I found two ichthyosaur ribs and a fern leaf on my local beach, yesterday. Unfortunately for me, they were in a massive slab which probably weighed no less than 25-30kg. At first I tried using my chisel and hammer to try and split up the rock into more manageable chunks but that didn't seem to work. Moreover, the bits of rock were flaking dangerously close to the fossils. I then tried rolling the rock, and this worked for a while until it rolled into a pit where it got stuck. With the tide coming in, I was forced to leave the slab. Now this got me thinking: How do people go about getting big and heavy slabs off the beach without specialist equipment. I was thinking of maybe coming back to the beach tomorrow to try again to see if I can still find the slab and bring it home.
Some methods of transportation I've been thinking of include:
Rolling it onto a flat board and dragging it over the rocks.
Putting it in a carrier bag then dragging it.
More information:
The beach is very rocky
The tide comes in very fast so I'll only have around 20 minutes to get it past the tideline
I don't have a stone saw or any other similar equipment
I don't think its of any scientific value, but it would definitely be one of my best fossils.
If anyone could give any advice on how to go about getting big slabs like this off the beach it would be great!
Thank you!
Also I'm sleeping for the next 12 hours so probably won't be able to reply