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I was able to get out to Purse State Park this morning for a Maryland Paleocene (Aquia Formation) hunt. I usually prefer the nearby Douglas Point when I hit the Potomac River but I decided to give Purse a try as I haven't been to that stretch in a while. I was the second car in the lot but first on the beach, which is always the best way to start the fossil day. My first good find--a croc tooth, though the enamel is very worn: Followed by an Otodus -- also quite worn but a decent size for the site (approx. 1.25"): It really turned into a gorgeous day! Can you spot the bald eagle? My find of the day: I've been finding ratfish material on most trips lately, but just small fragments. This is my first mostly complete tooth plate. Something interesting in the water... Multiple Otoduses always makes for a very good day. Like the other one (and all of my shark teeth today), this one's river worn. A good sized croc tooth: I did a fair amount of walking and exploring along the shoreline and didn't see too many people along the way, but the entrance to the beach was quite packed by the time I headed for the exit. Thanks for reading!

I've wanted to put together an artificial tooth set of Striatolamia striata from the Aquia Formation in Maryland for a while given the abundance of that species in the formation. Until recently, though, I was missing a lot of the less commonly collected tooth positions--extreme posteriors, intermediates, and first lower anteriors. After searching through several gallons of Potomac River gravels over the last couple of months, I finally filled in the gaps. I put together the tooth set below a few days ago and just finished mounting them in a riker box I received in the mail yesterday. I used the Striatolamia macrota artificial tooth set on elasmo.com as my guide. I'm sure some of the teeth in my reconstruction are out of place, including some of the upper or lower teeth possibly being from the opposite jaw instead. I couldn't properly size match the intermediates and first lower anteriors, but can always swap in replacements if I find them. One of the extreme posteriors is also reversed in the display (labial side showing rather than lingual like the rest) as I'm still missing a tooth from that position. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the result. This is my first artificial tooth set, and it was a fun project that taught me a lot about tooth positions! Here's the full tooth set -- the largest teeth in the display are just over an inch long: Left and right sides: Quadrants: The final riker display:

Had the great fortune to spend a few days in the northern neck with my partner looking for fossils and wandering about. Sunday we hit a low tide at Stratford Hall . A beautiful morning ,and later in the afternoon looking over our spoils at Montross brewery!

Hi! My son found this at Fossil Beach on the Potomac River at Westmoreland State Park, VA. I was hoping someone could tell me what it is. He is an aspiring (seven-year-old) paleontologist and very excited about his find! Thanks for your help!

This was not really a fossil hunt, but a lovely trip to Pendleton county West VA... I usually hunt sharks teeth on the lower Potomac in Westmoreland county, VA , but was amazed to be on the south branch of the south fork of the Potomac near Upper Tract West Virginia... it flows north here mostly heading for Harpers Ferry... I was rewarded with great views and some stromatolithic limestone .

Terrible surf and tides today on the Potomac at Stratford Hall, but I picked up this odd chunk of what appears to be enamel... portion of a tooth? But not marine as far as I have experience. Anyone have any ideas? Pictures aren’t great tonight, I’ll post more in the daylight. Thanks!

I have a 20 year relationship with the little beach at westmoreland state park, and despite the fact that it was crawling with moms, dads, and kids today, it still gave up some nice pieces.

I found this interesting bone fragment at Westmoreland State Park (Virginia) on the shores of the Potomac River. (Mostly Miocene marine fauna.) It seems to be broken on one end, but not the other. One side is concave while the other is convex. A friend thought it might possibly be a rostrum fragment? Any ideas what it could be? Thanks!

A friend found this bone on the shores of the Potomac River in Virginia... mostly miocene marine fauna. Closest we could find was a picture of an ocean sunfish beak from the Calvert cliffs.. but we are eager to hear what others might think? Thanks!

