

 

The fact that this cobble attracts the magnet, and others I've tested in the old Stainton quarry workings, makes it clear that for some reason the dyke stone in the Stainton area has a different make up than that of other stretches of the dyke, one being the outcrop about a mile north west at Stainsby beck, the dyke stone in the outcrop did not hold the same magnet, yet a layer of broken down whinstone laying between two separate clay deposits above the dyke outcrop was all magnetic?

 

For more info and images regarding my  research into other magnetic minerals please click the link below.

The magnetic properties of the Cleveland dyke in t...

 

Mandible excavated from Stainton gravel beds.

My Daughter found this jaw fragment from a new dig in a section of packed gravel 5 metres east of my main dig at Stainton, at the moment i can not identify it. The teeth don't match bovine horse or cervidae that i have or have viewed. The radius i believe could be from the same animal? it apeares to be cervidae?

                        More can be viewed regarding the Stainton gravel beds by clicking the link below
                                                                The Stainton gravel beds