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J find this ammonite in the oxfordien stage near from Buis les Baronnies in south east of France,2 pictures before and after;

Hello! I’m back from a trip to Texas, and while there I did quite a lot of fossil hunting. I’m not going to be uploading everything here (because I found quite a bit and I feel a bit bad putting so many), but I figured I’d post the ones I’m most stumped on. I’d really appreciate any help. I’m on mobile, so I’m not sure if these will upload in order (they should, but if not I’ll fix it on PC soon). 1: Not sure what this is, but I really like how it’s intact on both sides. Found at Benbrook Lake, Fort Worth to the left of the marina. 2: My dad is mostly interested in this one. Maybe it’s just a rock, but I do think its formation and little cracks are interesting. Also from Benbrook. 3. Looks pretty cool (though I’m not confident in any guesses I could have). Benbrook Lake. 4. I actually got this one identified before at a museum, but I want to hear everyone’s thoughts without influence (because it ended up being pretty cool and I’d like to know for sure). Found in Paluxy by a river that another fossil hunter recommended. 5. This has a teeny little imprint, if you can see that. Maybe some little wormy thing? Not sure! Found in Benbrook. Again, I’d be so thankful for any help and I had lots of fun collecting everything. Will probably upload all the rest at some point.

Last Saturday, Natalie and I went for a trip to the chalk cliffs in Northern France. We got there early and we were surprised at the parking by a friend who happened to have the same idea as us . @Euhoplites So now we were 3 to hit the beach. We were quite lucky with the weather, at least dry, and not to cold for this time of the year. We did get a decent haul to, a few ammonites, a se urchin, a realy nice nautiloid. Natalie also found some pretty shark teeth. The best find for me that day was a rare and very well preserved ammonite Hyphoplites falcatus. Enjoy the pictures Some of the teeth found by Natalie The Cymatoceras sp. : And finaly the fossil that made my day : a rare Hyphoplites falcatus:

Today I stopped by a local auction house, about 1 hour from home, that usually has Native American artifacts and fossils, today was no different. I picked up this nice mounted display piece of 3 pyritized Jurassic ammonites from Russia. When I arrived at home, I showed it to my wife and she stated that it was the prettiest fossil that she has ever seen me buy- Lol. Here are some pics of some of the other pieces that they had, some of these pieces went for prices that regular fossil collectors would never pay, it was insane. I am glad only one other person bid against me and I got it for $40.00. Horse cannon bones Trilobite- Isotelus (?) Madagascar ammonites 13” Woolly Rhino jaw- I had to tell the guy who paid a lot of money for it that it did not come from Nevada as the auctioneer said it did. Moroccan shark teeth South Dakota Oreodont skull and Stylemys turtle. There were bones that were supposed to be Dino and could very well be, with restoration, but I could not tell.

Hey everyone. Thought I would give this a go. If this goes well I can probably put together a couple more like this and maybe a couple packages of other items from the NSR. These are all from the North Texas River in Northeast Texas. Unprepped as I found them. Well, maybe a soft toothbrush and water. Two mosy vertebrae, calcite covered clam (Incoceramus barabini) with some shell still there covered, red clam steinkern (Incoceramus barabini) , red ammonite piece, 2 gastropod (Gyrodes major) steinkerns, clam steinkern (Anomia argentaria), one black and 2 red baculite pieces (nice sutures on two, Baculites aquilaensis), mosy tooth (thinking Clidastes propython but could be wrong), gastropod (Anchura substriata), gastrpod (not sure of species. needs prep work), ammonite piece (Trachyscaphites spiniger) and one button coral (Micrabracia rotilia). Some will think that the coral is coprolite but the NSR guidebook has them listed as button coral. As you can with the variance of the NSR fossils can vary widely in color due to the matrix they come out of. Plus, you can beat them out of concrete like rocks like the unidentified gastropod. Wanting to trade for ammonite/s. Prefer whole but willing to consider others. Lets see what you might be willing to offer. Continental US please.

Hello everyone. Bought these from Ron. Thank you Ron. Seems I have several species from what he recalls as being Aveyron France and Toarcian in age. I have one more species I think but any help on these would be appreciated. Also, any information on how to preserve pryitized fossil would be appreciated.