Miocene Whale Recovered From & for Display at Westmoreland State Park in VA This past Saturday, Mrs.SA2, @Daleksec (Trevor), his dad Orlin, @MarcoSr, his 2 sons Marco Jr. and Mel, a couple of other folks and I had the pleasure and privilege to finally finish recovering a whale skull from the cliffs at Westmoreland State Park here in VA. Marco Sr's sons had been working to excavate and recover this skull since June, but due to the unstable cliffs, high water levels, wind / waves, and trespassers / poachers damaging the plaster jackets, they had not been able to finish the task until this past weekend. Given the size and weight of the jacketed skull, a boat was the easiest way to get it off the beach and transported to the boat ramp where the Park's employees used a large tractor to lift it off the boat and set it on a trailer. Once prepped, the skull will be put on display at the Park's Visitors Center along with a photo album and video display chronicling the endeavor in hopes of providing knowledge and context about the geology and fossils of the area. Since Mrs.SA2 is still recovering from her fall back in late September, she was tasked with the photography / videography of the recovery. Combined with photos taken by Marco Jr. and Mel from the beginning of the excavation and several others of the group taking photos / videos on Saturday, the Park visitors will be able to see the step by step excavation and preparation process from start to finish. It is hoped that the skull and other skeletal pieces along with the photo album and video will be ready for display to the public by this spring. Everyone working to recover the whale were volunteers except for the Park employees. For the record, back at the end of June these plaster jackets on the skull and post-cranial bones are the same ones Mrs.SA2 and Trevor caught trespassers / poachers beating on with a large stick in hopes of stealing fossils. By the time they were discovered (caught red handed in the act), the trespassers / poachers had already busted the jackets open and removed multiple vertebrae, flipper bones and ribs from their matrix in the now busted open jackets. Thankfully, Mrs.SA2 & Trevor were able to stop the crime, take possession of the removed bones and then turn them over to the Park for safe keeping. Unfortunately, the Park Rangers were unable to catch the criminals despite the great descriptions provided. Here are a few of the photos taken during the recovery on Saturday. The first task of the day was clearing off the debris and sediment that had recently fallen on the working ledge. Mel is on the left in the red hat. I'm on the right and Marco Sr. is in the middle. (Don't worry folks, there are better photos of Marco Sr. a little later.) You can see the delamination and cracking of the cliff on each side of the working ledge. Here is Trevor taking a break from shoveling. Here is Mrs.SA2 posing in front of the skull. Once the debris and sediment was cleared away, the damaged / wet plaster jackets had to be removed and then the sections re-jacketed for stability during recovery. Aluminum foil was used to provide initial cover for the bones. Mel is putting on the foil while rest of us discuss how much this thing is going to weigh. Marco Jr. is in the bright blue sweatshirt, Marco Sr. is in the blue stocking cap, Orlin is in the gray hoodie closest to the cliff and I've got on the baseball cap turned backwards. Burlap is applied after the foil so the plaster will have a substrate for binding. Here, Marco Jr. is wrapping the skull in burlap while Mel mixes up the fist bucket of plaster. Next comes the plaster jacket. The Potomac River provided free water which was mixed with bags of plaster in a bucket, then hand applied to cover the burlap. Water temperature was 49F on Saturday. Mel is on the left and Marco Jr. is on the right. Didn't take long for their hands to turn blue. An interesting side note for those who don't know, Marco Sr., Marco Jr. and Mel have a website called phatfossils.com. They also have a Facebook page with the same name AND they have M&M Ranch in Nebraska where you can find Oligocene terrestrial animal fossils. You can Google that one if you want. Mrs.SA2, Trevor and I always enjoy fossil hunting and fossil discussions with them because we learn so much! Recovering the skull, we just provided the boat and some manual labor, they did the hard part. A couple of photos showing better views of the cliff. Marco Sr. is on the left in the blue stocking cap. Our buddy Zsolt is in the black coat on the ledge. Zsolt helped with taking photos and videos and is saving himself for the important task of lifting the jacketed skull off the beach. More on that later. Here is the skull with its new plaster jacket and wooden support. We found a 2" X 8" board on the beach and cut it to length in order to provide a rigid support once the jacket is flipped over. It took about 90 mins for the plaster to harden / set. Once the jacket was solid, Marco Jr. and Mel dug out underneath of jacket to separate it from the surrounding matrix. Orlin (on right with gray hoodie and shovel) helped shave off the edge of the ledge so we could roll it over and move it off the ledge and down to the beach. Note the sediment ramp built below the jacket. Once the jacket was free from the surrounding matrix, it was rolled over onto the 2X8 board and slid down the sediment ramp to the beach. It was remarkably easy since Marco Jr and Mel had built such a good jacket and gravity worked with us. (Photo below shows a much better shot of Marco Sr., blue stocking cap, 2nd from left) Next, extra matrix was removed from what was the bottom in order to get rid of weight and lighten the load. Below, Orlin (on left) is calculating the weight. Just for reference, a cubic yard of wet sediment from this location weights roughly 2,200 -2,500 lbs. The 8 of us were going to be picking up at least 1/2 cubic yard of dirt, plus the plaster jacket, 2X8 board and skull. Trevor is on the right helping Mel trim off extra matrix. Mel's tongue only came out a few times. After the load was lightened as much as possible, we used those always handy, ratchet straps to keep the jacket closed and secure during transport. The straps also kept the jacket attached to the wooden boards we used for lifting. Wouldn't want it to slide off and us drop it. You can see one of the boards sticking out the left side near Orlin's knee. We used 3 boards perpendicular to the jacket, plus a person at each end, in order to lift it. (YES, it was heavy.) All the boards were found along the beach. More to come in next post.

