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My wife and I went hunting for a couple hours this morning to the Stratford Hills to look in some Mowry Shale. We only collected for an hour since the sun was coming up and getting very hot. We found a lot of fish scales and some partial ammonites with their impressions. From what I understand there are only two genus's of ammonite found in Mowry shale, Metengonoceras and Neogastroplites. I am still trying to narrow down which genus they are. But it was a great trip with our first ammonites for our collection.

My wife and I recently went looking for fossils, both outside of Drumheller and on the banks of the Red Deer river in Alberta, Canada. The idea of finding a fossil has always been so exciting to me, but until recently I thought it was something only palaeontologists could do. When we found out that we were allowed to surface collect we decided to give it a go! Anyways... Here are some of the things we found. I am not confident that any of them are fossils, but I would be so stoked if at least one of them was. - The first three images are of a rock we found on the banks of the Red Deer River. There was a lot of sand stone in the area, but I don't think that this particular piece is sand stone. As you can see in the third image, it is layered. To me, it looks like at least one shellfish, potentially three. It's hard to see in the photos, but there are rays that look far to ordered to be random, and I think it strongly resembles a clam shell or limpid. - The next image is of a rock found in the same area with what I think looks like a piece of shell in it. - The fifth image is of a rock my wife found in the badlands outside of Drumheller. Not really sure what to make of that one TBH... - The sixths and seventh images are of what I think is a little piece of bone. This was also found in the badlands, and it was encased in some sandstone that I was easily able to break off with my fingers. it is very porous and at first I thought it was a stick, but the pores remind me of bone. Anyways... I really appreciate anyone who took the time to read the ramblings of a complete beginner, and your input is greatly appreciated.

Hello, I am completely new to fossil hunting. I recently found this in my back yard while filling in a hole that had been dug a few months back. I don't know if it's fossil, natural formation or garbage. I'm hoping the Fossil Forum members can help ID it for me. It was found in the far west part of the panhandle of Florida. I know the ground here has been disturbed in the recent past and it's possible fill dirt has been brought from somewhere else locally. At it's widest it is about 2.5", the thin cross section is about 1/4" and the tuber looking part is oval in shape , 3/4"x5/8". Thanks in advance for all your help.

I took a small scoop of this matrix straight out of the bag.

(First post so sorry if there are formatting errors) Yesterday I took my first fossil hunting trip ever and had some beginners luck! I went to Cory’s Lane in RI and stayed for about an hour and a half. I found a few pieces (pics below) that I’m really proud of. I’m not sure if the large one with big lines in it is a fossil so if anyone knows that would be great. All that said, I still have no idea what I did right (or what I was doing wrong). Some members told me that I should go for the dark grey shale and not the graphite-black stuff, which I tried to do. I was also told gentle digging would produce shale that may hold better prints but didn’t have a shovel with me. I definitely intend to go again so any tips on improving my technique for that site would be appreciated. I was also wondering if there is a way to tidy these up/make the imprints stand out at all? I looked at some posts about PVA etc. but those seem to be techniques for museum-grade pieces (which I know these aren’t). Also the first picture has lots of what I assume are rust stains and I was wondering if it’s possible to remove those without destroying the prints?

First step to wisdom right? So the two most likely sites I'll be hitting first will be Burnham-on-Crouch and East Mersea. Reading those two profiles, looks like a non-zero amount of sieving will be required to find anything, so I guess my first question is whats a good sieve to get? I'm assuming your basic kitchen equipment is not whats being referred to here. Secondly, in terms of identification, what are some good resources? Preferably books since I absorb printed info much more readily than something from a document online, but I'll take online if that's all there is. A sub-section of this is I need a good resource for what all the words mean and why something being Eocene and not Miocene is relevant, to pick a random example out of the hat. I absolutely appreciate that some of this comes from reading a bunch of stuff, but somewhere to start would be handy. Thirdly... I don't have a specific third question, so whats the thing you wish you'd known when you first started collecting? Many thanks in advance. Dragonlover

Sorry if this isn't the right subforum, I'm a newbie to this forum and fossil hunting. I picked up a couple pieces of shale in the Mount Carmel, PA coal mine dump (would recommend; there's a thread with a picture of the location here and any given rock you pick up off the ground will likely contain fossils) a little while back and am finally getting around to splitting them. What's the best way to do so without damaging/splitting the surface? The one in the linked pic has distinct layers but is still quite cohesive(?), and the other doesn't have nearly as distinguished layers, but I'm not as concerned about ruining the surface. Both seem like they will be far more difficult to split than typical flaky shale. Sorry if a similar question has been asked before!

So a while back I was given these fossils along with a Spinosaurus tooth. He said that they were all from the same area and that they were both vertebrae. I can see the touch up on the larger one obviously but it still seems real because of the spongy meterial from the one view. I was just wondering if you could ID these for me I’m pretty new to the fossil scene. Thanks.

So I’m a newb at the fossil stuff. I mean I have fossils and like Jurassic Park as much as the next guy... well a little more maybe. But anyway I was looking through my collection the other day and came across this trilobite I got from my friend a long time ago and it has always anoyed me for some reason. I just don’t know if it’s normal and he broke it or what is going on with it. I thought I’d ask the experts here. Also it’s from a cliff on a beach on Lake Erie in Buffalo, New York. Thanks

Hi! I have always been interested in natural history and paleontology, but never really considered collecting (or perusing an education) until very recently. I'm shy and don't really know what to say but it would be nice to know some people who are interested in the same things.

I have a friend in Leander, TX, just outside of Austin looking for a good place to start. Any advice on rivers, creeks, roadcuts, etc. in the area? I'm not well versed in TX geology so I'm not even sure what's available there. She has been to South San Gabriel (now dry) and found what looked like to me "devil's toenails". Any advice would be appreciated!