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After some deliberation, minimal research, and bugging @Fossildude19@EMP@Andúril Flame of the West (all of whom I am grateful to) in dms like a wet little rat I finally headed out to the fabled Gore grocery location to hunt for Devonian trilobites and the like. I did also try a few road cuts near the site but had no luck- parking within walking distance of a cut is always a pain. Anyways here are some of the photos I took when out hunting: And here's the haul from when I got home: Trilobite bits and pieces You'll notice that they're mostly fragmentary because I am a dumbass who uses his fingers like a rock pick. Go figure. Misc. other small protruding fossils and casts A lot of these are rocks that I suspect have more things in them and want to extract, but I'm too much of a coward to hittem iwth a hammer so I'm looking into preparing them with other methods. Any advice preparing these kinds of fossils with maybe an acid solution or something or other would be greatly appreciated. Identification help in general would also be appreciated as I know next to nothing about invertebrate paleontology, much less the Mahantango Devonian. Cheers!

Hello everyone! I had the opportunity over the last weekend to visit a spot in a campsite along the James River that had an outcropping of Pliocene Yorktown Formation fossils, as well as some "visitors" from the Cambrian Swift Run Formation of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. This was my first hunting trip that was outside of North Carolina, which was really exciting for me! While it was miserably hot and humid, and I had a stomach affliction for the duration of the trip, I made the best of it and found some really cool fossils, and met a lot of interesting folks. In all, over 70 people from various organizations were there. I have quite a few pictures to share, so hang in there with me! These are a few photos of the area on the river. The area we were in was brackish, and the camp beach there was recently worked on, which limited some of the fossils in the immediate entrance area. However, further down either side there were a lot more fossil piles. It was neat being able to look up and see all of the shells exposed on the cliffside. These huge chunks of material containing tons of Chesapecten scallops and other fossils were found in several areas. They were more plentiful before the beach replenishment from my understanding Fortunately there was not anything dangerous encountered over the weekend, but plenty of little critters were out and about. (Especially ants!) The hunt went from Friday evening to Sunday morning. On my way out on Sunday, I was given a lift back to my vehicle by a kind family from the Richmond Gem and Mineral Society, who were also nice enough to lead me to a well-known tulip poplar tree on the site. This massive tree is over 400 years old, and it takes about 8 fully grown adults hand-in-hand to fully encircle the base of the trunk. Now, on to the goodies I picked up. The majority of the fossils I picked up were varying sizes and species of Chesapecten scallops. I looked really hard for an intact echinoid or an Ecphora murex, but unfortunately I didn't get that lucky! As for the Chesapecten species names, and that of several other fossils as well, I am still in the process of learning them, so my detailed information will be lacking. I'll stick with my best finds, but this is a little group of mostly Chesapectens I had laid out while organizing my finds. Here are a few Chesapecten I had that had some variable colors, including my largest three specimens. They measure just over 15.25 cm (6 inches) wide. They have been brushed with water to show the color better. These are some random fossils I found including two coral fragments, several gastropods, some partial tube clams and some loose bivalves. This is the largest venus clam I found in the hunt, around 7.6 cm (3 inches) wide. These typically held together better than a lot of other aragonite-based shells. I found a few intact bivalves in a section of the cliff that had slid down to ground level, but most of them were so fragile due to their aging aragonite that they broke apart upon handling; some even had the physical consistency of the sand surrounding them! These are some ones I found that stayed intact to some degree, and one that had mostly broken away. While they're not the prettiest specimens, I realized they could be used as a cool visual example of how steinkerns form. I'll have to find a way to stablize them a little better so I can get them in a display box. While most of the bivalves were very brittle, some had undergone a mineral change and had their aragonite replaced with calcite. They give off a faint greenish-yellow glow in UV light, which made for a fun late night activity! One man even found a cluster of calcite crystals from the formation! Here are two intact calcite clams, and two loose calcite shells I found. This was a rather sizable Crucibulum limpet I found, also referred to as a "cup-and-saucer snail". It's a little over 3.3 cm (1.3 inches) at it's widest. This was the widest barnacle I found during the hunt, and it's over 5 cm (2 inches) wide. Here are a few barnacle clusters I found that had some nice pinkish coloration preserved on them. Here are a few intact oysters I found. The smaller one had quite the barnacle attached to it! Someone at the hunt suggested that this particular bone fragment was possibly avian. There were a lot of whale bone fragments around the site, and there have been some pretty sizable speciments found there, including whale vertebrae and whole dugong ribs. This ray tooth fragment was the only fish fossil I found myself during the whole hunt. One young woman found a 2 inch mako tooth, while another woman found a fairly sizable megalodon tooth. Jumping back to my Chesapecten, This is a medium specimen that had some very large barnacles on it (perhaps Balanus concavus?) They're probably the longest ones I found, measuring around 5 cm (2 inches). Here is a cluster of some very small Chesapecten. This is a fairly colorful specimen with some equally colorful barnacles attached to the exterior surface. Here is one of my largest specimens of Chesapecten (15.25 cm / 6 inches) next to my smallest specimen (1.525 cm / 0.060 inches). These are some pathological Chesapecten I found, although I'm not 100% sure about the third one, it might just be damage. Now on to my top favorites, this is a cluster of small to medium Chesapecten I found. There are some tusk shells on the interior side, and there is a Discinisca lugubris brachiopod on the right side exterior. This large Chesapecten has a calcite-replaced clam valve right on the rim of the shell. I had found this one on Friday and I didn't learn about the presence of the calcite replaced shells until Saturday, so it went unnoticed until I was washing it at home. I was too busy admiring the huge scallops everywhere! While I didn't find any intact echinoids there, I did find this oyster shell that has a small fragment of what appears to be from a regular echinoid on it, but I'm still not 100% sure. I also found this Chesapecten that appears to have a sand dollar fragment attached to it. Given the age and formation this might be a Mellita aclinensis fragment. A whale tooth fragment I found on Friday. A boy found a whole one there just before I arrived, and it was over 5 cm (2 inches) long. Now, we're down to my absolute favorite finds of the weekend. Here is a whole Chesapecten jeffersonius with both valves in fairly pristine condition. There is only a very minimal amount of hard buildup on the valves. I also found this specimen, but unfortunately it had a hole through one valve. Still really cool though! These are cobbles that contain Skolithos trace fossils from the Swift Run Formation, which is an Early Cambrian rock formation in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. They would break off during the upheaval of the mountains and eventually get carried in water currents all the way to where they were found in the current age. These are the oldest fossils I've found myself to date. And last but not least, here is a fairly pristine Chesapecten jeffersonius(?) valve I found with some good color. However, the most interesting part of this one is that there appears to be something in the resilifer of the shell, almost like shiny red nacre. This is the only one I picked up over the weekend with this feature. I wondered if it could be a preserved ligament, but I was a little unsure; I figured this would be the best place to possibly get some insight on it for the moment. The exterior was brushed with water to show color better. That's all for now! I've got a family trip to the southern NC coast planned soon, so I might try to swing by Holden Beach and nab another batch of Cretaceous fossils while it's still producing a lot. I'm also hoping I can find some local Triassic material before the holidays, I've got a few promising leads on some spots, including one right down the road. -Tony

