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Found this big guy in Gore. The head was exposed so I kept chipping away hoping there was more to him, and sure enough! It took about an hour to chip away the surrounding matrix, and at the end I thought I'd have to break him to extract him fully, but I pulled and he popped out! Is he deformed or just big? The head looks kind of smushed. Apparently my pics are super large so I'll try to add a couple more in the comments.

Nice weather finally. But with schools closed and people bored at home, have seen increased competition at "my" sites, but yields have been small but plentiful. Fish should be biting soon.

Turtle humerus found in a fallen block. From the Pope's Creek Sands of Virginia.

Hey guys, found something totally cool this weekend looking for teeth and bone in Virginia. This long thing that looked like a claw. First thought was dinosaur raptor lol!!! But I know that's not it. Anyhow a buddie here said it's a sperm whale tooth. Pics below. Also found alot of bone(whale), teeth, verts, half a small Meg, mako tooth, and a pair of fossil sunglasses someone lost! Good luck everyone.

I found this shard of bone on the York River in the Yorktown formation, and the pattern on one side is curious. I’m wondering if anyone has seen this, or if it’s a diagnostic texture? Thanks for any help!

My dogs chain dug this out of the ground

Coldest morning here in this mild winter. Headed to the creek, almost devoid of life, although plum? trees are blooming. Water felt relatively warm. Raccoon and deer tracks everywhere. Stayed at one spot hoping for a cowshark tooth; found three, but all broken. Lots of the usual sand tiger spikes. A small delicate sand tiger syncytial tooth. Only one angel shark tooth, a dozen or so drum teeth. A skate stinger, bigger than usual but enamel only on one side. Weird vert, has a 'wing' on one side; usually verts are more symmetrical but I saw no evidence of a broken wing on the other side? No big teeth (i'm a bit overdue for a 2"er!) Fortunately/ unfortunately? no freezing weather here until Friday morning. More comfortable for hunting teeth, but bad for fruit trees and the more amorous birds. Maybe 2020 will be the Year with NO Winter?

Had a big rain and a major windstorm (lost power a couple of hours), even though the wind was from the south (and I much prefer winter north winds for my beach) had to check. A bit disappointing, tooth-wise although I did find a mako and a big shrimp coprolite burrow, and five small teeth (and some old pottery shards). Tried the creek at an old spot, where I hadn't had much recent luck, but the rain had deposited teeth in one spot and weakened the bank in another where I dug around and found some teeth but mostly bone bits and a few interesting steinkerns (with some glossy surfaces, one an obvious snail shell, another with shrimp coprolites.) Found one ALMOST complete cowshark tooth, four angel shark teeth and a bunch of drum 'teeth' and several sandshark teeth, plus four verts and a lot of skate teeth, most broken. Better than usual hunting. First scan is of the bigger stuff (not counting bones or shells, who asked that I pick up some for her kids): the cow shark, mako, a lemon(?) and tiger shark, plus a weird concretion, a Tilly bone and two vertebra, the top one with an odd loop. For the mantis shrimp coprolites, notice they tend to be thicker in the burrow than in the steinkern below.

Found in smyth co virgrinia

Much improved weather, water cool but not bad, air temps in the 60s, lots of budding trees (but winter will return). Dug at one one spot until not finding much. Nothing spectacular, but I was delighted to find two more sandtiger shark symphysials (wish they were cow shark); in the photo next to the broken cowshark. Three or four angel shark teeth (near cowshark), lots of broken sand tiger spikes, plus some nice ones with cusps. Some grey shark teeth, a few possible small makos, and some indeterminate. Dropped a few drum teeth, but only one tiny vertebra, on the scanner. One bigger skate tooth of several, some bone pieces. Great day to be out!

I guess my first thoughts are whale bones. I have found some vertebra and a phalanx down the creek last week. These were buried in the creek wall and I believe in the Yorktown Formation. They are very heavy and have a solid “ring” to them when they touch. They’re on an 8.5” x 11” sheet of paper for size reference!

