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Found this several years ago at Sharktooth Hill in Bakersfield. Starting to go through some of the larger pieces I found. I’m thinking this might be a worn vertabra? Whale, dolphin? Maybe to worn for a definite ID

Hi everyone and thank you in advance for the immense knowledge that everyone has compiled here for us to learn from. About me. I have been digging for about a month now.... I have been a Licensed HVAC contractor in LA since 1991. I worked for a GC before that...and was also an apprentice machinist for a couple years. In construction, the one thing I detest is digging ditches. Yet to my amazement, here I am in the desert heat, digging a hole looking for fossils. It has been therapeutic to dig and not think about anything else in life....... With 3 kids, we went surfing a lot, water skiing in Blythe, tons of fishing all over Cali, hiking, gold panning, mostly up in the Kern. The Kern River system never ceases to amaze me year after year. There is always a new adventure that presents itself. I'm primarily interested in the Miocene era around CA. Absorbing as much information online so I can identify items in the field. It has been nothing short of amazing so far.

I found these three pieces on a beach in Mendocino County last week, and I've been trying to figure out what they are. The largest of three measures 46 mm long by 22 mm wide. I'm an entomologist by training, and do not have experience with fossils. I've shared these photos with a couple of friends who are knowledgeable about fish and marine biology, and one suggested that they might be opercular bones from fish, and another thought they might be parts of shells from Acus spp. bivalves. I would appreciate any information or even speculation about what these might be or how I can find out more about them. Thank you for your consideration. --Jamie

My wife and I just returned from a trip out west (western USA for our international friends) which featured a trip to the famous Miocene site near Bakersfield; Ernst Quarry or Sharktooth Hill, whichever name you prefer. As most of you know this site it well known for the rich fauna of sharks teeth, marine mammal bones and other related items and has been written up numerous times on TFF going back over the years. We had originally planned this trip a year ago, but a family emergency caused us to reschedule. So we decided to try again this year and picked late April to try and avoid the "rainy" season and beat the start of the summer heat. One out of two isn't bad - haha. We had beautiful blue skies but unfortunately had an unseasonably early heat wave that had the temps climbing into the upper 90's! My main goal of this trip was to find some of the beautifully preserved, richly colored, good sized sharks teeth (Mako's being the most common) that I have seen millions of pictures of and read dozens of trip/ID reports about here on the Forum. It seemed with a diligent amount of work digging and sifting, I was sure to come away with a bagful of beauties! This is where my caution part comes in. We had a good trip, but the results were no where near our expectations. I have been fossil collecting for over 40 years and have had plenty of down days/visits/trips, but when we walked away with maybe a dozen teeth and the largest complete one at just over an inch long from a site that represents supposedly one of the richest around after a whole day of steady digging, suffice it to say, we were a bit let down. We worked steadily throughout the day, tried several different spots and outlasted everyone. As the day heated up most of the folks were gone by very early afternoon, we had the place to ourselves for the last couple of hours before we bailed out just after 4 pm (the car thermometer read 99 when we left). We had to be out by 5. From what I saw of about half the other collectors that I talked to, were similar results, a modest number of teeth, nothing very large. Someone may have found a ton of great stuff, but I did not hear or see it. So, my caution is not that this place is not good, don't go: no, not at all. It is to keep your expectations realistic. There is no doubt I oversold this to myself. I found some nice teeth as you will see below, just not the size or quantity that I thought was the norm out of here. It could be I had a down day, it could be I didn't know the best spots to dig, it could be the quarry just does not produce like it used to, it could be that I just didn't move enough dirt to support my expectations, it could be a lot of things. But when I raised my expectations to high levels on a trip half way across the country that this was the focus of, I guess I kind of set myself up. Keep it real!!! I mostly bring this up as I often see on here that people would love to go here, it is on their bucket list, etc, etc. Again, I'd encourage you to visit, just keep your expectations in line, dig as much as you possibly can, and you will probably find the mother lode! Ok, enough of my blathering. The trip was fun, we did find some nice teeth, the preservation of them is excellent for the most part and I am working my way through some matrix I brought back which contains some very cool little teeth in there. Here is what we found: The whole kit and caboodle with my tentative ID's scribbled on the paper towel. I will follow with close ups of most of them. This was actually the first tooth we found, just an edge sticking out of the chunk of matrix (on left). On the right is after a bit of prepping so you can see the whole tooth. I think I'm going to do a bit more shaving down but leave this in the matrix. The round object by the root is just a pebble that was in there. I also found another small sharks tooth as I was removing matrix that is no longer in the picture. These Cosmopolitodus hastalis are the most common tooth found in the Round Mountain Silt from what I read (and my 1 day experience). These Cosmopolitodus planus (Hooked or Curved Mako) were neat and more the size I though we would encounter. Unfortunately, neither of these are complete. These tiny ones we managed to see as we were sifting. Since my napkin writing I have learned they are indeed a Carcharhinus, but the species seems to be an ongoing topic of discussion (not uncommon for this genus from what I have found). In the matrix I am picking there are lots more of these but that will be a topic for a future Micro post. These three are some of my favorites, very neat little teeth. Since the napkin writing, I have found the the upper sharks tooth may not be Hemipristis but rather a Hexanchus upper anterior. If anyone can corraborate from this picture that would be great, otherwise I'll probably make an ID post for a couple of these items to sort them out. These small ones are also nice. I see I did not take a picture of the most diagnostic side of the Squalus, but it does have the finger like extension to below the root on the other side. I also have found several more of these in the fine matrix. And lastly for this group a neat little bone that I believe is a cetacean periotic. I saw another post in which @Boesse identified a similar looking one as Aulophyster morricei, but there were some differences between this one and that post which I don't know if its due to simple variation within the bone or it is a different animal. Again, if I can't get a confirmation or different ID based on this one picture, I'll be happy to create an ID thread. We also found a lot of bone, I brought home a bag full of some of the bigger chunks I found in one area. I only recognize some rib fragments (second pic) and a possible beat up vert (third pic in middle). I'm not sure what the rest of the fragments represent. And finally, just a quick bit on the matrix I brought back. I did a quick sieve separation in the field just to have a mix of different sizes. This turned out to be a waste of time as the matrix was too damp to properly sieve. When I got back home and had water available, I was able to quickly run it through a small series of sieves and get down to some pickable matrix. I used a window screen (about 12-14 mesh) and a 40 and 60 mesh sieve. 95% of the matrix was fine silt (hence the name of the Formation) and went through the 60 mesh and therefore contains nothing that I'm going to spend time on (60 mesh is 0.25 mm, too small for me to try and pick with the equipment and dexterity that I have). The material caught on the 13 mesh contained almost all the sharks teeth but only represented a small baggie of the couple gallon bags of matrix I was able to fit in my luggage. You can see in the picture below the small bag of matrix to the right and the little beaker contains about 26 cm3 of fossil material picked (about 17% of the bag volume). This is mostly small fragments of broken bone but there are lots of shark and ray teeth in there as well as a few other items (future post in Micro section). I have only looked at the 40 and 60 mesh material a little bit. The 40 has a few very small ray teeth, and some fish teeth (and more broken bone fragments). I have not seen much in the way of identifiable fossils in the 60 mesh material yet. That is all for now, thanks for following along. I appreciate any thoughts or comments on my ID's or anything else. Mike