Last sunday October 24th I decided to visit the old Andil clay quarry at Liesberg in Switzerland, just over two hours driving from where I live, to see what fossils I might find there. Now a nature reserve where collecting is tolerated as long as the natural parts are not disturbed, the deposits at this quarry, mined for cement production between 1934 and 1980, date to the Upper Callovian and Lower to Middle Oxfordian (source). It is thus stratigraphically - though not petrologically - comparable to the geology of Vaches Noires in Normandy, with which I'm much more familiar, albeit with the interesting variation that the bedding planes at this site have been uplifted and verticalised. The latter makes for an unusual experience working the mudstone layers in the middle of the quarry, and means that the oldest layers are to be found along the quarry's south wall (to the left if facing the quarry's back wall), whereas the youngest layers - most notably the Liesberg-layer, which geological limestone composition and embedded fauna of shells, sea urchins and crinoids is strikingly comparable to the Middle Oxfordian Coral Raq at Vaches Noires - are to be found on the north wall (to your right). A situational satellite map from Google Maps A commercial example of a beautiful Kosmoceras annulatum ammonite found in the quarry's Callovian layers Seen from the parking spot at the quarry entrance near the top of the mountain The buildings of the old quarry when you walk down from the parking spot to the quarry along a road with restricted access Entrance to the quarry with an informational sign explaining the geological significance of the locality, as well as tells you not to get your hopes up, as most fossils you're likely to find will be steinkern-fossils Spill heaps along the north wall, with the back wall in the distance, and a sign explaining the importance of the locality as a nature reserve The path to the back wall of the quarry can be extremely muddy, and searching for fossils along the quarry's steep slopes is an activity undertaken at your own risk Due to circumstances I arrived quite late in the day and only had a number of hours to search. However, I quickly concluded that the south wall (Callovian layers) and even the mudstone in the middle of the quarry (Lower Oxfordian) were not particularly fossiliferous, with a couple of hours of work only resulting in a corroded pyritised ammonite and a tiny fossil that may either be a crustacean or part of a sea urchin spine (if you know, please let me know). I did not find any fossils on the south wall, although the information sign at the entrance to the quarry had already forewarned that most of the fossils encountered would be steinkern fossils. I later picked up from a discussion between a solitary fossil hunter and another group of collectors, however, that this solitary hunter had found an ammonite towards the top of the Callovian slope two weeks earlier and had returned to collect it, only to find it gone. He hadn't found any new specimens, however. Interestingly, while the quarry was quite calm with only one or two other collectors for most of my time there, by the time I got ready to leave (around 17:30), the place all of a sudden became abuzz with groups of other fossil hunters. Vertical bedding planes at the quarry and the two finds I made in the Renggeri clays: a heavily corroded pyritised ammonite and an unidentified fossil that may be either a bit of crinoid, or may be crustacean? Following my lack of results (did I give up too early?) in the older layers of the quarry, one of my fellow fossil hunters suggested I check the quarry's northern slopes/spoil heaps, as there were plenty of smaller fossils to be found there. And, indeed, as soon as I stepped on these slopes I was able to pick up spine after sea urchin spine, stems and branches or crinoids, serpulids and even the occasional shell. The slopes were steep and it was hard to find a foothold, but at least I didn't have to return home empty handed. Looking back through the quarry from the spill heaps along the north wall Can you spot the fossils amongst the limestone blocks from (presumably) the Liesberg-layer? Looking at the south wall from the spill heaps Beautiful lighting when returning back to the car towards the end of the day Here are some of my finds of that day. Paracidaris florigemma echinoid/sea urchin spines; much more common and of better quality than I've found at Vaches Noires Millecrinus horridus crinoid/sea lily stem (left) and arm (right) segments Millecrinus horridus holdfast/root system (a special find for me) that I entered into Find of the Month contest Serpulid worm tubes (left) and evidence for parasitism on crinoids (right) Echinoids/sea urchins: a partial in matrix on the left and crushed and silicified specimens on the right Shells, from left to right: fragment of trigoniidae indet. (?Myophorella sp.), Galliennithyris galliennei brachiopod and a piece of an unidentified clam Section of horn coral