Hello! Anyone have any ideas? I believe we are looking in the Yorktown Formation in Virginia. Found right next to Lots of Chesapecten Shells. It feels like stone but is a very strange shape. Almost all the stone coming out of the layer is pebbles and somewhat rounded.

We were in the creek today and found this Chesapecten Shell that is still closed. We’ve never found one of these with both sides, unopened. Can anyone ID the type of Chesapecten? Is it Madisonious? Thank You!

Any idea what this is? Found in Virginia, in the Devonian-era Mahatango Formation. There were a few of them embedded in the rock, but all were too secure to remove safely. They appear to be a white film, and sort of spiral up out of the rock. As another oddity, these were white, whereas other nearby fossils (molluscs mostly) were dark.

Would it be possible that these two bones would come from a similar animal? I have been told with pretty good authority the larger is a whale vertebra and am curious about the smaller, found in the same creek, 100 feet away. Also Chesapecten shells found in the same creek.

Had nothing else to do yesterday so went to a spot on the Potomac. Found bunch of teeth and some nice bone. Ones a rather large piece about 6 inches long and 5 wide. Another nice half of a vert that's broken. Fav two are the porpoise teeth? Water was awfully cold and the wind wasn't cooperating so only looked for a hour. Then had to get back in truck and warm up. Temps near water was 45 and inland it was 59. Quite the difference and wasn't dressed for that. Not sure what the big piece of bone is from or the vert? Anyway, nothing great just better than doing nothing on a Saturday!

These shells all look similar in nature except the last one, pictured by itself. Any way to identify, specifically? Thank You! Freshwater Creek, very slick light brown clay bottom which is blue grey once penetrated and dug. Also sand.

I have boxes of Cetacean bones in my basement. I wish I had a way to display these upstairs but I just don’t have the room. Here is a group of Cetacean bones ready to go to the basement (I still need to clean the last vertebra on the right in the back.). You can see lots of vertebrae (the largest in the center is 8.5” wide, 7” deep, by 7.5” high), a partial atlas vertebra (front, center), lots of epiphysis (front), skull pieces (center), an ulna (left, 12.5” long), and a portion of a baleen whale jaw (right, 15.5” long ) Marco Sr.

Here are three more Riker mount displays (8”X12”) that I just put together with my macro specimens from the Miocene and Pleistocene of Virginia. The first two displays contain Miocene crab specimens in concretions. My sons and I have probably several hundred of these crab concretions. Unfortunately the quality of these specimens isn’t like the great crab specimens that come out of the state of Washington but they are still interesting to find. The second display also has a few borrows. The third display contains some miscellaneous specimens like petrified wood from Pleistocene bog iron of Virginia, Miocene terrestrial mammal teeth including a piece of a Gomphothere tooth, bony fish specimens like opercular series bones, tilly bones and sturgeon scutes, and some bivalve shell internal casts. Also in the display, bottom far right, is the only piece of a burrfish mouthplate that I’ve found in the Maryland/Virginia Miocene. Here is another 8”X12” Riker mount display that I just put together with macro specimens from the Miocene of Maryland and Virginia. This display contains some of the very first fossils that I ever collected dating back to the 1970s. In the early days of my collecting I only separated my macro fossils by age/time period and not by formation or location also. So I’m not sure of the location that a lot of these specimens were found at. Most are from the Miocene of Maryland. However I do remember that the two dark gray Otodus megalodons were found by me on the same day diving at Governor’s Run Maryland and that they were my first megalodons ever collected. I also remember collecting the ocean going sunfish jaw at Plum Point Maryland and the thickest sperm whale tooth at Stratford Hall Virginia. Marco Sr.

I found this in a creek bed, here in Virginia. Not sure what this is, I’ve searched all over and am clueless. It is hollow all the way through, Can anyone help? Thank you.

