Search the Community

Hello These are the adventures of myself and my dog Millie as we hunt for fossils and history along the Peace River. Our mode of travel is our 12’ Indian River Canoe, Balance. Im a 4th generation Polk county native, and Millie comes from a long line of Colorado ranch dogs. We do everything together. Including work, as I am a farrier for my day job, and the farm owners are more excited to see Millie than me! The goal of this journal is to document the learning along with the adventures. To go below our sieves, and learn why the river is presenting as it is. Other members have already posted pictures and info on every fossil I’m likely to find, but the river can still teach me/us why the hole I’m digging is delivering specific materials. Understanding what happened before what happened, happened. That’s what I want to know! Millie and I have been gifted this river and the ability to run it at a moments notice. That’s not the case for everyone. Even with access I still only get out for a morning or so a week. So this journal will also provide an avenue for those who can’t just jump in the boat with us. Jump in through this forum and help out along the way when you can/want. The more we learn the better the treasure!! Jp & Mille LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN! Season opener - Oct 2023 water depth day of - 8’ and falling. Like most things I’m impatient about, starting Fossil hunting this year was rushed. Millie and I ran head on into a river that’s a solid 3’ too high for me to handle any real working conditions. There’s places to work. We just haven’t found many at these depths! Yet!! After work arrived and we got started towards the river. Late arrival and definitely some dark water running ahead but at this water height you just gotta keep the boat in the middle. Got in late but just in time for a welcome back from the Peace! We woke up ready! Well, I did. Camp and my “Field Office” ready. Now to get wet! Because of the water depth I tied leashes to all the heavy tools and tied some extra pool noodle to them. That way I could drop them and just pull up the leader. Brought the “Velvet Touch” probe. No stopping us now! “What” I was after wasn’t an option this trip. I had only two available spots in mind that would be under 4’ deep. Both those spots are in a very recent deposit that I’ve been getting lots of Pleistocene and some Pliocene mammal material from. I ended up finding the time frame expected, and possibly an extinct sand shark nursery area. The river had sifted one spot completely away during the last flood so I was left with only one place to put in effort! At 4’ it was at my cap for height. I’m 5’6’’ and I could only dig 2 feet down before I ran out of shovel. So I had to figure something out. First I tried to fill the sieve on the River bottom and lift it up. FAIL! never got it to stay put long enough to do anything productive before I’d loose it and it would pop up down stream pulling on the leash. Next I tried to lift the gravel to the sifter on the surface. There was so much water the shovel load was gone before I broke the surface! FAIL! At a max depth of 2 feet down I wasn’t going to be learning much about the geography or layers I needed to work through. So I shifted gears and decided to focus on just the top 2’ as effectively as I could. The third try ended up succeeding. I would loosen the riverbed into a loose filled hole that had collapsed on itself and then use my scoop on a pole thing to transfer the loose material up to the surface. Not the best method but I’m grateful to have been able to stand there all day. I’d work forward 3’ and over 1’ then back again. All at 2’ or less deep or I’d go under. I suppose if I feel like moving a bunch of river bed again we could come back here and go deeper! One of my questions about this area is what is it old enough to find within it? Another trip! Here’s the gratuitous highlights shot! Not a bad day! The alligator tooth got a yell but the sand tigers and mammal teeth got me really excited. Millie and I were exhausted and COLD! I learned a few things this weekend to put in the journal. Before that. Let’s eat! Steak for me and steak for Millie. Yumm. Lessons: 1. I need appropriate clothes. Like wet suit stuff. Can’t be under water like that all day again. I got chilly and had to warm up several times. 85deg out too! What I wear is fine for knee deep wading but definitely time to upgrade the wardrobe. (I did try my new dive boots and that was the only part of me that wasn’t cold) 2. Regular shovel handles are way too short. Amend as needed to your stature. I need a 12’ handle to dig a hole in this water. So I’m out! 3. Jack, (Shellseeker) is insane!! This was my first time hunting this deep and it’s right in his sweet spot. You’re an animal! He tried to assist my tool tuning but until you run out of shovel that’s a new feeling to adjust to. 4. At two feet deep this area is where I will come for younger land aged fauna and I can expect the standard peace river sharks teeth assemblage with a higher than usual volume of sand sharks teeth. This was a great day hunting and I learned a lot. Maybe not about what my intended question was or the areas I’ve been thinking of but a ton about gear and technique! KEEP THE FAITH AND TRY TO DO GOOD!! Jp & Millie Here are the finds from this trip and some info used to figure out the unknowns. sand shark and some Hemi Serra Peace River mix fun and unique things - The mammal molar ended up being a Giant Tapir. By shape and size 3rd or 4th premolar. No root. Should have given it away. Mixed bag bottom to top of left- Gator tooth gator tooth Crappy Barbra’s incisor Canine- size 22mm broken suggest coyote or smaller domestic dog. 25mm would be the target. Tiny molar - it’s broken but by the face and measurements it’s most likely a rodent. Camel type tooth frag. Upper right - various tiger shark species to identify with Florida fossil hunters PDF middle - two deer horn buttons. One I already had but these were found 5 feet apart. Same deer?!? Bottom right- Eocene snail and crab shell fragments. Those are 37.5 Mya.?? Snail identification was general to the Ocala formation results of similar snail species.