Went on my first hunt at the Potomac River on Wednesday. It was great weather and had a blast. It was high tide but was able to get a productive 2.5 hours in before I headed back to NJ. I was fortunate enough to meet another TFF member in the parking lot Bjohn170. Still have to go through and ID everything but enjoy the pics.

Hello all. I am a newbie on fossil forum and am thrilled that there is a platform like this to help amateurs like myself identify our finds. Thanks in advance. My wife and I have been hunting and collecting fossils over the last few years and it has become a passion. There is nothing more exciting than finding the million plus year old remains of a living creature. We are currently camping in Virginia(USA) at the Westmoreland state park located on the Potomac river near the Chesapeake bay. We went to a local beach known as fossil beach and I found a very small(1/2" long) mammal jaw bone and would love to know more about it. I do not want to speculate on what I believe it is.... I don't want to bias any opinions and I'm no expert! I found it in the sand about 10' above the waters edge. We also found some shark teeth, some fossilized bone fragments and a few ray mouth plate pieces but nothing as exciting as the jaw bone. Sorry for the crappy pics, the entire jaw bone is only 1/2" long.

My husband and I went fossil hunting today and would love some help identifying our finds. We were searching at Westmoreland State Park at Fossil Beach; it was our first time there. I believe the larger black piece is bone? And is the round piece a fossil at all? It has a hole completely through the middle- maybe a pipe stem? Thank you!

Hi everyone Not much new to report this summer, so that is why I haven't posted in awhile, but I found something interesting while fishing last weekend on the Potomac River near the mouth of the Port Tobacco River. It is about 6 cm wide at it's widest point. Any help with an ID would be greatly appreciated.

My family and I have been in Maryland since Thursday evening. The past two days have involved alot of walking and intense heat. My calves and feet are sore and I have got a good sunburn. Friday morning we met up with forum member @RCW3D and his daughter. He took us out to a Miocene exposure along the Potomac River. We started our hunt a little before 10am and I think we got finished around 2pm. We all managed to find some goodies. RCW3D'S whale vert and articulated marlin verts definitely were the prize of the day. But I was happy with what I found though nothing as exciting. I found an assortment of sharkteeth, a nice shark vert, a decent size fish vert and misc bone pieces. Devin did pretty good himself scoring a beautifully colored snaggletooth, a drumfish plate ( which he misplaced) a fish jaw minus the teeth, a nice shark vert, and some other goodies. My wife and older son found a few teeth but weren't really hunting. RCW3D helped my kids out by pointing out where teeth were by drawing a circle around them and sometimes just handing them stuff. We had a really great time and appreciate the time he spent with us. After we left, we grabbed some lunch and headed over to Mataoka cottages so the boys could swim and I wanted to do a little shell hunt. We stayed a couple hours found a few shells and sharkteeth and went for a late dinner. Today my wife wanted to go into Washinton DC, visit the monuments and a couple museums. I won't bore you with all the details. Basically a whole lot of walking in scorching heat. Anyways we are headed back home in tomorrow morning. A short trip but it was a good one. Here are some pics. #1- My finds

