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Everyone I've encountered on this site has been very helpful, so thank you. However, I'm in need of more help. For the last year I've been collecting real fossils in the field and selling some to pay for more exotic rocks. In a recent post I found that my Solnhofen shrimp is, if not totally, mostly fake. Now I'm quite suspicious of my entire purchased collection and was hoping you could help me identify fakes. The first two pictures are apparently Priscacara, Green River Formation, Eocene; the next two supposedly Asteroidea, Morocco, Ordovician; the last three supposedly Triassic, Arizona petrified wood--this came from the same group that sold me the fake shrimp. All help is appreciated.

Hello, My kid and I had always looked for shark teeth on the beach, only to find few recent teeth and minimal shells. About three years ago we got serious and started researching locations and better hunting options. Now we are both fully hooked. We've hunted in FL, MS, AL, TN, KY with a trip planned to NC and SC this summer. Whether its beach, river or creek, we are likely digging, sifting and exploring, which leads to us having to by more jars to hold our finds. Most near us don't understand why we choose to spend 8 hours of a Saturday waist deep in murky water digging and shifting then show them pictures of teeth and bones. Thanks for having a place where we can see other peoples finds while showing some pictures of our own. Grateful for the help and information found on the fossil forum so far. Best teeth and bone fossils have been from FL and MS. First two pics are finds from the Peace River in FL. Petrified wood weighs 12.5lbs and had 3 shark teeth embedded in grooves. 3rd picture is of our finds around Venice, FL. 6th picture is from near Venice, FL as well 4th & 5th pictures are from MS, with the unidentified bones found in the same area months apart, but seem to fit together like a knee joint. Bones are 7" and 8" inches long.

I found this at a Goodwill. Is this a bone? It looks like too much bark to be wood. The white part is far less dense compared to the center (darker area).

Hey guys, yet another I..D. request from new fossil spot, which is a deep creek bed which drains a diverse area ranging from Miocene to Jurassic. Wondering if this could be fossilized wood. Any thoughts?

I've searched the web and these forums before joining so I could post. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Appears as though it was once firewood. Shiny spot on "top" of specimen is water.

I think I know this answer but is feasible that a piece of petrified (real) could have an end of it that was cut (doesn’t appear like a newcomer) it’s just a chopped off end in a perfect cut but not like a shear break and this piece is course like it wouldn’t break like that if it broke and it looks original. Not sure if that makes sense. It’s a whitish piece and came with a cross section slice of another piece that was with it. But I know to be petrified it was before mankind so couldn’t be cut back then?

More goodies from the same site as the sandstone nodules. Some of this looks like wood to me and one seems highly probable to be a bone fossil. Sorry no metric on the tape measure I'll look for a duel standard measure next time im in town.

