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I think I posted these years ago but I don't know what happened to that. I acquired these from the same old (late) rockhound couple from whom I got a number of other 'orphaned' items that caused me to join the Forum looking for more info. The people I got them from could not remember where they came from. They are obviously some sort of nut or seed. They are rather lightweight, but they still sink in water and are almost rocklike, which you can tell by tapping them on your teeth. If they aren't fossil, I'd say they've been buried for some time. For all I know they could be from around here. Most of the old couple's stuff was from around here on the Island (Upper Cretaceous Nanaimo Group, mostly), though they did have some stuff from elsewhere in North America too. Also, every now and then I come across something in my hunts that are reminiscent, such as the thing in the next post below, though this one is squashed - perhaps the 4 above came out of one of the coal-producing formations in Nanaimo area. But if on the other hand someone recognizes them from a different location, or what their ID may be, I'd appreciate knowing about it.

Hello, could anybody help me with identification of this piece poping out of the amber? It's 5mm (0,2 inch) long and at first sight it looks like a seed. I don't know where is this piece of amber from. Thanks for any help.

found this little thing it looked interesting it looks like it was once prickly? it also looks like it had a stem? is this a seed or perhaps a sponge?

I have a couple of rocks that look like seeds. What do you think? Do those look like bite marks on the one on the left? Let's hear your thoughts. The one on the right was in pea gravel at a playground in Iowa, I find fossil shell fossils in pea gravel sometimes. I'm not sure where I got the other one, in central Iowa.