For a little while now, @Mikrogeophagus and I have been trying to meet off the forum and hit some spots together. With spring break ending yesterday, we finally found the perfect opportunity before our classes resumed. Tyler had recently singled out a promising locale for middle Eocene crabs, one that neither he or I had visited. As it later turned out, I had passed by the spot before but never committed to its investigation. I was pleasantly surprised at its serenity, and Tyler and I found easy conversation as we weaved through beds of touch-me-nots and waded through silty waters. Our first efforts were concentrated on a small tributary that branched off and reconnected with the main stream. We knew we were looking for concretions, but did not know the nature of them and assumed most would be duds. It was with that attitude that it smacked open my first concretion of the day, decimating a crab inside! While certainly disappointed, we were both enthusiastic about the find - it meant we were in the right place and we now knew what to watch out for. Concretions started popping up quickly, sprouting out of the black banks like earthen easter eggs. Many proved fruitful, with a surprising proportion containing the crab Harpactocarinus americanus. At the time, we didn't know the name - content with just the thrill of discovery in a beautiful setting. We soon discovered some crabs were robust enough to have survived the currents of the stream and could be found in gravel - though just their carapaces. We each claimed one side of the bank and enjoyed success, while occasionally checking the gravel islands between us. One of my favorite finds was this unsightly avocado shaped concretion, bearing a claw that promises a beautiful specimen inside: Displaced carapace found among roots on the river bank: Notice the eye holes! Harpactocarinus americanus wasn't the only critter of note at the locale: Giant gastropods were found in unusual proportion compared to the famous Whiskey Bridge locality of equivalent age, but there was a conspicuous lack of shark teeth. Deep into the hunt, Tyler did find two - one irrecoverable blade in a concretion, and a smaller Negaprion(?) to act as the only success on the fossil vertebrate side for the day. Soon after, Tyler found a large Belosaepia ungula prong, shown here from its underside. These are uncommon cuttlefishes that had a horn (called the "prong") growing on its backside like a short, stiff upturned tail, a character that can still be seen reduced and vestigial in some modern cuttlefish. The hash around this spot was thick - so choked with shells that it resembled asphalt in some places: The site even had a nice sampling of extant fauna - a small Thampnophis proximus (western ribbon snake) could not escape gentle capture, and an alligator gar jaw laid out by recent currents caught my attention. I decided to hang on to it - it may prove a handy reference for general fish anatomy. One of the final finds of the day after a long stretch of barren ironstone was another H. americanus, peeking out of hard iron stones and covered by moss. I pulled it away easily, and upon turning it over was met with a beautiful sight: Look at that pincher! And so concluded a successful scout with a new friend, right as storm clouds rolled over and the first heavy drops of rain fell. Tyler and I walked back to our cars with an aura of victory, and I gave him another concretion. I'm excited to see the results of his upcoming freeze-thaw cycles. May y'all enjoy quality preps and fruitful hunts this spring!

Hi all, Last weekend I took a trip, again, to the Florissant Fossil Quarry. The quarry doesn’t normally open until Memorial Day, but I went with the Colorado State University entomology club. I successfully lobbied for the club to take a field trip there, and the club got the trip funded by the student’s association so we got to go in as a by-appointment special group for “free” (at least for us). Perhaps this whole process is a story I’ll tell another time. Anyway, for those not familiar in the upper Eocene Florissant Formation fossils of insects and plants are highly abundant, but fossils of vertebrates are exceptionally rare. This is despite being a superficially similar depositional environment to the Green River Formation, where fish fossils are abundant. Well, after countless total hours of splitting in the quarry over the years I’ve finally come across a vertebrate fossil - the head of a teleost fish! This is exciting simply because fish fossils are very rare in this rock unit. The shale breaking split the fossil, so presumably the body is still out in the quarry somewhere. There are of course fish described from Florissant, but I’m not familiar with them. The only identification I can readily make is teleost. Thought I’d share a rare find! My “white whale” for the Florissant Formation is still a spider fossil. There were three spiders found by entomology club participants, but of course I was not one of them. Of course I’d find the way more rare thing, but not the thing I wanted 😀

Hello all. I have this one shark tooth from the London clay and I’m really stuck on its identity. I’ve already ruled out Striatolamia due to the lack of lingual folding and shape of the cusplets. The only two options I have are Hypotodus verticalis and Glueckmanotodus heinzelini, but it has features of both and also has features that both do not present. It’s from the London Clay formation at Walton-on-the-Naze, UK. The age is early Eocene (Ypresian). Any help would be appreciated.