Hey everyone, realizing right now that I haven't posted any fossils of my own in quite a while on the forum. Anyway, I found this tooth back in 2016 on my trip to the potomac river in maryland. It was found at purse state park which has exposures of the paleocene Aquia formation. When I first took a closer look at this tooth I was surprised to see that it had a shape which I had associated with Tiger sharks. I did some research online and found that Pachygaleus would be a match as they are present in that strata. It has been a while since that initial discovery but I wanted to confirm my idea on the forum. It's about .6 cm wide at the root and about .4 cm long. Thanks, PN

It's been a while since I posted a trip but today was one that I won't forget in a long time, I was lucky enough to be there when my wife found a 4 3/4" meg...that my dumb butt walked by at least twice! DOH! Beautiful day on the river, falling water all day long and the temperature was awesome. Total haul of teeth The megs Too bad this one was missing the root. I dug the rib bone out of a chunk of matrix Atlas found by my wife Love the colors on this Found a couple of teeth hiding in some chunks of matrix

We found this fossil on the shore of the Potomac River at Fossil Beach in Westmoreland State Park, Virginia. The beach is surrounded by high clay cliffs, and is known for an abundance of sharks teeth. It appears to have a small hinge, but the contours of the lines have made it challenging for us to ID. Bivalve? Brachiopod? Can anyone share a more seasoned opinion? The rock is heavy and dense, reddish brown in color, with oval shaped pitting. The fossil impression itself measures approx 45 mm x 35 mm.

This one is small. My son is curious to know if you can help us ID the long fossil with the tiny legs. He was wondering if it could be some kind of very small shrimp? This was found on the shores of the Potomac River in Westmoreland State Park. The beach is surrounded by high clay cliffs, and is known for an abundance of sharks teeth. The long, slender fossil in question measures approx 8 mm long.

This looks to me like the internal mold of a crab carapace in concretion.,. What do you all think?

After the long month without fossil hunting, we decided to go to Purse on a free weekend. Now that it is a former state park, it's a lot harder to find because there is no address to it, so hopefully it can recover from some of the hunting that has taken place upon it's shores. I really, really wanted some nice Macrotas after all the talk I had heard about them, and thankfully, Purse didn't disappoint. It was the middle of hunting season there, and we werent wearing anything particularly bright, it was a little nerve racking hearing the boom of gunshots far of in the distance. We started by going right towards the cliffs after hearing a comment about a big otodus found there. After only finding small things, including some nice Cretolamna and Carcharias, as well as a couple goblins, we turned left, and that was where things got interesting, still peppered with the occasional crack of a gun. My identification for Paleocene fossils isn't positive, because I'm used more to Miocene, but I believe the tooth on the right may be a Macrota. It's around an inch. The teeth kept racking up. We had easily found at least two hundred, and I really can't wait to identify and label them. We were both quite tired, being as we had gotten up pretty early that day and explored the whole beach. No otodus, but around 230 teeth and hopefully a big ole' Macrota!

Hello All! I found this shark tooth at Purse State Park in Charles County, MD. Located on the Potomac River, these fossils are from the Aquia Formation. As a novice fossil hunter, I would love some help in identifying this tooth. Is this a Cretolamna sp. (appendiculata?) or Otodus obliquus? Thanks so much in advance! ~Natalie

Hello everyone, I will be visiting the Washington DC area, and want to take a trip to the Potomac to hunt for some shark teeth. Can anyone suggest a good area, and possibly some gear to wear this time of year? I normally wear a wet suit and waterproof boots for this sort of thing and stay relatively warm, so I'm not too worried about the cold. I am looking for a spot with easy access, and preferably not private property, unless someone is willing to let me search on their land. I have never been to the Potomac before, so any suggestions are welcome! Thank you!

I found this tooth at Douglas Point on a hunt about a year and a half ago. I took it out tonight and the more I look at it I am wondering if it is a small baby Otodus? If not what else do you guys think it could be? It measures 13 mm wide and 15 mm slant