Good morning folks! I recently had a great trip to Westmoreland State Park in Virginia along the Potomac River. The cliffs here display beautiful formations ranging from early Miocene to Pleistocene epoch. Cretaceous deposits from upstream also deposit fossil material onto the beaches of the Potomac river. The day started off nice and early with some Miocene bivalve and mollusk fossils. My excitement grew further as I began finding fossilized bone chunks and fragments from unknown marine mammals. None of those photos are posted here, but my point is too confirm that there is indeed whale/marine mammal fossils at this site. I crossed the tree line to a neighboring cliff beach and stumbled upon the specimen you see below: This here is a full shot. Below will be more from multiple different angles: I have a reasonably large hand, so keep this in consideration when sizing. Object weighs what feels like holding a can of beans. About what you'd imagine a rock of that size would weigh. My wonder and investigation furthers as I found these photos below while researching to find answers. The two specimens pictured below and from the same geographical/stratigraphic area of Virginia (same deposits). First is a crocodilian skull fossil. The area that strikes my interest is the central plate, just after the two lowermost holes at the base of cranial skull area. It seems to match my specimen more than any other piece I have been able to come across in my research. The second runner up is this juvenile whale skull, which was also found in the same area of the Potomac. Again, the central plate seems to match in regards to the bone structure; the way the lines flare out in symmetrical ridges. All in all, my money is on the crocodilian skull, but I would much appreciate any opinions, insights, or theories on this piece! If you are not comfortable posting publicly, please feel free to PM me! Please let me know what you all think, even if you're unsure yourself. Thanks all!

