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Hi! Recently entering the fossil world with a megalodon tooth and a rex tooth, and I continue to go down the rabbit hole! Stumbled upon this forum and decided to join to see what else I could learn! Cheers!

Hello all, Can anyone recommend a paper, book, or website that can help me learn how to identify the formations in Texas (especially central Texas [i.e., San Antonio northeastward to Georgetown])? I am realizing more and more the utility of formation info for fossil identification as well as the scientific value such information adds to an individual's personal collection. Thank you kindly in advance for your help

I found a few different rocks and I'm curious what I have here.. one is a cluster of shell and even has like whole ones inside the rock.. and the other I believe is a ammolite.. I was in southeastern saskatchewan at a rock Pitt where I dig into the ground with a loader and I found these rocks!

If you are planning to go to Summerville, SC for your first time, and have been hoping to find Shark Teeth, please read this. My Advice: · I advise only going if you know someone with known locations, or otherwise plan to hire a company or a guide (I do not have someone to recommend). Finding teeth on your own is quite difficult. My hunt: I got lucky this time on a 3-day trip. After having visited Summerville years before with my son to great success, we went through over 25 spots (August 2023) with only two teeth found. We were discouraged. Luckily, we found one location that netted us the teeth shown as a last-minute discovery at the end of day 2. We returned on day 3 after morning rain. Our goal was to find a Megalodon tooth (even broken) of 3" or more, which we were successful!! If it wasn’t for that one spot, the trip would have been disastrous. Unfortunately, the spot that we found will soon have a structure over it so I cannot say this opportunity exists for the future. What didn’t work on my trip? · My known, secret spots didn’t have shark teeth this time. · I had researched fossil formation areas, inland tides, and elevation maps; yet the locations we visited didn’t have shark teeth. We found the right layers, but not teeth (even with low creek flows). What has changed in Summerville? I believe: · Inability to use tools is impactful (there is a law against it). · I believe the hurricane years ago exposed quite a bit of fossils, but since then the volume of fossils are not being exposed quickly. I should have realized there have been a lack of YouTube postings over the past few years. If you go to the Beach without a guide/company: · Going during the day, even at low tide, has too many tourists looking for fossils. We made this mistake. · Go first thing in the morning for better odds. · Go after a storm. · Find a location away from tourists. We are pleased with the results in the images below. I hope this information is useful. Thank you

They're building a new highway and I found this where they had just dug up. Could this be a fossil or just an interesting stone created by nature. Hopefully you don't mind helping.

I love the forum, and not sure I’ve been in this area before. I’m willing to donate one of my top three finds if it will help the forum. I have an Elephant Patella that I’m willing to donate. One of my favorite finds ever, but willing to donate just from the value I get from the forum. If I need to send somewhere, let me know and I’ll send it out. Rick

Hi everyone! My son was curious about fossils in India, since we are visiting to see family. All of our knowledge about palaeontology is limited to North America, so India is completely unknown for us. I am aware of some Indian dinosaurs thanks to Prehistoric Planet and a local museum, and dinosaur egg finds published in local newspapers, but nothing else. I am pretty sure that India was once covered by a sea at some point in time, so maybe there are shells and ammonite beds in the country? If anyone can let me know about anything palaeontology related or fossil related in India, it would be greatly appreciated!

There are road trips and then there are road trips. I've planned many a family vacation without a single mistake. Sometimes we hit a hitch if the plane gets rerouted due to weather or something. As much as I love Chicago, I avoid it not because strange things happen when we get too close. (I'm a little concerned about what tomorrow may bring as we pass close by.) But, it was never due to my poor planning. The last two weeks have been crazy! I had it all planned out around being in the Black Hills on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Five days out from approximately Philadelphia, five days in South Dakota, and five days home with a day to sleep off the trip before Rick went back to work. I checked the itinerary twice. I asked my hubby, Rick, to double check it. We hit the road. The first few days went as planned. If this is Saturday, this must be Ohio kind of things. We spent the night in a castle and fossil hunted at a dam spillway in Ohio. We looked for more fossils along a waterfall in Indiana. We spent the night in a wacky, artic themed hotel room in Illinois. We visited a cave in Minnesota and looked for more fossils. We camped out in Buffalo Gap National Grasslands and looked for gemstones. It was all going swimmingly. The first goof was missing lodging for a night in South Dakota. No biggie. we'll just find a place for the night, although if I had figured it out, I would have opted to sleep under the stars in the free campground at the national park for an extra day. At least we had a nice shower. It also gave us extra time to admire the geology of Spearfish Canyon, complete with a run down the natural waterslide at "Devil's Bathtub." Two days later, we got to the field station for our Hell Creek dinosaur hunt, the whole reason for the trip. We got there 15 minutes early… and waited. Eventually we realized that people should be there by now and checked the reservations. It wasn’t Monday and Tuesday, it was Tuesday and Wednesday. Oops. This means that everything for the rest of the trip is now off by a day and the lodging for this leg of the trip dries up a night earlier than we need it. We decided to camp out in the Spearfish municipal campground the last night in SD. I rested a continuing migraine and Rick sat down to Google Maps and Expedia to figure out the rest of the trip. The Hell Creek Hunt was freaking awesome and will get its own trip report, but the highlights included unearthing a big fossil log along wit a triceratops tooth, a champsasaurus tooth, a 66-million-year-old turtle toe bone, and a rather large log that will probably take years to fully excavate. The next big thing on the agenda was hunting with a fellow fossil buff I’d met on The Fossil Forum. He lives on the Iowa/ Minnesota border. Somehow, when was copying and pasting Google maps told me that I needed to go to Indiana, not Minnesota. Well, that puts a monkey wrench in things! We rerouted everything and I sent my fossil friend a message about the change in plans. Then I forgot to hit send. I wondered for two days why he did not reply. Finally he asked if I was still coming. I said yes, we’d be out his way tomorrow; that we were on our way to DesMoines, a few hours away. Well, It IS a few hours away, but we were already EAST of him and had no buffer time before Rick had to be back to work on August 1st. So, this is the one thing we just had to skip. BOO! Crossing my fingers for our next trip west, @minnbuckeye SO, now we are playing the next few days by ear as we hop from DesMoines to somewhere to Cleveland and then home. Do I dare to try Mazon Creek in the heat of summer with a million ticks? Brave my Chicago jinx? Find crazy roadside attractions and just stop as we see signs? Only tomorrow will tell. Regardless, we’re having a ball. The roof rack on our minivan is loaded with fossils and pretty rocks. We got loads of sunshine. We have stories to tell. It’s all good.