Latest graphite studies of Green River fish. Preliminary sketches for later color illustrations. Quite a challenge getting scientific accuracy, but hopefully I'm improveing.

I found this tooth at highcliffe in the uk, so it is eocene in age. I have no idea what it is from so I would love some help. Thank you

So this happened back in late March and I’m just now getting around to posting (or boasting?) about it. At this years gem and mineral show in Loveland, Colorado I entered a display case of White River Formation fossils which I have collected mostly in Colorado over the last few years. I emphasized diversity, attempting to show the diversity of the organisms (or at least prominent organisms) in the ecosystem while aiming to educate show visitors about the under-appreciated Eocene to Oligocene transition. Over 4,000 people came to the show, and at the end of the weekend the judges selected my case for first place in the fossils category, which I was very happy with because there were some other really awesome fossil displays people had put together. For the win I received a trophy and blue ribbon. I definitely intend to display again next year at the same show!

I have often seen fossil "Equicalastrobus chinleana" strobili for sale, stated to be from the Eocene of West Sahara, but a formation of origin is never provided. According to Wikipedia there are only 4 fossiliferous geological units in West Sahara: the Spanish Sahara, Frasnian, Samlat and Aridal formations. Only the latter two are of Eocene age, but I cannot find any literature on any "Equicalastrobus chinleana" strobili from either of the aforementioned localities. I have found a single mention of the Samlat Formation, in the description of a strobili for sale at an online fossil shop, but that is all. It may also be the case that there are other fossiliferous localities in West Sahara that weren't included on the Wikipedia list, so there is that to consider too. So where do they come from?

Could someone tell me what these are (first photo)? They were found on late eocene sediments near Vic, Catalonia, Spain. The only other fossil around were corals/sponges (would also appreciate if someone could confirm) like the one in the second photo attached so these stood out.

Hi! I recently collected my first fossils and I'm very excited, but I would really appreciated some advice as to how best to care for them. Here in BC anyone who collects fossils from Crown Land is considered a steward of the fossil, as it is legal to collect them however they still belong to the land. This, and the fact that I genuinely care about these fossils, is why I would love some help with learning how best to preserve/stabilize the fossils. I think they're carbon fossils, and are all plants from the Eocene Era. The shale that they're set in is brittle and likes to chip, so one or two specimens have small chips that came off when I opened them and I'd like to re-attatch these (should I just glue them on? What kind of glue is best?). Lastly, I was hoping someone might have advice for making the darker fossils a bit more visible. I heard that dipping the rocks in resin can help the contrast a bit, but that seems blunt and expensive to me. Thanks for the advice and your time!

Last weekend I headed out to Princeton, BC (Canada) in search of fossils for the very first time. I focused on breaking open shale or similar rocks and was lucky enough to find my very first fossils! I'm trying to learn more about geology, fossils and the likes in my spare time so I would love if someone would be able to help me identify some of my finds. I know that all of the rocks in the Princeton area are Eocene Era, so ~56 to 34 MYA. Here are the fossils, and also a purple rock that I'm stumped on. I suspect the leaves are 'metasequoia' but I'd love more opinions. Thank you and I hope you find these rocks as interesting as I do! Purple rock 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Found a carbonized plant fossil in Sespe formation conglomerate stone in the Matilija Canyon area of the Los Padres Mountains of Southern California. Likely something from the Horsetail family or something in the bamboo family. Based on the below report, these rocks are likely from the Oligocene or Eocene periods. The area has mostly Marine fossils but this was probably a land plant that washed out to sea and was deposited along with other flood debris on the shallow sea floor. Some credit on the geology of the area to: BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA V o l . 39 . pp. 1 0 8 7 - 1 1 0 2 D e c em b e r 30.'1928 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MATILIJA OVERTURN BY PAUL P. KERR AND HUBERT G. SCHENCK (Read before the Society December SO, 1927)

Just sharing some Fossil Brittle Stars from the Eocene era. Found in remote area of Upper Sespe Creek drainage of the Los Padres Mountains in Southern California. Fossil site location help credit to R. L. Squires 1994 paper on Macropaleontology of Eocene marine rocks, upper Sespe Creek area, Ventura County, southern California.