August 15, 2009 It all started on a small, secluded Texas waterway in the Jungle of Gigantism (you know better than to ask); we watched a log submerge with purpose... but, it was no log. Big reptiles were only a hint of the giant to come. Shortly afterward, we pulled into the bank and my friend Dan offered, "you want upstream or downstream?" Words he later said would influence a fossil career. It was 7:45 in the morning. I headed downstream to low gravel ledge. Within a short time, I found an unusual shaped bone, a little over a foot long, wedged into the bank. It turned out to be a limb bone of a giant sloth! It even had gravelly sandstone attached to it. I laid my paddle beside it and continued to search the ledge. Finding nothing else, I thought that I should check out where the ledge dropped into the water...and there it was. A dinner plate-sized dome edged from the steep face, halfway down to the water. To the casual observer, it would seem to be another rock, but the shape resonated in my consciousness - bone...big bone. Sloth bone I returned to the first bone and took a few in situ photos. Dan was working his way back toward the boat about 100 yards away. He hollered out that he was going to check out the opposite bank. I signaled a 'thumbs up', and decided to call my wife. I excitedly told her that we were well underway on our expedition, and that I had just found a good sized limb bone. I also told her that I might have found something BIG, and that I'd get in touch with her later. While Dan continued to wander the opposite gravel bar, I dropped over the ledge to take a few photos of the "dome" in the face of the bank. "Hey Dan, you need to come over here. I want your opinion on something." I grinned inside; there were logistics to work out....my mind was racing! We had over 2 dozen miles to travel...in Dan's nearly maxed out two man kayak. This was going to get interesting.... Proximal "dome" exposed on bank face I spent the next several minutes going over the entire area again. The reason was twofold: I needed to work off some adrenalin, and it's easy to miss something when you're that hyped up. Dan finally arrived, and I guided him to the first bone. He reacted, "Whoa! That's significant! It looks like sloth to me." "I found something else," I replied. We scrambled over the bank and dropped into the mud below the small ledge. "What do you think this is?" I grinned. His eyes went wide and he started rubbing some of the dirt off the dome to get a better look at the details. We both shook our heads in awe. I scooped up some water and splashed it over the dome. Dan rubbed it like there was a genie inside. We both took a closer look, then shook our heads in amazement...BONE! I was a little closer to one of my dreams of finding another fossil giant. We started digging...and the apparent became more obvious as the end of a massive bone slowly emerged from the soil. Suddenly, I turned to Dan, "Did you hear that?" "No; what?" "I hear a boat coming." Now, we are a bit protective of productive fossil sites, but the fishermen (that we eventually engaged in conversation) appeared to be friendly enough. It seems that a dentist, a chiropractor, and their friend wanted to do some fishing. They were also looking for some pieces of petrified wood, so we quickly obliged them with the location of a few large pieces we found upstream. A little later, they returned. We had just extracted the first few pieces of the bone. The largest was close to a saturated 60 lbs. In the time they had been upstream, Dan and I analyzed the transport logistics and boat capacity and we knew we had a dilemma. There was no way we could haul all of this bone more than 20 miles. So, we struck a deal on more fossil wood while I took down some phone numbers and a calculated risk. I placed the large proximal end securely into a corner of the floor of their boat. They thanked us for the wood, and we agreed to meet at a location downstream later in the day. Even with the phone numbers and brief rapport, I winced as they slowly rounded the bend. With a deep breath, I forced the what ifs from my mind; we still had a large piece of bone in the bank. After two and a half hours of bruising, bloody digging into clay and gravel with improvised rock hammers and knives, Dan and I lifted out the final piece of the monster bone. This joint confirmed which part of the skeleton I had found. The "dome" turned out to be the proximal end of a nearly complete Columbian Mammoth humerus (top of the front leg)! It had angled directly back into the bank. Although fractured into several pieces, it was later re-assembled to be just over 48 inches long and around 120 lbs! It's massive and huge! Author badgering the bone Dan working to free the distal end ...Back in the water, we had to rearrange some things on the kayak to achieve proper trim. Tentatively, and with a little fine tuning, we continued our journey downstream. Several hours later, we passed our waterborne associates, and told them we would see them later. Along the way further downstream, we stopped periodically to check likely looking spots for more fossil bone. Occasionally, we would find a large chunk of petrified wood, and stand it up near the water. We hoped to show more goodwill toward our upstream transport team. Author with the distal end Reaching another prime location, we pulled in and started searching. There were many large pieces of fossil wood here, so we stacked them up. With a flash of insight, I reminded Dan that we weren't far from a nearby road. If I could persuade the fishermen to take me and the rest of the bone a short distance further downstream, then they would be free of any later rendezvous. We could pay them with all the petrified wood, and I would also be free of worry. Then, I could hike the pieces of bone to a hidden spot near the road, and go back to the water where he could pick me up. Dan agreed, and within a short time our plan went into action. I profusely thanked the guys for their assistance and we parted company. Near the road, I scouted the area for a hiding place and promptly secured the fossil treasure. A quick survey from all angles left me confident it would be there later. Soon, Dan came into view upstream, and we were off to see what other bounty awaited us. Several other finds were made that rounded out a spectacular adventure. As we loaded the boat onto my vehicle, darkness soon caught us. By the time we reached my hidden cache and got it loaded, it was 10:30 PM. It had been quite a day! Primary pieces Over 48 inches long Columbian Mammoth humerus Awesome discovery!

Recent finds from Texas! Ammonites from the Goodland limestone, petrified wood and ice age stuff bank gravel of the Brazos river, either Beaumont or Lissie formations, or from a terrace deposit. The rib is mammoth/mastodon, the vertebra and hoof core bison, the antler is likely whitetail deer, and the teeth are horse and bison, with the small one I think a 3-toed horse based on the images I looked up.

Hey all! I haven’t posted in a long time but I was too excited about this. I absolutely love petrified wood. I love the colours, the rings, the detail! My wonderful husband bought me this AMAZING piece of petrified wood from a local rock shop. I took it home, gave it a bath and a good scrub. It’s green! Now I've heard about the chromium petrified wood from Arizona but I have NO idea where this one came from. It’s super heavy at 25.7lbs!! I absolutely adore this piece and even if it isn’t chromium wood, it’s definitely stunning!

Hello everyone, A while back I was gifted this fairly large piece of pet wood from Arizona. I don't really know what I can do with it as I don't have any equipment to polish or cut rocks like this. I was wondering if any TFF members have such equipment, and if they did how much it would cost to either polish this piece at one or both ends or alternatively, slab it and polish some of the slabs. I don't know if it would be worth the time or money to do so, I am just trying to see what I can do with a piece like this. Thank you very much for any help, Misha

Found this yesterday in Texas (Gulf coast plains area). Looked like petrified wood at first but now I'm not sure. Either end is very pourous and looks a lot like the inside of a bone.

Hi all, We were in the Yellow Cat/Poison Strip area this summer and came across what we think might be a dinosaur bone in the Poison Strip sandstone layer. We also found agate/jasper. Trouble is, the “bone” is an unusual shape and the petrified wood for the area supposedly has lost its grain structure, so I’m not sure what to say. Wondering if anyone else can chime in about these? thanks, Lloyd

We visited Yellow Cat Flats/Poison Strip and went fossil hunting. At the time, we thought we found petrified wood (there, the wood doesn't show any grain so tricky) and dinosaur bones, but now we're just unsure. We posted in the ID section before posting this video and reached out to others, but it's tricky. If you have any ideas, please let us know, and posting below the video on youtube will help others to learn as well (outside this knowledgeable forum). best wishes, Lloyd

Hello all, I feel like this is a stretch but I'm wondering if anyone can help ID this petrified wood slab based on its appearance? I got this back when I wasn't keen on age/locality so unfortunately don't have any other information. Its diameter is about 100-120mm across. I know some types of petrified wood such as the Arizona rainbow petrified wood or Palm wood have characteristic appearances so perhaps this one looks like something?

