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Could this be a coprolite? I'm pretty sure it's not a steinkern.

Here I have a prett rare a nicely preserved Deinosuchus Riograndensis tooth from the Bufftown Formation, Alabama. Looking for great quality theropod teeth from the KemKem region, preferably Carcharodontosaurus. Open for other dinosaur teeth as well. Just hit me up!

I am trying to figure out if these things could be from the dinosaur period. There is a lot of petrified wood in this area. We take a boat to get to it and the bank is about 25 feet high from all the flooding. I am so interested in fossils, I just have a lot to learn. Thanks for your help.

Location: Vestavia Hills, AL Paleozoic While inspecting this rock, a tiny barb pricked my finger. Initially, I was thinking it was a tiny piece of plant debris superficially attached. However, as more of the area became exposed after cleaning, it appears to be clearly embedded. Also, additional similar areas became exposed. Unclear if they are part of the same thing or separate inclusions. My wild guesses: Spicule? Small arthropod leg (though I realize that is in likely to be preserved)? Bryozoa? Thoughts? Last 2 pics: Potential related debris sifted and sorted for after soaking. Thanks for taking a look

Despite weathering, I was hoping there may be enough features for an ID. My initial impression was that it could potentially be a bivalve. However, after seeing a photo of fossil sponges from the area (see last pic), I think that is a reasonable consideration as well. Thanks for looking!

Recently went to Catoma Creek on my way through Montgomery and these are some of the better finds. I was hoping someone could help me out out with IDing everything since I’m not from the region. Let me know if you need more pictures. Thanks!

Found this 2” rock on Fort Morgan beach (gulf side). It has no texture, but appears to have tiny possible fish bones on it?

Found in Crane Hill, AL (Carboniferous) Could the (presumed) burrows be part of an Asterosoma sp? Thanks for looking

Here are some of the fossils I acquired in a shale roadcut I was told about thanks to @prem. These are ordovician in age, and I have to say it was difficult to collect them due to the fragility of the surrounding material. Ive identified most of my finds, however there were these unusual pill like outlines I wasn't familar with.

I thought this interesting layered rock (found in Cullman Co on a small eroding bluff) would be fun to explore. The smooth rounded shapes caught my attention since most all rocks I see in that spot are rough & jagged. Is it a septarian nodule? It was very cracked and many of the layers were already separated. It was naturally into 2 halves. There is a rind around all of it. Entire specimen is roughly 28cm x 23cm Photos: 1-both main pieces (many smaller pieces not shown because it made the photo difficult to look at). 2- close up of top upper left 3-field photo 4-bottom left 5-right piece, main portion is kidney bean shaped and is pretty much intact on both sides. I kind of want to split it to see more. 6-Another field photo - better shows the symmetry of the 2 halves

I want to take a friend over to the dam but last time I went, which was maybe a couple years ago, the road down was extremely rough and in bad shape for a car. Has anyone been this year that can tell me the state of the road that takes you into the little parking area? Many thanks

I'm here in Huntsville Alabama visiting my father for two weeks. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on roadcuts or locations to hunt in for any general fossil types. I'm not looking at any specific Era or anything like that, just fossils. I've done research of my own, and have some locations down, but I'd like to get the word of some locals or others who've hunted this state successfully. Thank you.

I’m probably getting close to my question limit for today, yet I can’t stop thinking about the pattern on the rocks. Are they trace fossils or just pretty iron staining? I’m headed back to where I collected these (Crane Hill, AL) tomorrow & it would be nice to be able to explain to my nieces. I was thinking about Graptolites, though I can’t match up the patterns to those I see in my books. Google search of pic 1/2 pulls up Stromatolites. Pic 3 is the back of pic 1/2 pic 4 includes more examples Thanks for looking.

Headed back to area where these were collected this weekend (Crane Hill, AL) & would like to know if I should keep collecting similar rocks? If fossils present, how can they be better delineated? 3 Specimens: 31-trackway? 30- 29- Not sure the best angle for this one so multiple pics. Last 2 pics are the back.

Found in yard after heavy rain storm. The last photo is prior to cleaning off thick clay -like coating. I may have overdone it. Thanks for looking:)

My grandson found this walking the shore line at Pickwick Lake. Hoping for help identifying it to spur more interest in him to start a new hobby.