Hello from NC, big newbie but looking forward to learning! Interested in all fossils Was obsessed as a kid and recently decided to get back into it

Heading to South Carolina, Summerville area for 3 days next week to search for shark teeth and fossils with my 19 year old son. August 2nd - 4th. Anyone interested in meeting up, let me know. I have been there once before years ago, and have been trying to best prepare as it seems the results haven't been so great (reading posts online). Last time we went we had lots of rain and water levels were prohibitive. I read the rules of no tools, which I presume means no sifting. Does anyone know if the rules are only for Summerville itself or surrounding areas too? I know no one wants to give up any spots, but if there are any tips/considerations, please let me know. Thank you

Need help to identify

I’m new to fossil hunting and just spent Saturday searching for fossils in Rhode Island. I spent about two hours at Cory’s Lane and found two possible fossils. I’m wondering if anyone can help identify these? I had a lot of fun searching there and plan on going back. Thanks so much for any help.

I am visiting the area for the next couple days. What are the best areas to find shark teeth? I have access to a private beach in the Western run area which is right up the road from Calvert Cliffs. I have limited time so I want to make sure I hit the right spots over the next couple of days. I’m very new at this and don’t really know what I’m doing. Any assistance would be greatly appreciate it. Signed hopeless

Hi gang. Just 72 hours away from my first real endurance run in years. Starting the thread now as is easier for me to share everything in "real time" rather than writing one big post. Will be hitting a new to me site in Indiana first, a brief stop in Virginia, hitting my olde home state of Pennsylvania for a few days, and will button it up with Mazon Creek. The scienceMobile is loaded down with gear and sampling supplies for both my hobbies and my job. More to follow...

Found Grand Traverse MICHIGAN Finding a lot in my yard...dug this huge rock up with multiple fossils. What period?

When I picked up this partial, larger wave battered nautilus at Whitby I didnt have much hope for it. Nautilus are rare from the Yorkshire Coast, this is from the upper lias. I gave it to my friend Malcom who has done a fantastic job removing the incomplete outerwhorls and has left me with a beautifully preserved middle. It even has some of the outerwhorl as a lovely display stand.

Hi! I'm posting a bunch of finds which I keep in my 'unidentified/concretions' pile from Monmouth NJ. Can anyone help identify if these are concretions or something else? Will keep posting finds here if there's interest and if it proves helpful to others. See some ? finds below!

I want to let everyone know that this upcoming weekend is going to be Gemworld 2023. This show is hosted by my local club, The Gem & Mineral Society of Syrause. If anyone happens to be in the area this weekend you should stop on in. I also wanted to show you all an old find from I believe Spring of 2015. Over the years I have found quite a few good size Dipluera dekayi trilobites. The one I will be posting pics of, is the only one left in my family's possession. I gave it to my oldest Son, who in turn gave it to his Sister. I got it from her last night as I am putting together a trilobite display for the show and will be showing this off. Right now with some cephalon and pygidium missing it measures 6 1/4 inches long with missing parts it would be about 6 1/2- 6 3/4 inches. I am really looking forward to the show and hope some of you can make it.

Hi, I inherited this from my uncle a few years back. He had found it in the early 50's To this day no one has been able to identify it. It is 3" long and 1.5 inches wide. The unusual part about it. Is it shakes (like something is inside of it). I am clueless. I hope this Forum can help me.

Are these fossils? And what are they? (Two in total) Found in a creek in Germany. Thank you!

Mammoths and Smilodons stay in the public spotlight, but what about all of the other species?

I don’t want to say more about the specifics of the location quite yet- i’d like to actually make sure this place is a fossil bed, and that this one find wasn’t just a fluke. I also have to talk more with the land owners, ensure they’d be okay with the site becoming publicly known, as well as work out if they are okay with me doing some more extensive searching and digging in the bedrock. But nonetheless, i wanted to share the find itself because i am so so so happy, as this is my first fossil (and potential site) that i’ve ever found by doing my own geological research, and i wanted to share it here. I hope once i speak with the landowners more, as well as find at least one more fossil to confirm its not a fluke, i can get permission to post the location!

Too many rocks in my yard, can't pass many up on 4x4 trails. Glad to read from forum to expand my experince. I am out in Arzona and enjoy many outdoor activities. I am a couple years from retirement, hoping to spend more time outdoors.