My daughter found this while on a hike through a creek bed. The top of the bank was roughly 20ft high. Tom Green county, Texas. There were a couple of pieces of petrified wood in the same area. I've seen plenty of animal bones, it has that texture, but the shape is peculiar.

So I’ve got a few questions all at once. Over the years I’ve inherited a number of my great grandfathers rocks (he was also into paleontology and geology) but I’m not sure what they all are. I’m guessing 1 is some sort of mineral, not a fossil. It, along with 2 and 4, were found digging the foundation of his home in south Charleston, WV. I feel like 2 might be petrified wood, but if it is I’m very curious about the side that’s black and very crystallized. 3 is from Seneca rocks in WV and I feel like must be a fossil but I really don’t know what. 4 again looks like petrified wood to me, and 5 for a complete change of geography, is from Washington state, somewhere at the beach (as vague as that is). I imagine it’s just some sort of mineral inclusion in an ocean tumbled rock, but thought I’d ask. My last question is geology related so apologies but I don’t wanna have to go make a bunch of new friends on some geology board so I had hoped one of you would be able to help me. Great grandfather hand made this board of rocks and minerals but it’s missing alabaster and lepidolite. Anyone have any idea where I might acquire single, small samples of both of these minerals so that I might complete the set? As always many thanks for taking the time.

We have dug up this when repiling our house. Not sure what it is?

I found these two pieces on a gravel road along with bucket loads of other petrified wood. It was brought in with other large rock and put on a dirt road near my home. (West Monroe, Louisiana) Therefore, I’m not sure of the exact location from which this came. I was wondering if this was amber that had been petrified with the wood somehow? If it’s not amber, any suggestions as to what it is? Second piece

Hello all! We just had a family member pass, and among the items we found, are several pieces like this one. Not sure of this one is petrified wood or some sort of fossilized tusk. There are a few more with a very similar "curvature" to them, like this one below. Beer can for size comparison. Any help in identifying them is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Here's an unusual bit of petrified wood. This is from the Nacimiento Mine near Cuba, New Mexico. The mine has been closed for some time but occasionally collectors are allowed in. (The land has reverted to the Forest Service, which is cleaning up the aftermath of an abortive attempt to extract copper using sulfuric acid leaching.) The mine is a huge point bar deposit of wood in the Shinarump Formation (Triassic) that was permineralized with copper minerals. The black here is mostly chalcocite, copper sulfide, which in a few spots has been oxidized to blue or green azurite or hematite. At the mine itself, you see black fragments of the chalcocite-mineralized wood with lots of blue-green staining around it, as well as occasional wood fragments that were silicified rather than copper mineralized. At left is a chunk that was permineralized with copper; at right is a twig that is more conventional silica permineralization. The difference seems to be in the original state of the wood. It appears much of the wood was partially burned, and the charcoal was more likely to permineralize with copper minerals than silica. Cool as copper permineralization is, the fact that it's charcoal rather than pristine wood means this is of more mineralogical interest than paleontological. Still, though y'all might enjoy.

Just joined and this is my first post. I’m hoping to learn more about this find in northwest Houston. It was on a site with imported fill material, so it could have come from a different area nearby and at a different depth. It was encased in white/light gray clay with many 1-2mm round river pebbles embedded in the “bark”. I’m interested to know mostly if the outer section being different than the inner section is a normal formation, and additional information will be appreciated. Thanks.

Hey guys new to the forum! I have a piece of petrified wood that looks to have both copal and amber veins in it. I know how almost impossibly rare this can be but this has passed every test for amber that could be done outside of a lab. I am getting it verified in a few days. Would like to get the communities opinions on this piece. Thanks.

I found a few interesting things at a road cut near Brady TX that I had went to with the Austin Paleontological society. I found a layer that had about 140 starfish and in the same area some of the layers had pieces of petrified wood and what looks like tiny leaves. Any info is appreciated Thanks

I do not have a large fossil/rock collection, but what I do have I am proud of. This is my rarest piece I have. It is a piece of petrified wood from The Allan Hills, Antarctica. During the 2001-02 summer I was fortunate enough to land a job as a janitor at McMurdo and was night janitor at Crary Science Lab. So a guy I know had went out to do work in the area and brought back samples. He was like, "you want some petrified wood?" I happily took it not knowing at the time how rare and hard this was to get. Also, this is a rather large piece, being about the size of the palm of my hand and while we moved it split along a weak plane falling into two pieces. It was ok, because I can display it better now. I have some other rocks from Antarctica I will show at some point. Since my collection is small I will spread it out over time.