Does anyone happen to know if the item in the attached photos is a fossil? Or any idea what it is for that matter? I don't know it's origins unfortunately. I apologize for not being able to be more help. It is something I have had for many years and wondered about. Finally getting around to seeking answers. Thanks for any assistance.

Riverside Co., CA Lots of petrified wood in the area, but most of that is much darker and this looked like it might be a fragment of bone. Thoughts?

From a beach in California.

I believe these are petrified dinosaur armor from animals killed during the creation of our west coast land animals and sea life 20230221_143636.mp4

Hello all! I was combing the beach in California and I came across these cool fossils but am not sure what they are! The first two pictures are of the same one. Can anyone help me ID them? Thanks!

I found this near a waterfall in Santa Barbara county. Not sure to what it is? I think it is a fragment of a specimen. Any ideas. Thank you

I found this tooth at Sharktooth Hill near Bakersfield, CA. It is Miocene from the Round Mountain Silt. It doesn't quite match any of the specimens at Elasmo.com with Alopias latidens being the closest. It is one inch tall. Any helpful feedback would be very appreciated. Thanks and have a good one.

Dear fellow forum members, some time ago I acqured two desmostylian teeth, presumably Desmostylus hersperus. Only Info I got is that they are from california. I have been wondering if the smaller one shows some kind of pathology r if it is a juvenile unerupted tooth? By the way, could the chambered structure circled in red be a sand dollar? Best Regards, J

Hi, I'm brand new here. I own and operate an estate goods store in San Diego County, California. I had a gentleman bring in an interesting piece he believed to be some kind of fossil or bone, but I have absolutely 0 experience in this field. I'm hoping to, at the very least, figure out where to begin! I have attached several pictures that we took preliminarily. Any info, advice, tips, is greatly appreciated! For all I know, this could just be a cool shaped rock, (and please don't hesitate to tell me that!) but doing my due diligence in researching this piece! Thank you for your time.

Please help me identify this. Great find onboard Camp Pendleton CA.