Well today was my first productive hunt on the York River. Hopefully when I go back and focus on teeth maybe I’ll score some nice ones. Did have a cow shark but lost stuff happens. Anyway enjoy…

This very light bone is 1.5 inches long. It was found in the Northern Neck region of Virginia along the Potomac River.

Spent about 2 hours surface collecting this morning, tides were not favorable but was still able to find some decent teeth including what I believe is either a partial dolphin or porpoise tooth. I thought that I had found a partial benedini, however it appears that it may just be a large partial curved mako tooth.

Hello Everyone, Well finally moved out of NY area and currently live in Virginia Middle Peninsula area. Need to meet up with some locals for collecting trips. To all those I collected with in NY had great time doing so found some really nice specimens and meet some really cool people. Hope to do the same here. So hello again from Virginia this time Chris.

Found this in the Iron Mountains of Southwest Virginia in Carroll County. It was on the surface of the ground. At first thought it was a piece of wood, which is probably why my mind went straight to petrified wood when I realized it was stone. It has rings, like growth rings of a tree, but I don't have the magnifying tools to make out any smaller structures within the rings. The outer surface also has a barklike texture. Am I right?

Yesterday I received a 30 pound box of various shell, marine fossils, and some other miscellaneous fossils and a few extant bits as well. I will post in the ID section some as not everything has a label. It is a large overwhelming amount to sort through so this will be a bit at a time kind of thread. Please let me know if anything of the id tags are using outdated names or incorrect, etc. First an overall picture the seller had of the lot. Some Brachiopods from Wutach Germany What appears to be clam steinkerns also from Wutach Germany second picture of hinge point if that is useful. A pair of Glycymeris Americana with matching valves from Virginia Sticking with the Virginia theme a pair of Crucibulum constrictum A crab burrow from another Virginia location. And last but not least for now is some Olivia carolinensis from North Carolina I will try to make additional posts every few days as I unpack and sort this collection out. Stay tuned folks.

Found this after tilling our garden. Southwest Virginia, Pulaski county any ideas? assuming it’s probably not a fossil, but I have no clue what it could be beyond the fact that it looks like some kind of tooth. For size reference, it is about dime sized

Hello, I was recently landscaping in Blacksburg Virginia and found what I believe to be a fossil but have been unable to identify it. I was wondering if anyone on here could help with the identification, or if it even is a fossil. It fell off of a large piece of what I believe to be shale and the color change caught my eye, all I've done is rinse it off with water. Thanks for the help!

Still chasing cow shark teeth, five from the "new spot" plus a seven point cow shark (possibly missing an 8th point? Rare for seven points, usually the last one is minimal) from a beach. ( The one to the right may show some separation of serrations from the big point, but not obvious.) The weather has been nice and the tooth hunting areas busy. Someone asked if I ever get skate "crusher" teeth; they are very common (30 years ago we didn't even keep them). So I scanned some from recent hunts. Numbers on tape are cm. No makos lately? The cow shark teeth spot doesn't seem to have many makos.

Found this along the Potomac river near Maryland/Virginia. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Peace and love!

Sunday morning we went to Stratford Hall to do a fossil hunt with the Natural History Society of Maryland. The weather was not on board with the idea lol. It was barely above freezing and quite windy. Also tip for everyone if you buy waterproof winter gloves from Amazon double check they are waterproof. 3 out of our 4 pairs were, my oldest son's gloves were leaking at the fingertips. Also it turned out our hand warmer packs wouldn't activate when we opened them. Even though we didn't stick it out long we did find a pair of worn shark teeth and a pair of ray teeth pieces. After we got dried and warmed back up we made our way up the road a short drive to visit the birthplace of George Washington. We plan to go back down sometime when the weather will be more conducive to get in the water A few pictures from our visit, note the white caps on the river. From the parking lot above the cliffs Our meager finds

Worked hard at the "new spot" chasing cow shark laterals. Found several, sadly mostly damaged, no definitive "answers". Need to keep looking! Mostly sand tiger teeth (our most common), one heavier, no boss, possibly mako. Some drum "teeth", some little (no clue), and some gray shark teeth (not all shown). The cow shark lower lateral teeth at this spot often show no serrations on the first spike (unlike what I am used to) but rather either discreet minor points, or a serrated edge separate (or almost separate) from the first, main point/ spike. There is a broken first spike (4th from left) that seems to have separate serrations, three teeth that have screwed up(?) first point serrations, a normal serrated tooth (on left) and a colorful broken cow shark piece.

