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Hi everyone! Last saturday we went on a fossil hunting trip with the BVP to Hotton in the Belgian Ardennes. https://www.paleontica.org/locations/fossil/667 There were 2 different locations planned for the day, the first was the "Carrière de Marenne" quarry in Hotton were we spent most of the day. It was my first time at this location, so I didn't have very high expectations but we were very pleasantly surprised by the quality and quantity of the finds which made for a very productive and succesfull trip! Unfortunately like so often I forgot to make pictures inside the quarry... So it will mainly be a report of the finds rather than the excavation. The age of the layers date back to the Givetian stage of the middle Devonian which lasted from 388 million years ago to 383 million years ago. There were 3 spots inside the quarry were we searched for fossils. We started on the east side of the quarry where we found some weathered corals, a bivalve and some bryozoans. One of our friends was very lucky when they found a fragment of Placoderm bone.. the 2nd spot we searched was still on the east side of the Quarry but this time near the big rock outcrop which devides the quarry in two pieces. Here we all hit gold as this was a large area where it was full with weathered fossils in great condition ready to be picked up! No need for hammers here, just grabbing which was laying on the ground as it was littered with corals en brachiopods. We almost collected a bucket full from this area alone. The 3rd spot was the west side of the quarry which was divided in multiple levels. I mainly searched in a large rock pile with some others as it seems these were the remains of an ancient coral bank. We found many large corals here like Hexagonaria and Favosites as well as some nice mineral specimens to much delight of my girlfriend. Someone did do the find of the day here when he found 2 extremely large Stringocephalus brachiopods. I also went with Tom, our group leader to prospect the rest of the quarry but beside some corals I didn't find much more things of interest. At the end of the trip we were given some nice mineral specimens by Tom who found some on the lowest level of the quarry which we didn't visit ourselves. Here the only photo I made inside the quarry, were my girlfriend was building a rock fortress. (Everyone was on a one hour break due to the early summer heat) And here are our finds from inside the quarry: A large Hexagonaria sp. coral which we managed the haul home, one of the perks when you bring a wheelbarrow to a quarry! Another nice Hexagonaria sp. coral And our 3rd large piece of Hexagonaria sp. coral One of the Favosites sp. corals we brought home. Another Favosites coral An our chuncky Favosites coral A weathered Hexagonaria coral. A bivalve we found early at the beginning of the search.

Hello All Today and the next five days I'm on a family trip in the Ardennes. I am close to the region around Hotton. This is known for the many invertebrate fossils that can be found here. I went to a quarry first. I had to get permission from the owners but they gave if I didn't break the obvious rules of fossilhunting in an active quarry. The weather was very nice and the fossils numerous. What else does a fossilhunter want? I searched in an the loose rocks and didn't even had to use my hammer. The ground here is littered with fossil corals. In 5 minutes I found about 20 pieces. I have no Idea of the species yet.

Yesterday we went on a fieldtrip organised by my geology club in the area of Marche en Famenne. In the morning the first stop was the visit of the "Grottes de Hotton" but me and my girlfiend didn't do this visit, so we got around 11am at the grottes to wait for the rest of the group. the weather was sunny and the temperatures very pleasant, this was going to be a very nice spring day. When the group was complete we hit the road to the quarry a couple of kilometers further. first we got a quick lesson about the geology of the quarry and safety mesures ( the sediments in the quarry were of mid Devonian age: Givetian). After this we where free to prospect the area. In the screes a lot of very large corals could be found, but I passed on those until I would find a more managable specimen. but a few of our friends did make the effort to drag a few of those back to the cars. After a while I found a verry good spot where a fossiliferous clay layer was washed out. this is where I found most of the good stuf. Lots and lots of Atrypas (brachiopods ) and a multitude of different corals ( sociophyllum, favosites, scoliopora,.. ) most of these were extremely wel preserved. With further prospection of the site we found a few other fossiliferous spots, one notable one where fragments of large Stringocephalus brachiopods could be found. we even found a few more or less complete specimens. At 4 pm we gathered back to the car and the finds where compared and discussed, and of course we left for a local pub to finish this perfect day for a refreshing drink. Enjoy the pictures: One of the big corals: The memmorial at the pub: the turret of an "easy 8 " sherman tank. Some time to rest after the hard work