Below are some more of my macro fossils that I’ve recently put in 16”X12” Riker mount displays. All of the specimens in these displays come from the Miocene of Virginia. The first display with shark/ray specimens, the second display with bony fish specimens, the third display with marine mammal specimens and the last display with reptile specimens. I'm getting some more Riker mount displays Saturday and I'll post some more displays with more of my macro specimens from the Miocene of Virginia. To see a previous post with Riker mount displays with macro specimens from the Paleocene Aquia Formation of Maryland and the Eocene Nanjemoy Formation of Virginia check out the below link: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/101415-a-few-riker-mounts-with-specimens-from-the-aquia-formation-of-maryland-and-the-nanjemoy-formation-of-virginia/ To see a previous post with Riker mount displays with macro specimens from the Miocene Round Mountain Silt Formation of California, the Eocene/Oligocene Chadron/Brule Formations of Nebraska, and the Miocene of Virginia check out the below link: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/101441-a-few-more-riker-mount-displays-with-macro-specimens-from-the-round-mountain-silt-formation-of-california-the-chadronbrule-formations-of-nebraska-and-the-miocene-of-virginia/ Display with shark/ray specimens. The top of the display has shark vertebrae. Then there are Otodus megalodon teeth (for size reference the largest megalodon is 4.75” and the smallest is .625”). Then there are some Hemipristis serra shark teeth. The bottom has two eagle ray barbs and pieces of eagle ray dental plates. Display with bony fish specimens. The top of the display has bony fish vertebrae with a Wahoo jaw (6.5” long for size reference), a hypural fan, several bill fish bills and two small fish jaws. Then the middle has lots of fish jaws with some black drum jaws on the far left and most of the other jaws to the right being red drum. The bottom has ocean going sun fish bones including three jaws and there are some more bony fish vertebrae on the far right. Displays with marine mammal specimens. The top and middle of the display has Cetacean bulla and periotic ear bones (for size reference the largest is 3“). The bottom left has Cetacean vertebrae, flipper bones and two small jaw fragments. The right contains Cetacean teeth. Display with reptile specimens. The very top has two coprolites most likely crocodile. Then some crocodile jaw pieces with a number of crocodile teeth and a crocodile scute (for size reference 4.5” by 3.25”) on the far right. The bottom has turtle caprice/plastron pieces and a good number of leatherback turtle carapace bones. Marco Sr.

Below are some more of my macro fossils that I’ve recently put in 8”X12” Riker mount displays. To see a previous post with Riker mount displays with specimens from the Aquia Formation of Maryland and the Nanjemoy Formation of Virginia check out the below link: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/101415-a-few-riker-mounts-with-specimens-from-the-aquia-formation-of-maryland-and-the-nanjemoy-formation-of-virginia/ Considering I’ve only made three trips to the Ernst Ranch in Bakersfield California, I’m pretty happy with the macro specimens that I’ve found in those trips. The below display contains some of my nicer macro specimens from the Miocene Round Mountain Silt Formation. The top of the display has a cetacean flipper bone, cetacean vertebra, a bird bone, and a leatherback turtle carapace bone. Then there is a row of Isurus planus shark teeth. Then a group of Carcharodon hastalis teeth (for size reference the largest tooth is 3.13”) with an Otodus megalodon to the right. The bottom of the display has two upper Hexanchus teeth and both cetacean and sea lion/seal teeth. Below is a picture of a display with macro specimens from my sons’ M&M Ranch in Sioux County Nebraska. These macro specimens came from the Eocene Chadron Formation (maybe but not likely) and the Oligocene Brule Formation (Most likely as the vast amount of the ranch flats areas where they were collected is almost all Oligocene). The top has a row of coprolites. I only have a few coprolites left as I have donated several hundred to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. The next row has a few pieces of turtle/tortoise shell. Then there is a mammal tooth and rows of small mammal partial jaws. The bottom of the display contains mammal bones. Some of these specimens were given to me by my older son, Marco Jr., because I don’t do a lot of surface collecting at the ranch. I spend the vast majority of my time at the ranch searching for anthills and collecting anthill matrix which contains micro vertebrate specimens which are my main interest. Below is a picture of a display with Carcharodon hastalis shark teeth from the Miocene of Virginia. The top of the display contains teeth from the upper jaw and the bottom of the display from the lower jaw. For size reference the largest teeth are 2 5/8”. I have collected several thousand Carcharodon hastalis teeth from Virginia but this will probably be my only Riker mount display of them. I used all six of the Riker mount displays that I just recently bought so I won’t be able to post anything more until I get my next batch of them delivered. Marco Sr.