Last month my boyfriend and I went on our first ever trip to the Isle of Wight. We stayed for four full days and managed to squeeze in a fossil trip each day. On the first day we met up with one of my friends who was staying on the island with her boyfriend who is an 'islander'. We decided to visit the popular Compton Bay, an interesting and well known cretaceous site famous for dinosaur remains. When we arrived the tide was quite high and I didn't realise just how long it takes to go down (several hours, for future reference), but we were able to get onto the beach and walk a somewhat narrow strip of sand. After less than 10 minutes I picked up the first fossil! To me it looks like bone, but it has been loosely suggested to me it might be plant. It has a lot of iron rich matrix still attached to it which has unfortunately stained all my other fossils from this location as I desalinated them all in the same container (I would be glad to hear any advice for removing this staining?). Not 10 minutes after that I made the next find of the day, a small chunk of rolled bone. The tide was still very high so we decided to wander about the island and came back later that evening. Our lunch spot. The tide was lower in the evening and we had a wonderful time pointing out the dinosaur footprints, the trackway and finding pebbles full of shells, a pebbly full of bony fish bits and one more bit of bone for me and finally one for my friend as well (don't have pic of that though). Not sure how well the photos demonstrate this, but I think this may be a broken bit of a caudal vertebra. On day two we tried, and failed to get to Rocken End for some lovely ammonites. We couldn't find the right spot, so planned to try again the next day. In the afternoon we went to Bouldnor in search of some Oligocene turtles, crocodiles, mammals and whatever else we might find. However we were unlucky again and only found four chunks of Emys turtle shell. I am pleased with them though, as three of the four are really rather nice. It was a muddy but pleasant evening. Once again we had to wait a while (though 30 mins or so) for the tide to retreat. The first two pieces on the left were found within about 1m of each other. I'm not sure what to make of the 'stripe' on the top side of the third chunk. The next morning we found the correct access point and made our way to Rocken End, it's a fairly long walk down a steep hill(/mountain??) but wasn't as bad as it looked from the car park, there are steps carved into the mud at regular points. Soon enough we were scrambling over boulders of cretaceous upper greensand and pointing out ammonites that were poking out. Extracting the ammonites proved a significant challenge. They are incredibly delicate and soft. You could reach up and snap the ends out the rock very easily and practically all of the ammonites we attempted to extract came out in pieces, or broke irreperably. I did find two lovely little shark teeth sticking out, I believe these are somewhat uncommon here so I feel lucky. Just as we were leaving, my boyfriend found three ammonites practically lying on the ground in front him. They were by far the best ammonites we collected, he was very pleased with himself considering I had spent the previous two hours chiselling away whilst he sat and read his book... Prep in progress from the other side. The third one as found, just peeking out... ... and after some prep, it's still in the big block though, will (try to) cut a little pedestal out of the rock. Unfortunately the centre is missing. I also found a few beautiful brachiopods, bivalves and worm tubes - and also an echinoid! I have yet to ID any of these, but I think I actually prefer them over the ammonites, I wish I collected a few more.

I bought these ammonites some years ago. The only information I got was that the ammonites were from France. Does anyone know the possible species & locality of them?

I have these unidentified ammonites, and I would like to know what they are. I believe that the second one is Desmoceras latidorsatum, comparing it with internet photos. The first one is from the Oxfordian of Charente (France), and the other I don't know. 1.- Oxfordian, Charente (France). 2.- Look at suture lines. Thanks!

Hi Everyone. I was fortunate to be able to take a weeklong vacation trip the week of Labor Day, my fourth since I began collecting fossils. I wanted to visit friends and family and do some collecting. I was able to do all of that. It was busy, but there was also some quality relaxation time. It proved to be a good break. I flew into the Denver airport, rented a car and drove to Colorado Springs where I was invited to stay with my second cousin and her family. Next morning I was on my way to Florissant Fossil Quarry. I've known about Florissant for over 50 years and over 40 years ago I visited the National Monument, back when I was interested in fossils, but not into collecting them. This time I was intent on collecting and spent four hours splitting shale at the pay to collect quarry. The famous Florissant site was a lake during the late Eocene age. A number of eruptions from a nearby volcano buried animals and plants in beds of shale that were in turn covered by volcanic ash which beautifully preserved their exquisite details. These photographs show the exposure that's quarried, the area where guests like me can split the shale, and my finds from four hours of splitting.

Hi everyone, I’ve just returned from a trip to Rocken End, Isle of Wight with some Cretaceous chalk ammonites in hand. This chalk is incredibly delicate to the point where handling is almost scary. I have the smaller things soaking in water to desalinate but I’m worried about these two items. The whole ammonite is the nicest and biggest we found (with a little ammo that already looks cracked…) and so delicate I’m worried that soaking it will destroy it? The larger block contains at least one nice ammonite and potentially more, I don’t know whether to prep it and then soak or vice versa? Also, we leave the IOW on Sunday and so I don’t have much time for soaking them. Would you recommend packing the fossils in damp paper towel and then re-submerging when I get back to London? I need any and all advice!