This was my first winter fossil hunting in NJ (or anywhere, as a matter of fact). Definitely a different experience from summer and fall. Less people, and much better fossils! Although the people I have run into were pretty devoted, which I can appreciate. Thought I would document my 4 hunts between December and this past weekend. First up, 12/16. On of my favorite Cretaceous brooks. Found an awesome variety of fossils, one of which turned out to be a Theropod tooth! Group Shot Devonian glacier erratic with Crinoids, Bryozoan and Brachiopod or Bivalve impressions. Gastropod Steinkern Ammonite Steinkern Crustacean claw piece A. phasolus Crusher Tooth Enchodus sp. Tooth w/Jaw fragment Squalicorax sp. (Crow Shark) A. kopingensis (Mackerel Shark) Theropod Tooth

Hi all! I made a journey down to Point A Dam today (despite high river levels) just to shuffle about. I came across these two vertebra, the smallest of which is clearly a fish, but I’m not quite sure what the other is. Cetacean? If you have any info on either, please share. Thank you! P.S. I somehow never have a ruler with me so I used the lines of a college ruled notebook, which are separated by 7.1 mm, as a makeshift scale. I apologize for this. 1: 2:

Hi, appreciate any ID help on this one from Chivo Canyon in Southern California. About 4-5" in diameter found inside of a roughly 1 foot diameter rock. The area is known for Eocene and Oligocene period fossils. Guessing this may be a sponge, coral, or possibly echinoderm like a Sea Urchin. Stumped on the ID so far. Most of the other fossils in the canyon are mollusks and gastropods. Thanks! -Chris.

Just posting some pics of some finds from Chivo Canyon from 2020 and 2024. Would really appreciate any ID inputs on the Unknown Fossils especially the roundish one with many circles in it. It was roughly 4-5" in diameter in the center of a roughly 1 foot diameter rock. Guessing Sponge, Coral, or may an Echinoderm like an Urchin. The Chivo Canyon area is known to have fossils from the Eocene, and Oligocene periods. There are also a couple other unknown fossils which could be bones but not sure. The Tower Snails or Turritellas are probably mostly Turritella Uvasana. I don't know what the other Gastropods are. Thanks in advance for any ID ideas! -Chris.

Yesterday I went to Eastern AR to an Eocene outcrop exposed in a creek. I found about a dozen Venericardia planicosta clam shell fossils and a Mennerotodus shark tooth!

For a little while now, @Mikrogeophagus and I have been trying to meet off the forum and hit some spots together. With spring break ending yesterday, we finally found the perfect opportunity before our classes resumed. Tyler had recently singled out a promising locale for middle Eocene crabs, one that neither he or I had visited. As it later turned out, I had passed by the spot before but never committed to its investigation. I was pleasantly surprised at its serenity, and Tyler and I found easy conversation as we weaved through beds of touch-me-nots and waded through silty waters. Our first efforts were concentrated on a small tributary that branched off and reconnected with the main stream. We knew we were looking for concretions, but did not know the nature of them and assumed most would be duds. It was with that attitude that it smacked open my first concretion of the day, decimating a crab inside! While certainly disappointed, we were both enthusiastic about the find - it meant we were in the right place and we now knew what to watch out for. Concretions started popping up quickly, sprouting out of the black banks like earthen easter eggs. Many proved fruitful, with a surprising proportion containing the crab Harpactocarinus americanus. At the time, we didn't know the name - content with just the thrill of discovery in a beautiful setting. We soon discovered some crabs were robust enough to have survived the currents of the stream and could be found in gravel - though just their carapaces. We each claimed one side of the bank and enjoyed success, while occasionally checking the gravel islands between us. One of my favorite finds was this unsightly avocado shaped concretion, bearing a claw that promises a beautiful specimen inside: Displaced carapace found among roots on the river bank: Notice the eye holes! Harpactocarinus americanus wasn't the only critter of note at the locale: Giant gastropods were found in unusual proportion compared to the famous Whiskey Bridge locality of equivalent age, but there was a conspicuous lack of shark teeth. Deep into the hunt, Tyler did find two - one irrecoverable blade in a concretion, and a smaller Negaprion(?) to act as the only success on the fossil vertebrate side for the day. Soon after, Tyler found a large Belosaepia ungula prong, shown here from its underside. These are uncommon cuttlefishes that had a horn (called the "prong") growing on its backside like a short, stiff upturned tail, a character that can still be seen reduced and vestigial in some modern cuttlefish. The hash around this spot was thick - so choked with shells that it resembled asphalt in some places: The site even had a nice sampling of extant fauna - a small Thampnophis proximus (western ribbon snake) could not escape gentle capture, and an alligator gar jaw laid out by recent currents caught my attention. I decided to hang on to it - it may prove a handy reference for general fish anatomy. One of the final finds of the day after a long stretch of barren ironstone was another H. americanus, peeking out of hard iron stones and covered by moss. I pulled it away easily, and upon turning it over was met with a beautiful sight: Look at that pincher! And so concluded a successful scout with a new friend, right as storm clouds rolled over and the first heavy drops of rain fell. Tyler and I walked back to our cars with an aura of victory, and I gave him another concretion. I'm excited to see the results of his upcoming freeze-thaw cycles. May y'all enjoy quality preps and fruitful hunts this spring!