Hello! I am a professor teaching at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab this summer. I teach the Marine Mammal Bio Class. I have an extra day available next week to take the students on a field trip. I know that Alabama has a hot bed of marine fossils. I would love to take the students fossil hunting where we might find marine mammals. NOTE: I know the chances would be very low to make such a find, and if we did find anything, we would leave it and contact other scientists to reveal the location. But I wanted to ask if anyone could suggest the following: 1. I know many houses used to use Basilosaurus vertebrae as cornerstones. Are there any examples of this still available to see in the bottom half of the state? We are willing to take them as far north as say Selma, Montgomery, Pratville? Maybe slightly more north. I must drive them from the coast (Dauphin Island). 2. Are there any museums with fossils of marine mammals in the bottom half of the state? Montgomery? Mobile? 3. Can anyone suggest a site where I could take the students to hunt that is available to the public? Where it could be a long shot to find something marine mammal related, but also more likely to find shark teeth or mollusks? Thank you for letting me ask these questions. Jennifer

Could someone please help me identify this piece. It was found in the bone bed area at Point A Dam in Alabama.

I got to visit North Alabama again to another location to hunt Carboniferous/Mississippian Period Marine Fossils in March 2022. Getting up early isn't fun at all, but when you are with your hunting buddies and get to hang with them and others it turns out to be a fun day of discovery. You couldn't ask for a gorgeous day considering most weekends it was raining, it was sunny, not a cloud in the sky. It was cold though and it didn't help that the wind was gusting at times to the point where I lost my footing a few times on flat ground! There were piles of rock in the area, some new... freshly dumped there, and others that had been dumped years ago. It was the older piles that got my attention. It was there the stone had time to weather from the main slabs where fossils loosened and fallen out from them! Crinoids, lots of em' as well as Blastoids, Brachiopods and really cool hash plates consisting of Archimedes/Fenestella in colors that I'm not accustomed to seeing! I rarely find whole or partial Crinoids other than the 3D stems and segments of ones when I'm out in the field. In this place I found more than all my hunting days combined, some full and other in pieces like the ones pictured above. The coolest finds of the day were the 3D Crinoid Flowerette called a Phanocrinus bellulus pictured above. The before and after picture of the 3D before gluing and a Calyx. The last picture was in a slab of rock that weighed more than a hundred pounds, so a picture had to do. Blastoids are one of my favorite hunted Mississippian Period fossils and probably popular among fossil hunters in general. Some are found in 3D form, others found in hash plates and some smashed beyond recognition... here are a few I found that day. Another favorite of the Carboniferous/Mississippian fossils are the hash plates. These two hash plates come from different areas of the state. One is a two color white to beige and the other is a two color gray to blue tint. I encountered two nesting sites with clutches of eggs from the Killdeer bird. Those eggs are well camouflaged so stepping on them would of been easy and had to watch my steps! I found it humorous that these birds made use of the material around them including fossils seen in picture #1! Then there were the tracks made by them in the mud. With the right environment and chemical processes, these tracks could become trace fossils in a million or so years, how funny is that! What a great hunt that day and ends March 2022 with some great finds! Being around people with like minds and just enjoying the fellowship, sunshine and gorgeous weather to boot. Hope to get back to this site soon!

Greetings to all! I used to be very active in fossil hunting, but cancer & chemo took me out of it for quite a while. Now I'm starting to get back in! Lately I've mostly hunted in north Wyoming (dinosaurs, tracks & trace fossils, marine fossils) because the flat open ground was easier for me to handle, but now I'm getting around well so I'm not limited to roadcuts & I'm back to Alabama creeks & such! Even thinking about a little boat for checking waterways- had one years ago. In Alabama mostly hunted around Birmingham & Jasper, also Montgomery, St Stephens & Stave Creek (back when it was open, before some folks acted bad & got it closed), even a bit around Mobile. Here is a pic of some "swim tracks" I spotted in Wyoming- it is believed these were made by a dinosaur who was in enough water to lift its weight, but claws & toes still brushed against the bottom as it moved. There were more footprint tracks nearby, where the water was shallower evidently. In some areas, you can follow a dinosaur's tracks for miles-

Sometime last week I went to a creek in Southeast Alabama to find shark teeth. I got thirty nine teeth and what I believe is a partial glyptodon scute. I believe that the majority are sandtiger teeth (but from YouTube and online images could be goblin) and a few mackerel shark teeth. I also got my first tiger shark tooth from this site. I was hoping someone here could help identify the scute and supposed sandtiger teeth.