The hike started with a group photo with Kobuk and a band of Dall sheep, ewes with lambs. Appropriate start to the hike as the Greek ram horned god called Ammon is the basis for the name ammonite. I returned to an exposure I had visited in the past that was particularity steep with new boots to safely negotiate the steep siltstone. The geology is Matanuska Formation member 3 which I have posted some trips in the past. Multiple new ammonites had been exposed with many molds present and some of the ammonites already lost to erosion being washed down to the bottom gully where they break into bits. This was a double mold. A view of the bottom shows multiple fragments and pieces of shells. Bivalve fossils were evident with these two being mostly intact. I am going to put names on some that I believe are correct and would like confirmation or corrections from the group. 1) Pachydiscus hornbyense Traversed across here leaving my pack to make my steps more nimble. Pictures follow of what was readily visible. 2) The top one is Neophylocerus ramosa, hard to see in the picture but in is finely ribbed and involute with past experience of finding these here before am confident with this ID. This ammonite caught my eye and after cutting foot steps worked at exposing it. 3) Once exposed removed the matrix tentative ID: Packydiscus sp. It is still in the mountains so this is the only pictures I have of it. This view gives an idea of how steep the terrain is here. Falling is not an option. I have posted pictures of this ammonite in the past and it is getting close to its final ride. Another starting to pop out. This one was precariously perched on the concretion. Once they hit the bottom not much is remaining from the impact. 4) An uncommon treat, a heteromorph. Nostroceras sp. ? A double from one concretion. will have to clean the matrix of figure out what they are. 5) Another pair in close proximity. Pachydiscus sp. Ammonite grave yard. Parting view of the sheep overlooking the guy with orange boots on. Back to the Cub and the new boots are no longer new.

Since we’ve had a pretty succesful fossiltrip in Southern Germany last year, visiting the Wutach area again for a few days seemed a more than logical choice since we would be passing Germany on our way back up from Italy to Holland for our summer holidays. Sadly a few days before we arrived it became apparant that the weather predictions were very bad. Allthough the first two days were mostly dry, these daily rain showers were just enough to make everything wet and muddy and thus very slippery which isn’t helpfull in these mountains….. Against all odds we still managed to find some nice fossils. Here’s an impression….. Mud everwhere.....

Yesterday was attempt number two at finding exposures of the Eagle Ford formation. My first attempt a month ago found me deep in the city of Austin, searching for the Bouldin Flags member of the Eagle Ford. I had to move upstream to avoid a large homeless camp, and found myself on the Austin chalk instead, where I found a large piece of a Parapuzosia sp. ammonite ( that trip is below) While definitely a memorable hunt, with a cool fossil to show for it, it was technically still a mission failed - the Eagle Ford still eluded me. So yesterday, i decided to try again, this time scoping out a spot where I believed the Eagle Ford might be permanently exposed, right here in my own town of Round Rock, which is just north of Austin in Williamson county. Getting there took me to a park I was already familiar with, to my surprise. The plan was to use the park as an access point to take a long walk to where a creek ran through a tiny section of Eagle Ford, as detailed by the USGS map.The park itself also sits on Eagle Ford, but google maps didn't show any bodies of water that could expose it, save for the creek a mile or two down that I was expecting to walk down to (using the park as a place to park) The thicket was atrocious. I was walking through a dense, horrible wall of greenbriar and poison ivy. Fortunately, my observation is that poison ivy hardly ever causes a reaction in me - perhaps I've plowed through so much that my body is used to it, lol. To my surprise, I rather quickly stumbled upon a tiny little stream - too small to have shown up on the maps I was using. Remembering that this area should also be Eagle Ford, I decided I might as well scope it out. The one, tiny gravel bank it had produced two cool finds immediately - one smooth ammonite section, followed 30 seconds later by a smaller complete ammonite. From glancing, I think my second one is a Mortoniceras sp. This was the the only gravel bank here, so I decided to beat my way back to my car and find a different way of accessing the creek shown on the map. I would park at a nearby neighborhood instead. Getting there, I was surprised to recognize the neighborhood of my friend who I fish with. I called him and asked if he wanted to hunt with me there. He had work coming up, but an hour to spare, so we set off into the creek. Under a bridge, I poked around and found a mammal bone protruding out. Pulling it out revealed some great colors on one side. "Did...did we just find an actual old bone under this nasty bridge of all places??" - and to that I answered maybe! We decided to set it by a pillar where I wouldn't forget it on the way back. Surprise surprise - I forgot it. Blockhead of the year. I'll be back to retrieve it and try and figure out if it's anything besides a modern livestock bone soon, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoyed the summary of yesterday's fruitful scouting hunt