WHAT WE LEARNED IN OUR FIRST FOSSIL HUNTING SUMMER This is a short recap of what we learned on our fossil trips this summer, in our first 3 months as very new fossil collectors. This week, Nancy and I gave a slide presentation on our summer fossil hunting experiences, to the Delaware Valley Paleontological Society. We didn't realize it ourselves but in 3 months we visited 8 sites in Pennsylvania and New York including: Antes Creek, Deer Lake, Red Hill, Juniata County, McIntyre Mountain, Montour and St. Clair in Pennsylvania, and a very productive trip to Tully, NY. We visited St. Clair 4 times, which has become our home site. At St. Clair, we were astonished by the diversity of species - we collected well articulated samples of more than a dozen species including: Alethopteris, Annularia, Asterophyllites, Cordaites, Cyclopteris, Eusphenopteris, Lepidophylloides, Neuropteris, Odontopteris, Pecopteris, Sphenophyllum, Sphenopteris, and numerous Seeds, Bark, Roots. Most notably - I learned to pronounce all of these without stuttering! At St. Clair, we spent one trip looking exclusively for seeds trigonocarpus), and one trip looking just for roots (stigmaria). Our most significant finds have included very large (2 foot long) display pieces covered with well articulated orange ferns, an alethopteris seed attached to a leaf stem, and many Carboniferous leaves that have different shapes from traditional ferns. What we learned this summer has really helped us find some interesting fossils - here are a few things we did that helped a lot: 1. DOING OUR HOMEWORK. It helped to study each site in advance using Internet websites and books on fossils (Dave's "Views of the Mahantango" and "Louisville Fossils" are among the best, imho). Several universities also have great educational sites that bring each era to life in very creative and interesting ways, with lots of illustrations and photos. I like the UC-Berkeleyand University of West Virginia websites. 2. LEARNING FROM TRIP REPORTS. We read trip reports from other groups and individuals to see what they reported - sometimes this helps us stumble across new places to visit such as the site at Tully, NY and Deer Lake. 3. SETTING GOALS AND TARGETS FOR EACH TRIP. For each trip, we establish specific goals - for example we may look for seeds, or roots at St. Clair, or trilobites or shell assemblages at a Devonian site. Our interest right now is in looking for things that are scarce or rare, and fossils that are extremely well articulated (which is also rare!). We also like solving puzzles so eventually we would like to find things that help add to the fossil record in areas where there are still questions or missing links. 4. DISPLAYING WHAT WE FIND. Personally, Nancy and I like collecting larger fossils that we can display in mounts and frames, and we are also looking for larger pieces that we can display like sculptures - we have a few pieces that we drilled holes in, inserted wooden dowels that we stained, and then drilled/inserted the dowels in wooden trophy bases - all available from a craft store. This allows us to display thicker fossils esp. assemblages, like sculptures, and you can turn them around and look at all sides when they are mounted like this. 5. WE AVOID FOSSIL HORDING. We both agreed that we would NOT become "fossil horders" putting hundreds of rocks in boxes and sticking them away in the basement or garage - instead, we focus on finding display-quality items, and rare or scarce finds which we are slowly putting in frames. 6. DOCUMENTING OUR FINDS WITH CLOSEUP PHOTOS. We photograph everything we find as soon as possible after returning from a trip, using a digital camera with a closeup attachment - many times we find new discoveries while taking closeup photos and some of our best finds came AFTER we returned from the trip and inspected our fossils. I usually put the finds on a white background on an ironing board and use window light, nothing fancy, but it works. 7. FOSSIL ID. We post anything we can't identify on the Fossil Forum and are EXTREMELY grateful for the terrific response from our friends on the site! We are also accumulating a growing library of fossil books (some modern, some from the 19th and early 20th century) so we can identify more fossils ourselves without having to post on Fossil ID. 8. WRITING ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCES GIVES US NEW INSIGHTS. We report everything that interests and excites us about fossil hunting on Fossil Forum to share our experiences - and we find that writing about what we're doing helps us learn more and gain insights, just from writing about it. We have also started videotaping some of our adventures and are thinking about the best place to post some of these. 9. WINTER PLANS: COPING WITH CABIN FEVER. Our winter plans are to visit one or two more sites, then go into "fossil hibernation" and organize, identify and label fossils we haven't processed yet. We have a Dremel to do some light preservation work where needed. We are not planning to become "chemical conservators" - using chemicals to dissolve limestone and so forth - that's a bit too ambitious for us at this point. We may get involved in some interesting activities by local universities that are using 3D printing to process and replicate large dinosaur bones. We are also planning to provide an exhibit (on Carboniferous plants and trees/coal swamps) at a fossil fair in April. 10. RECOMMENDED READING: I enjoy reading fossil books - I'm currently reading with great interest a small book entitled "Leaves and Stems from Fossil Forests" by Raymond E. Janssen (1939) which I bought last night at the DVPS meeting, and a textbook entitled Introduction to Paleobiology and the Fossil Record by Benton and Harper (2008) (excellent book). The book that has been the most useful to me so far is the classic book "Fossil Collecting in Pennsylvania" by Hoskins et. al. (3rd ed. 1983). I am constantly re-reading the Hoskins book and find something new each time as my knowledge grows. A book that impressed Nancy and me is a large beautifully illustrated book entitled "Prehistoric Life: The Definitive Visual History of Life on Earth" (published by Dorling Kindersley, 2012) UPDATE (Oct 11): Nancy is taking some college courses which are prerequisites to enter grad school, so I am doing most of the fossil reading and ID. I read several books at the same time and other books I purchased that I am currently reading are: Paleobotany: The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants (second edition) by Thomas Taylor; and Introduction to Paleobiology and the Fossil Record by Benton and Harper. I guess you can tell from this that I'm reading up on fossil plants - my main interest is not just to understand the evolution and fossil record, identification tips, etc. - but also to try to figure out where the missing links and gaps are so if we come across something that adds to the fossil record, we will be able to recognize the value. What is most surprising is that there is a lot missing from the Carboniferous record - partly because after this period, many of the oceans and swamps apparently dried up and there were ice ages and other factors that caused mass extinctions. Here are some interesting things I have learned this summer about Fossil Plants and Trees: 1. More Carboniferous insect fossils and evidence of insects are needed (by the way, there are some GREAT current discussions about insects on this forum!). 2. Many categories of lycopsids and other Carboniferous trees and plants do not have verified associations between the leaves and seeds, or leaves and trunks/stems. Many trigonocarpus (fossilized seeds and "fruits") are found with leaves, but examples of seeds actually ATTACHED to leaf sprigs are rare (we have found one example of a seed attached to Alethopteris). 3. More Leaf and Bark Verifications are Needed. Another interesting thing I learned is that there are more than 30 different types of "scale tree" patterns but only half a dozen leaves for these trees - suggesting that a lot of different species had the same leaves - or - there are a lot of missing leaf types or the existing leaf types have not been matched to the bark patterns yet. 4. Another peculiar revelation is that most Carboniferous leaves that do not fall neatly into classic fern shapes seem to be lumped together as "sphenopteris" - we have many "non-traditional fern" leaf fossils that are VERY different from each other and obviously different species, but when we go online to ID them, they all seem to be grouped as "sphenopteris!" Maybe some of these leaf types match up with the bark patterns I mentioned. 5. Last but certainly not least is the insight that fern trees could have 2 or 3 different types of leaves on the same tree! This was really interesting. Also, some leaf types can come in different shapes - for example, Neuropteris can be round at the base of a stem and elongated along the stem and at the tip...AND...some paleobotanists now classify cyclopteris - the round fan shaped leaf - as a form of Neuropteris. This definitely adds to the confusion. I'm still reading and trying to understand all of this and these are only my initial impressions, which are still forming and there may be explanations for some of these questions that I haven't discovered yet but these are the questions that I am trying to answer by reading, and of course, by fossil collecting. I hope that many of our new friend (and I should add, VERY COOL new friends!) on the fossil forum will help clarify some of these interesting questions. Hope this is helpful.

