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I went to Ant Hill, which is on the south side of the Kern River & more or less across from Shark Tooth Hill, this past Thursday (5-22-14). The matrix is a little less hard than cement . From the marks I have seen in the dig walls it appears most people use a pick. To say you might have some damaged fossils from using a pick would be an understatement! Using my shovel I was able to get about an inch in the material--- a strong young guy might be able to get four inches or more with a good sharp shovel. I wasn't able to do much digging as my arthritis makes my back & hands hurt a lot when I do any physical activity. I reckon I need to enlist the aid of my 18-year-old nephew.! I haven't id'ed the teeth yet (haven't checked elasmo.com & I'm still a total Noob on id) but here are the photos of the 3 1/2 teeth + a tip and some micro stuff which I definitely can't id as either plant, animal or mineral. All the micro stuff I found. What are these things? (Second photo is reverse side.) About 2mm long. These things are rock hard so not a current plant/animal. Unknown things. Seed pods? Molar of a ____? 1-2mm wide. These things are rock hard so not a current plant/animal. Bone or fossil wood? 2mm. This thing is rock hard so not a current plant/animal.

Yet another successful adventure to Shark Tooth Hill Area with the Buena Vista Musuem of Natural History (BVM). I can't get enough! Here is the link if you are interested in some middle miocene in December - http://www.sharktoothhill.org/ - James P.

I thought I would post a couple of photos of some unusual Sharktooth Hill Bonebed fossils. The first one is an unknown though now I think it's a cone. I showed it to a friend who helped me clean it by putting it in his ultrasonic cleaner. He wasn't sure but he also noticed what appears to be an attachment point at the top. It's abut 2 1/16 inches high (approx. 5.1cm). For years, it was partly covered in matrix and sat in a box with my bony fish stuff. I thought it might be some weird "growth" or other unfamiliar fish part. I decided to clean it earlier this year. It's the kind of fossil I'd like to CT scan and I might have a friend who can get that done for me. I'm open to alternative identifications. I have seen land plant material from the bonebed. Like the land mammal material found there, it was apparently carried downriver and floated out some distance into the ocean before sinking.

Hello everyone! Its been a while since I posted any of my shark tooth hill finds and I thought I'd show off this very nice meg I turned over last month. Instead of posting my usual trip report and boring everyone with another pile of small makos, I thought I'd just show off this meg. Its not perfect, but not too shabby either. I was really hot and tired, being about noon on the third day of digging, hadn't found a decent spot to go dig up yet, and was about ready to call it a trip. I decided to go walk around and look for a spot to poke at for the last couple hours, and I saw this interesting piece of bone sticking out of someones old abandoned hole from months back. I gave the bone a whack with my shovel, and to my utter surprise a meg popped out! That funny piece of bone was a meg root sticking out, my first southern California surface meg! I thought I had wrecked it, nearly had a heart attack right then and there. But I was lucky, didn't cause any damage, and ended up with my largest whole meg to date. I probably sound like a broken record, but seriously, if you like fossil shark teeth, you need to try a trip to STH while you still can! Here is a shot in the field, and a couple all cleaned up. Joe

Hi! Just thought I'd post three days worth of fossil hunting in Bakersfield, California. Found 250 perfect teeth, including 4 makos over 2", another 500 broken or fragments. There are also two 5 gallons filled with teeth and bone stuck in matrix. Those piece will take me a while longer to clean up, but I'll probably end up posting them too. Anyways, here's some teeth and other assorted fossils. The total haul, a nice stingray barb, and an Isurus planus at 2 1/16".

I found these two strange bones the last time I was down in Bakersfield digging shark teeth in the the Round Mountain Silt, Early-Mid Miocene. A forum member suggested the larger of the two may be a turtle bone or some sort. I do not think they are from dolphin, seal, or whale. Desmostylus perhaps? Leatherback sea turtle? I am unsure... Has anyone seen these before? Thanks for taking a look, Joe

Hi! I've been cleaning teeth all week from my last dig down in Bakersfield and I thought I'd show a couple tiny teeth off. I'll eventually get around to posting the while pile, but its going to take me a few more days. Meanwhile, here's what I consider to be a very nice Basking shark tooth, along with a very large angle shark, and a pathological dogshark tooth. The micro teeth from Kern county are not quite as plentiful as the lee creek material, but its a close second. I always expect to find at least a half dozen micro species of shark, ray denticles, fish teeth, and awesome randoms. And my fossil cleaning helper. Joe