For years I’ve had my macro fossils in drawers and my micro fossils in gem jar displays. Recently I’ve started putting some of my macro fossils in 8”X12” Riker mounts. Below are the Riker mounts that I now have. I’ll probably put together at least twenty of these. Below are two Riker mount displays with specimens from the Paleocene Aquia Formation from the Potomac River in the Liverpool Point, Maryland area. This display contains in the top crocodile vertebrae, a couple of crocodile leg bones, and two crocodile coprolites. I have larger crocodile vertebrae but they are too large for these Riker mount displays. Then a row of crocodile teeth (for size reference the largest partially rooted tooth is 2”). I have over 200 crocodile teeth from the area but the vast majority are fairly small. Then on the bottom there are turtle shell pieces and a crocodile scute. This display contains in the top ray dental plates and a ray barb. I have a lot of very nice very small ray dental plates but the larger ones tend to be damaged/beat up. Ray barbs are not really that common from the area. The middle has a few Otodus obliquus teeth and a partial vertebra. The day I found that partial vertebra, a person that I took to the site for the first time, found a complete, perfect one of the same size. For size reference, the anterior O. obliquus tooth is just less than 3”. I have over 700 O. obliquus teeth from the area but the vast majority are water worn and/or have damaged root lobes, cusplets, tips etc. I believe that these sharks ate a lot of turtles which took a toll on the teeth. At the bottom are a couple of chimaera mouth plates and a fin spine. I have at least 110 smaller chimaera mouth plates in my gem jar displays. The next two Riker mount displays contain specimens from the Eocene Nanjemoy Formation of Virginia. I posted one of these awhile back here on TFF but I’ve rearranged it as I’m now putting more of my specimens in Riker mounts. This display contains on top a few of the larger coprolites that I still have from the Nanjemoy Formation. I’ve already donated over 20,000 of these to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. I’ve accumulated another 30,000 since my last donation in 2015. Then there is a row of sand tiger teeth two inches and larger. Then there is a row with additional sand tiger teeth and two Otodus obliquus. O. obliquus are not common at all from the area. I’ve only found five in over 165 trips to various sites in the area. Then there are two sawfish rostral spines/teeth and a sawfish vertebra, and a ray mouthplate and medial tooth with several ray partial barbs. On the bottom are three associated fish vertebrae, a small fish jaw, fish spine, and then two fish teeth. This display is a work in progress. I’m putting some of my larger reptile specimens in it. The bottom rows have two turtle lower jaws, turtle shell and a turtle bone. I have lots of other turtle shell pieces so what’s in this display is only a representative sample of what I have collected from the area. The next row contains sea snake vertebrae. I have over 100 of these so I’ll add a few more to this display. My largest, 1.5“ thick won’t fit in this display. At the top are three rooted crocodile teeth, a partial crocodile scute and a small crocodile vertebra. At some point in the future I will post more of these Riker mounts as I finish them. I’m also thinking of putting together a number of artificial shark tooth dentitions and mounting them in Riker mount displays I have several hundred thousand shark teeth from the Nanjemoy so I should have most of the positions for a number of different shark dentitions. Marco Sr.

A trip to the beach, didn't yield much, some badly worn teeth (no shrimp coprolites!) The water is super clear, should be good after the next good north blow. Deer season is over so tried the creek in the woods, unfortunately the water was up (and cold) and leaves everywhere. Found a new spot and worked it for a couple of hours with nothing spectacular. Less sand tiger spikes there? Found a puffer plate (had not seen any in a year or so), the pretty red mako (more red-bronze than the scanner shows; no root but may go to someone for jewelry), and several small and colorful teeth. No angel shark teeth, no cowshark teeth, and only a few drum teeth. Always amazes me how different the yield is, reproducibly in some older spots, not sure of the new. Slightly different depth or time originally? Or maybe mixing after washing out and re-sedimenting in holes?