Hi here is a rock from a beach in California. As you see it has lots of fossil shells and something else that is much bigger than shells. What is this something else? It is a microscopic image.

Not sure if this is a fossil, tooth, claw??

Hi, I'm brand new here. I enjoy being out in nature and collecting bones and rocks I find. Just the other day I found this jaw bone on the banks of a creek near my house in El Dorado County California. It looks to be the size of a cow or horse jaw. I would love to know what animal you all think it is from and especially how old it looks. The blueish color of the teeth has me really intrigued. Thanks for any ideas.

What an adventure! I was on a trip to southern California with my partner. He does not like fossil hunting – yes I know what you are thinking but he is a very nice guy. You can’t have every thing! I wanted to go to the Marble Mountain Trilobite site in the Mohave desert. I did my research and knew exactly where I wanted to go. As I would be by myself I decided to be very clear about where I was going and how long I expected to be there. Off I went on a bright warm sunny day armed with gallons of water, a sunhat, fossil hunting backpack, many snacks, and a brand new Lexus. Yes I know you are thinking dumb dumb dumb! But as it turns out the lexus was an excellent choice, it had lots of power and reasonable clearance. I did high center it on some shrubs (sorry shrubs) and almost lost it in a sand bank. Power does win the day and I managed to get it about 3 miles away from the classic north end site by Chambliss. What I did not account for was that the recent atmospheric rivers had washed out a lot of the tracks and roads. I had a really big walk up to the base of the mountain. From there I struggled through boulders fields and scree slopes to get up to the famous red and green Latham shales. Oh boy what incredible rocks! Fortunately I am fond of lapidary too so I collected some glorious specimens. My aim was to find the blue green algal nodules formed by precipitation of the cyanobacteria. They look like elongated ovals and are found everywhere. I was gob smacked by these fossils. They are 518 million years old. The trilobites are mostly Olenellids and are rare. I struggled to find any of these and found mostly cool trace fossils. As I was completely exhausted getting to the top of this mountain and now had to get down it with a lot of rocks AND walk 3 miles across the desert to get back to the Lexus I made a decision – I would come back another day and find some of those trilobites. By the time I got back to the car my knees were shaking and I had drunk 5 litres of water and eaten everything I brought plus 3 candy bars. It was an amazing trip and the area is totally deserted. I never saw one person or vehicle while I was there. There is another trilobite site that is down towards the ghost town of Cadiz. This is the official BLM site and you are allowed to take small quantities of fossils. Unfortunately the road was completely washed out and unlikely to be repaired soon. Oh well that's for another day

Here are the only fossils that I have at the moment I hope to continue to grow my collection! Pictures 1, 2, and 3 are of my Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis vertebra. Per the seller, it is from the Cretaceous (Barremian Stage), and originated from the Isle of Wight's Wessex Formation (Wealden Group). Picture 4 is of my flea market Colpocoryphe grandis, likely originating from Morocco. Picture 5 is of my gifted partial (most likely) Merycoidodon gracilis skull, originating from possibly Wyoming or Nebraska. Picture 6, my most recent purchase, is of a plate of four upper Cretaceous shrimp originating from Hjoula, Lebanon's Sannine Formation.

Ok, last time I post here for a while I swear! At least until I go on another hunting trip... Anyways so I stopped by my mother's today after work and I was talking to her and my stepfather about my newfound passion for hunting & collecting fossils when it turns out that my stepfather had been holding out on me this whole time! After a bit of rummaging around he presented me with this, and even said that I could keep it! He said that he had been given it by a customer of his back when he worked delivering water. The customer a nice older man had found it in his backyard (lucky duck!) somewhere in San Pedro, California, my current city of residence. Any information would be greatly appreciated!

Just remembered that I had created this account some time ago, and would like to get some use out of it! As well just the other day I purchased my first fossil, a Mantellisaurus vertebra. This has gotten me quite eager to collect even more!

I recently got a small bag of fossils from the Miocene Santa Margarita Formation. These all came from the Templeton California area. There were some really interesting shark teeth ( Squalus, Squatina, Triakis, Pristiophorus) and quite a few fish teeth. This one particular tooth is a bit of a mystery. I thought it could possibly be a broken Heterodontus anterior tooth. I can’t rule out fish though. I suppose it could also be a marine mammal I’m not familiar with too. I’m a collector of Heterodontus teeth so my lean toward that could be a bit of bias. I thought I’d put it to the forum for other opinions. Maybe @siteseer or @Boesse can offer an opinion given their knowledge of California fossils. It’s small at 3mm so I can’t do much better with pictures.

Hi everyone, my name is Michael and I’m from Southern California. I’m new to this forum and am hoping to meet like-minded people that enjoy fossils as much as I do and learn from them as well.

A long shot but I thought I would post just in case.