This was found on the Potomac river in Westmoreland Virginia. I regularly find prehistoric shark teeth and alligator teeth here and today I found this monster. I am unsure of what it is and would be very appreciative if someone could help me identify. THANK YOU

Had a good albeit short hunt on the Potomac today and one of the spoils was a partial 3" meg, the largest I have found so far. I also found what I believe may be a partial giant thresher, would appreciate a confirmation or correction on the ID.

I find a fair amount of medium sized verts. This one is different. It is about one inch wide and high, and about 2 inches long (2.5 cm X 2.5 cm X 5 cm). Wat's different is that it is encased in supporting fossilized bone(?) with the ventral blood vessel passage clearly visible. The dorsal part is unfortunately damaged. The cephalic vertebra is much bigger than the caudal vert, as I interpret (quite possibly I'm wrong). But more interesting than the isolated verts I usually find. Anyone have any idea what type of animal this came from?

For scale the smaller "jaw" piece in the center with four "sockets" is 1" ( 2.5 cm). I thought the shark tooth (with big flat base root) was a cow shark, but seems too big? Have no clue what this slug/ worm, leech-like thing is. I dropped it on a hard tile floor and lost a small piece of the end (opposite the more interesting "antennae" on the other end.) It is hard, black fossilized. The more rounded side ("top") has a center line. The more flat side, also with center line, looks almost muscular, although could be six or more similarly sized weathered segments? Neat. The "jaw bones" are a few that I occasionally find. The longer one seems to have two rows of tooth sockets(?), about two dozen but no obvious teeth. The uglier one has four bigger or flatter sockets or segments. Any IDs would be appreciated. Thanks in advance! Sorry for the scanner pics, been a nightmare lately.

Looking for an opinion on this little 1 inch object from the Potomac. It's noticably less dense than a regular rock of its size and has dark bands on it that can be felt. I wouldn't be surprised if it was just a cool rock, but could it be an impression of some kind?

From the Potomac River in the Northern Neck area. This is my first complete terrestrial mammal tooth, so I'm curious! It is around 2.5 cm long.

Hi @Boesse, calling on your expertise once again. You previously described a bone I found: "The largest element is a partial squamosal bone of a baleen whale - the 'rounded blunt projection' is called the postglenoid process, and the flat surface on one side of it is the glenoid fossa - otherwise known as the jaw joint." Recently about 50 feet away from the first I found a second, smaller and much, much lighter. To me it seems a smaller mirror-image of the first. (Hopefully it is not a cow bone). Comparing the two:

I found this partial tooth yesterday while walking by the York River in Virginia and I was hoping someone could help me identify it. Thank you!

Found these on vacation in Virginia. Are they the same type of ray despite the different look ?

I have small amounts of micro matrix that I’d be willing to trade. My preference would be to trade both to one person for ease of shipping. Old Church Formation, Oligocene Virginia I had separated some matrix before searching any of it specifically to trade some and rethought it after I found a Pristiophorus rostral lol I decided to not search it though as the intent was to give somebody else a chance to have fun searching. It is very productive matrix. I can see a couple of shark teeth in there. Among the possible shark teeth are Notorynchus, Squatina, Carcharias, Alopias, Isurus, Galeocerdo, Galeorhinus, Sphyrna, Carcharhinus, Pachyscyllium, Hemipristis. You are also likely to find a few Batoid teeth like Dasyatis, Raja, and Myliobatid. I really enjoyed this matrix. It’s a pretty diverse Oligocene fauna with good density of shark material. I did a report here on my searches for reference. Hallencourt France, Cretaceous Tiny matrix, tiny and very sparse fossils. You’ll find some invertebrate material. You may find a few fish teeth. The shark fauna is really cool, pretty diverse BUT there isn’t a ton of teeth. You’ll find broken Anomotodon. You’re very likely to find tiny Chiloscyllium teeth. There is a publication on this fauna and other possibilities like Synechodus, Scyliorhinus, Carcharias, Heterodontus, Palaeotriakis exist but again it’s really sparse. There is also a report on my searches of this matrix. As far as I what I’d like to get in return, I’d say interesting shark and/or batoid teeth. Some of what I’d like is below but I’m open minded and it’s not physically a lot of matrix Pristiophorus Heterodontus Squaliformes Catshark teeth, particularly Cretaceous and Miocene teeth Micro matrix that has shark teeth. I don’t need STH, Calvert, Post Oak Creek, Aquia, Atco, Cookiecutter Creek, Peace River,