Quick trip report from a rather unsuccessful trip to bracklesham bay. On the lowest tide of the year I was hoping the formation would be exposed but over a metre of sand lay on top of it still. I think some onshore winds had been conspiring against me! However it was fun to hunt and I was rewarded with a beautiful sunset! 1. spot the fossil 2. sunsets 3. total finds 4. brachycarcharias lerichei 5. striatolamia macrota

I have (finally) got around to going through my Moroccan phosphate shark teeth. I've attempted to identify them but I am still not particularly confident at identifying fossils so I thought I'd run it by the experts first. All the teeth are (supposed to be) from the Eocene, save 4 which is (supposed to be) from the Cretaceous. I attempted to label the images with my proposed identifications but there wasn't enough space for all of them so I'll list them all here: 1. Ginglymostomatid (Nebrius?) 2-3. Hemipristis? 4. Unsure 5. Pristid/Sawfish (Pristis?) 6. Otodontid (Cretalamna?) 7-10. Odontaspidid The lighting is also quite poor on these images as the enamel on the teeth is very reflective and they show up as amorphous white blobs if it's too bright as my phone camera is by no means the best. Thanks in advance for any proposed ID's Othniel

This was found at the Stonerose fossil site in Washington state. The onsite curator identified it as an questionable egg deposit. I would like to get a definitive id. The entire cluster is 1cm across.

I added a couple of threads on Activities connected with FPS field trip to Hallie Quarries in the vicinity of Newberry, Florida. I have some photos of the Quarry to provide a sense of what it was like and some additional finds. The Quarry I visited is just one of many at this location. and the one I was in... huge. A wall in the distance, heavy movers to stay far away from, a "tiny" FPS member searching the low wall ahead. I am walking around this mountain of rock on my left , searching for fossils that may have fallen down the cliff face. I am very careful the few times I attempt to climb the cliff face reaching for a fossil just a little too far away... There can be great rewards... Gorgeous, and and there are lots of potential shell, and echinoids in this semi hard rock, I have a rock hammer and trowel. Can I possible get this out in one piece.. I have already broken others or found that they were already broken before my arrival. So I decided not, and just walked on with a photo and a memory. As I continued around the mountain, I came to this site , took a step forward, and quickly stepped back . A sinkhole about 4 feet across, and with a single glance inside I saw it was at least 25 feet deep. This one is not particularly large. The Quarry has lost a number of large earth movers in sinkholes. This is where I recall signing the waiver stating that I am totally responsible for any of the various dumb things I might do while hunting for fossils and hold the Quarry owners blameless for any/all damages to my body. Roger Portell was our guide and Advisor and we moved a couple of times to locations that might provide different fossils. The last stop was supposed to contained marine (shark teeth) and mammal fossils. As we stepped out of our vehicles, Roger showed us another sinkhole, advised us to be careful , and described recoveries of mammal bones and teeth from this area decades past. I was fortunate to find one of those teeth, described in this TFF thread. https://www.thefossilforum.com/topic/139986-love-the-surprises/#comment-1479029 It was laying on the ground 5 feet to the left of this sinkhole. Sometimes I am just blessed in the right place at the right time. Here are some other finds of the day, with what ever I currently know about them... 1) M. americanum , a Sea Biscuit, approximately 4 inches in width, encased in matrix. 2) What I refer to as Jingle shells, and a small Echinoid...On the Echinoid, I have to wash, brush , scrap off some of that concrete like matrix to figure out what it is.... 3) A couple of Oysters... there few shells free floating from the concrete like matrix like these. 4) More shells, this time in Matrix 5) Did I mention Endocasts ? All over the place.... Sometimes hard to differentiate from shells. 5a) This one reminds me of a cowrie.... but not like any modern or even fossil ones that I have seen... I had previously found exactly like this one in a bone valley creek.. Would like to Identify.. Hope you enjoyed the trip. Comments always appreciated.