Back in April of last year I started a new job based in Texas. I had planned to work remotely until we returned to the office and then make a road trip down to Texas that would involve making several fossil pit stops along the way. When the time came for my move to Texas, my road trip unfortunately coincided with Hurricane Ida and I had to sadly scrap all of my plans and simply hightail it through the Gulf Coast to avoid the storm. Fortunately though I was given off from work the week between Christmas and New Years and I was even more determined to not let my research go to waste. The delay in my road trip also had the added bonus of time- I ended up visiting several sites that I had not known about during my move to Texas. Funnily, while I did not have to dodge hurricanes on this trip, I did have to dodge two tornado warnings. I guess extreme weather is just something you have to deal with when you fossil collect along the Gulf Coast. The road trip ended up being ten days of late nights and early mornings. I found a ton of really interesting fossils, which consequently meant that I have only now been able to finish cleaning, prepping, and identifying all of my finds. The road trip involved a number of firsts for me- it was the first time I have ever done a several day fossil road trip without my dad; I found a number of fossils that I had not found before; and I made my first ever donation to a museum. I would not have had it any other way! I can't wait to do it again soon! Day One I had a long drive into Mississippi in front of me so I had hoped to get an early start to the day. Fortunately or unfortunately that did not happen. I was to met a property owner early the next morning so my plan was to just get as close to tomorrow's site as possible. I could not pass up the opportunity though to do a little fossil collecting along the way. I had read about some old Oligocene sites that I thought could be worth checking out just to say that I had been there. Sadly one of the sites was simply too overgrown to be collected and at the other I was only able to find some incredibly fragile Pecten byramensis scallop shells. First find of the trip! Day Two Early the next day I drove another hour to a stream exposure of the Upper Eocene Moodys Branch Formation. In the time that had passed from my planned trip in September to my trip in December the site had changed ownership, but the old owner was kind enough to pass along the new owners' contact information. With a little convincing the new owners granted me permission to visit. I was excited! I had been warned about the fragility of the Periarchus lyelli sand dollars at the site but with the right tools and the right mindset I was ready to get into the creek and do some exploring. I had thought that my visit would last only a few hours, but, after walking the section of creek several times looking for the sand dollar bed and making several trips to my car to bring in more tools and carry everything out, before I knew it was already the late afternoon. While the turn of events meant that I could not visit some of the other sites I had planned for the day, it did mean I had the opportunity to meet both of the owners. I showed them what I had found and they asked if I would send them one of the sand dollars, which I was happy to do. With an invitation to come back whenever I wanted and some holiday wishes, I hit the road to my planned stop for the night. Not much to see when first found, but when they are properly prepped... Far more abundant than the sand dollars where the wealth of shells, corals, bryozoans, and other tiny fossils. I ended up washing and screening some excess matrix I collected. I was astonished by what I found, including tons of tiny shells, fish otoliths, fish teeth, crab claws, bryozoans, juvenile sand dollars, shark teeth, etc. Calyptraphorus stamineus Cirsotrema nassulum Venericardia apodensata Glycymeris idonea Eburneopecten scintillatus Nucula spheniopsis Balanophyllia irrorata Flabellum cuneiforme Endopachys maclurii Platytrochus goldfussi Crab Claws Arm Plates of Comatulid Crinoid Himerometra louisianensis Sea Star Ossicles Juvenile Periarchus lyelli Negaprion gibbesi Fish Vertebra Paralbula marylandica Ariosoma nonsector Preophidion meyeri Sciaena aff. Sciaena pseudoradians Jefitchia claybornensis Orthopristis americana Day Three With a quick change of plans in light of the expected weather later in the week I drove through Mississippi into Northern Alabama to hunt the Mississippian Bangor Limestone. When I had told a friend that I was planning a road trip through Alabama he had recommended several sites in the Bangor Limestone worth checking out. He recommended going in the winter time though since one of the sites was only exposed when the lake is drained. With six sites on my list I knew that I would have to be efficient with my time. While I could have easily stayed longer at some of the sites, an hour and a half to two hours turned out to be just enough time for each site. While I had heard that the Alabama Paleontological Society had been to two of the sites only the week prior, some recent rain had helped refresh things and there were plenty of fossils to be collected. I was thrilled to find some Mississippian blastoids and