Hello everyone! This summer, me and my family went to the Provence, southern France. We were heading to the Baronnies and Carniol, a natural park in the Provence and a tiny village. This area is known for its Early-Cretaceous fossils. We went to four locations: Combe Reboul, , Le Mas, Bellegarde-en-Diois and Carniol. The first four are very close to each other, so I'll start with those. The First Area: la Charce La Charce is a small village in the Baronnies, and is located in the centre of all the fossil hunting sites of the area. Near the village lays Serre de l'Âne, a unique geological site. What it comes down to, is that it's basically a book of outcrops that accurately describes the transition from one stage (Valanginian) to another one (Hauterivian) for about 5 million years. Here's a website for more information: Website about Serre de l'Âne. SERRE DE L'ÂNE Pictures were taken by myself This site was used to be known for its beautiful fossils, but now it's closed for fossil hunting. However, the site itself is very nice and has a great picnic spot. It is truly magnificent to see the layers of limestone and marl like this. Anyways, since this site is closed for fossil hunting, we went to the gorge right next to it: Combe Reboul. The fossils from Combe Reboul are from the upper-Valanginian to Hauterivian, both stages of the lower Cretaceous epoch, so 130-140 ma years old. The marine fauna contained a ton of ammonites, so those are the fossils you find the most. COMBE REBOUL -- Pictures taken by me COMBE REBOUL This site is somewhat incredible, when we came across an exposed layer of limestone we found ammonites of multiple genera and belemnites and bivalves too. The most common ammonite to find here is from the genus Crioceratites, a heteromorph ammonite. (The inner spiral is disconnected from the outer spiral) It's just bizarre to realize that evolution had once created creatures that had beautiful shapes like this, and this isn't even the weirdest ammonite that is out there! FOSSILS OF COMBE REBOUL -- Pictures by me LE MAS Next to Combe Reboul is le Mas, another deposition. We didn't find a lot in this one, so I won't talk very long about this site. The fossils are from the upper-Valanginian stage, and again, mostly ammonites are found here. Weirdly, we didn't find any ammonites of the Crioceratites genus here. To find stuff here, you should walk along the path uphill and carefully look for fossils. You could go to the deposition north of the path, though I didn't have a lot of success there. LE MAS -- Picture was taken by me BELLEGARDE-EN-DIOIS We also went to Bellegarde-En-Diois, a small village north of La Charce. We found an exposed layer of limestone with many imprints of ammonites. They were very fragile, but we found some less fragile fossils too. This place and Col de Prémol (a tiny village just north of Bellegarde) are known for their beautiful pyrite ammonites, though we didn't find them. FURTHER INFORMATION At almost every mountain climbing trip we had this holiday, we found fossils. So even when you're not expecting them, just see if you can find anything if there's limestone laying around. For example, I found this ammonite of the genus Lytoceras on a random mountain where I didn't expect fossils: LYTOCERAS SPEC. -- Photo was taken by me I am currently working on a map of all the locations in the Baronnies (+Carniol) on Google Earth, here is a link, but it's still a WIP: https://earth.google.com/earth/d/16rC52Gd2tP5fKniCggfOEK0L3E4sV7zO?usp=sharing I've never been to most of these locations, so going there is at own risk. I found most of the locations in an old Dutch magazine from the nineties, so there could be nothing to find. Here's a download link to that DUTCH magazine: (PDF) Het Onder-Krijt van de Provence. GEA 21(1): 1-36, 7 plates, 32 figs. (researchgate.net) Some locations were found with Paleontica.org, here is a link to the specific page: Fossil Location Les Baronnies, France (paleontica.org) I will be releasing part II of this trip report soon (it's about Carniol, so you should read it) so stay tuned! MAP OF THE 3 MAIN LOCATIONS -- google earth

Hello everyone. I'm a begginer with the fossils. I bought some fossils and I want to know if the pieces are genuine. Also I want to know more info about the species and place where we can find them. I hope you can help me, because I have 0 experience with the topic and I'm really interested to learn.