Hi all, While sifting for sharks teeth in the pebbles we came across these different looking ‘stones’. The top and bottom specimens are the ones we are questioning. Stones? Seeds? Scute? (Top one). Any help would be welcomed. Thanks in advance

I hammered this free from a chunk of ironstone. Ironstone matrix. I thought it was completely round like a marble nut the more I inspected I see some traits that this is a designed specimen with a symmetrical pattern and some unique patterns. Any ideas?

I any ideas on this set of small fossil from Torres Vedras, Portugal. They on a website for sale Thank you cheers Bobby

https://imgur.com/a/J0Twa Originally posted on r/fossilid on reddit.com. Did not get much reception. I literally know nothing about fossils except a few tidbits in recognizing basic things like crinoids. I do not remember exactly where it was found, but geologic maps indicate my area, Columbia, Missouri, is roughly in the carboniferous layer. I'm sorry I don't have many good views of it--I do not have any good tools to readily chip away at it. Let me know if you guys have any more questions! Thank you so much!

This was found in a riverbed in Indiana three decades ago. I have yet to figure out exactly what it might be. A gem show expert said it was a Crinoid Sea Lilly but it does not really match Sea Lilly photos posted on line. It is 4 1/2” long, 7” around and weighs 320 grams. Thank you so much for your input!

Here is another item that I am looking for an ID on- It is a Pennsylvanian seed from the Manning Canyon Shale, Utah. I am thinking "Trigonocarpus" or "Cordaicarpus"- any suggestions or ID?

Out at a hadrosaur dig site and came across this seed. Can anyone identify it? Thanks for looking!

Please forgive me for my fossil ignorance, as I do not know much about them. I am trying to find our what kind of fossil this could be. Or maybe it isn't. I'm not sure. I have looked on the internet for awhile and found nothing really similar to it. If this is easy and I'm just an idiot, I'm sorry haha. Just thought you all could help me here. Thank you

Hi everybody. Recently I found this fossil in the coal measures, but I don't know what is It. Maybe seeds? What do you think? Regards Juan

Yesterday I looked in my batch of unattended rocks and found one very mixed fossiliferous rock I had been meaning to explore. These are two of the specimens I found inside:

Brought back from the site 7/6. Seed?

Here is another found this past summer. The first two are counterparts to each other. It is raised, like an almond. I wonder if the third is what it looks like inside??

This again is small, but I believe it is another of the Cardaites Seed?

Brought this one home, and again, am not sure what it is?

Hi everyone, Here is another mystery fossil we found last June while on a Forest Service dig in South Dakota. It was found in an area that we think was once a shoreline, since the matrix ranged from sandy to iron-rich conglomerate layers with both aquatic (rays, gars, turtle, etc.) and terrestrial fauna (hadrosaur, T. rex, thescelosaur, etc.). Our best guess is some kind of seed, but we really have no clue. I forgot to take measurements when I was at the lab and no longer have ready access, so I apologize in advance. It is pretty small - you should be able to get an idea of the size from the adjacent Xacto knife (8 mm dia.).

Found these today

Found today, any ideas?