crinoids. Some in-situ photos of the blastoids Pentremites pyriformis Pentremites godoni Zeacrinites wortheni Pterotocrinus depressus Onychocrinus pulaskiensis Phanocrinus bellulus While I had added several Bangor Limestone sites to my list in hopes of finding Mississippian crinoids and blastoids, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of Mississippian trilobites Kaskia chesterensis I also found. Crinoid Cup and Trilobite Tails A visit to the Bangor Limestone would not be complete without adding some Archimedes bryozoan to the collection. I found this plate with one large piece on it. At the end of the day, as the sun was setting, I made a very quick stop at an exposure of the Hartselle Sandstone. Using whatever light I could use, I contrasted the loose rocks with the sun and added a few Mississippian ichnofossils to my collection. Olivellites implexus Lockeia cordata Lockeia siliquaria Day Four The same friend who recommended I visit several Bangor Limestone sites also recommended I visit a couple of Monteagle Limestone sites while I was in the area. While my first two full days of collecting had brought riches, including beautiful sand dollars, blastoids, and crinoids, today was the first unproductive day. Having driven quite a distance to get here and having spent by then several full days out in the field, I was ok to take a bit of a break. With a gray sky and a light drizzle, I stopped at four sites, with only one of the sites being fruitful for a quick stop. Although my friend promised crinoids and blastoids, I only found a few loose brachiopods, crinoid stems, and bryozoans, and a single crinoid plate. Schellwienella sp. Punctospirifer kentuckiensis Punctospirifer transversa Inflatia inflata Petrocrania chesterensis Hederella chesterensis Agassizocrinus conicus Seeking to not waste the day and with still many hours in the day left, I decided to make the most of things and visit the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. When you drive into Huntsville on the highway you can see two massive model rockets standing up in the horizon- it is really a sight to see. As I learned from the museum, while Houston has Mission Control and Cape Canaveral has the rocket launch pad, it is Huntsville that builds and tests rockets. I am really glad I got the chance to visit. Full Size Models of Saturn I and Saturn V Rockets Prototype of Saturn V Rocket Used To Test Lifting Mechanism Before Sending Apollo Astronauts To The Moon Apollo 16 Command Module Day Five Today marked the first of several days I would be focusing on the Upper Cretaceous Period. Having grown up collecting in the Upper Cretaceous of New Jersey, the Upper Cretaceous has always had a special place in my collection and I was excited to see what the Gulf Coast could offer. Ralph Johnson, the curator of the MAPS Collection, had asked me to collect a few representative samples for him to compare against the ones from the Atlantic Coastal Plain in the MAPS Collection, so I had added reason to fit a few stops in. My first stop was a stream exposure of the Eutaw Formation, Tombigbee Sand Member. I had heard rumors and got confirmation from the President of APS that the owners of the property can be a little careless in their target practice, so I made sure to fit in a stop to the site in the early morning on a weekday and to wear an orange vest while there. Prepared for the worst but hoping for the best, I was happy to hear nothing while I collected. After grabbing a few echinoids and finally speaking on the phone with the owner of a property I had hoped to visit later that day, I made my way to my next stop. Hardouinia bassleri Trigonia sp. Inoceramus sp. Exogyra upatoiensis Flemingostrea cretacea Ostrea sp. My second stop was a roadside exposure of the Prairie Bluff Chalk. I was really fortunate to get permission to visit when I did because the site abounded in phosphatic molds of bivalves, gastropods, and ammonites. The ground was literally covered with fossils. I was excited to see many fossils that I recognized from my collecting in New Jersey. Discoscaphites conradi Trachyscaphites alabamensis Eubaculites carinatus Baculites lomaensis Baculites sp. C Dunnicrinus mississippiensis Ossicles Turritella tippana Turritella encrinoides Longoconcha sp. Anchura noakensis Napulus sp. Bellifusus sp. Ellipsoscapha mortoni Graphidula sp. Eoacteon sp. Gyrodes spillmani Gyrodes petrosus Anisomyon sp. Crassatella vadosa Cucullaea capax with Cliona microtuberum boring sponge trace Solyma sp. Veniella conradi Scabrotrigonia thoracica Granocardium lowei Cyprimeria alta Spondylus sp.

My son found this in Lost Creek in Russellville, Alabama. I am assuming it is a marine trace fossil but someone locally had another idea that is so far fetched I won't even mention it here, LOL. I figured I would check with the experts to see if they agreed with the simple explanation first. Thanks! Ramona

I’m not exactly sure where it comes from but I found it in paved gravel in association with chert that likely came from the Knox Group in Northeast Alabama.

We have no clue. Looking for ideas. My father passed the photos to me sorry there is no measurements. Id say it weights 300lbs, 2’x2’ estimate. That is the back bed tail gate of a pick up. Thank you all.