Hi guys, I have two ammonites here which I can’t identify, I was wondering if anyone could help thanks 1. This ones from Burton bradstock, oolite, bajocian 2. These are from france, I don’t know the geological setting so a species ID is probably impossible, but if anyone knew a family I would still greatly appreciate it 3. this is toarcian, from Whitby, but it isn’t the typical dactylocerous commune, the ribbing is more fineand its thicker, I know it isn’t one but it looks almost like a nodioloceras, what do you think ?

Just trying to see what I have and how much they are worth

Howdy! A few ammonites that are eluding me as to ID. Anyone with more knowledge of them, I would appreciate some confirmation or negation of my attempts! @erose @JohnJ @Uncle Siphuncle From Waco Pit Del Rio Formation. Thanks!! Possibly Tetragonites brazoensis? Or Adkinsia ? Second one Mantelliceras wacoense? Or maybe Paracycloceras? Not a great pic, but a little bit of a close up on the suture of this one:

I am, admittedly, not much of a creek hunter. I prefer a road cut any day to slogging around in knee deep water and mud to find the fossils. But sometimes you gotta get out of your comfort zone! And it was WELL WORTH IT!!! My friend was kind enough to share one of his local spots - we've had some good rains in Texas recently and he thought it might be producing some more heteromorph ammonites. He has collected some amazing big and well preserved Mariellas there and I have been DYING to find a good one. All that I have found in my local creeks have been so water worn as to be practically unrecognizable. So dodging some local rainstorms I pulled on my water boots and slogged my way upstream with him and his bounding doggo- I swear there is nothing much more joyful than a dog who loves water....in the water. It took me a while to start seeing the ammonites. It is always fascinating to me how you have to learn to "see" the fossil. What I would pass by, he would point out....you missed one there! I finally started to see them and found a couple of very nice ones. I was hoping to find a full three whorls together, but only found two whorls. There were fragment all over the place, but finding intact ones is much more difficult. I was super thrilled to come back with two very nice specimens and for one of them, I found a whorl fragment that matches it PRETTY well, so I just pretend I found a three whorl Mariella. My "three" whorl: 7 inches Another big one, not as well preserved, but with no "added" whorl. hahahha 7 inches Another nice fragment. 4 inches AND, I was lucky to have found a Hemiaster calvini echinoid too! He said it's only the second echinoid he's seen from this location. It's pretty water worn but has some interesting color and detail. 1 3/4 inch Also this lovely oyster Lopha. It has both valves which is always a plus: 4 inches We found a couple of crumbly nautiloids that didn't survive the extraction, so I was kind of disappointed, but then.....as we were leaving, I look down and see the edge of this guy sticking out of the bank. I called out "hey, come look!" and my friend was amazed that he had JUST walked right past it!!! We dug it out and I got to carry a nice big nautilus the rest of the way up the creek! And believe me, two big mariellas, an assortment of other fossils and a big nautiloid are quite a load when you have to scramble up a creek bank. Fortunately, I did have a little help. So a great day in the creek, even though I did get startled by a gar, I am a little more comfortable going creek hunting! Oh, and the sky was beautiful too. A lovely day in Central Texas.

Went back to my little gold mine today and was again amazed by the variety of things found. Previously I thought I was in Eagle Ford, but it is in Woodbine, with ravine that cuts down to Grayson as was explained to me in first post from this local. Everything was dried out except bottom of ravine, from the looks of things I think a natural spring is involved. So found some more Mariella ammonites, one with part of a scallop maybe?, and a Hemiaster, another Texigryphaea with some shell, I believe a little bacculite, an Echnodus tooth?, unknown clams, a Trigonia, and crawling on hands and knees on top sandy area found these tiny Echinoids which are so small having a hard time making ID, can't believe they even made it home intact.

I hadn't visited one of my favorite Callovian sites in the Wutach Valley since last November, so since the temps have been moving up and above 30°C. over the last few days, I figured that the muddy slopes there were probably dry enough by now for me to have a go at it again. No worries about sunstroke either, since the site is in the shady woods. I spent about 5 hours at the exposure and managed to come up with a few good finds. Here are some photos of the extrication procedure. It's pretty slow going here, since marly overburden first needs to be removed and the fossiliferous iron-rich sandstone horizon is quite hard and compact, but it usually splits as wished if you work at it properly. And you are almost alway guaranteed a few good finds. Here's what I ended up with by the end of the dig. I'll post more later once I get down to prepping.