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There have been some great reports in the last week of folks hunting the Silurian and I wanted to add a report for my own serendipitous mini-trip from the last weekend. A few months ago, I had noticed a large pile of buff-colored stone dumped next to a retention pond in front of a local retail district. I thought they looked very similar to the Silurian dolomite I have seen and collected from elsewhere in Illinois, so I have been meaning to take a closer look. Last weekend I finally had some errands to run at Target with some free time on my hands, so I wandered over to the pile to check it out. In less than a minute I spotted a friendly face poking out of the corner of one piece of stone- Gravicalymene celebra! An iconic trilobite, and the biggest one I have found, with a cephalon just over 1 inch wide. It looks like it may be complete, although prep can be very difficult as @aek mentioned recently- at a minimum the cephalon appears to all be there. I looked around a little more and found a very poorly preserved cephalopod impression as well as one other rock with some intriguing shapes in it- it will need more prep though to say if it is anything. Since these were dumped next to a parking lot and there are no Silurian dolomite quarries within 60 miles, I can't say for sure what the source is. It seems likely to be the Racine or Joliet Dolomite of northeastern Illinois, though. I will definitely be returning when I have some free time and looking around some more- who knows, they may have used the same stone in other spots around the development!

Hey everyone, So today, after my second day of exams, which is why I finished earlier, I had to take the tram home instead of the schoolbus (that I usually take). On my way to the tram station, I noticed that there was some sand on the sidewalk. I looked closer, and saw that there were quite some shells all along the sidewalk. My passion for conchology (which I also have, though it's less strong than my love of fossils) took over and I began hunting for seashells. I only found bivalves, but was still quite surprised with what I got. When I got home, I looked more closely at the shells, and realized some of them were fossils!!! Here is my (unexpected, I should say) haul: 1) Mactra plistoneerlandica (fossil and modern) 2) Cerastoderma edule (fossil) 3) Limecola balthica (fossil and modern) --> I'm really happy that I found some more fossil ones of those, because nearly all of mine were already gone in trades! 4) Donax vittatus (modern) The fossils, found in the streets of The Hague (NL), are probably from the Pleistocene period (they are identical to those that I find on the Zandmotor, which is very closeby). It's really surprising how much you can find, even when you're not looking for fossils. Sometimes you find them in the most unexpected places, and you always get a very weird feeling of surprise and happiness when you do. It's often fun to try and figure out how those fossils got there, and I know the answer to this one: --> Sand is one of the most used resources in the world, and therefore often sought after for (even if it's extremely common). It's useful to build a support for things, such as sidewalks, or to make glass, and many other things. And where is the most sand found? On the bottom of the sea. And in that sand (especially the sand of the North Sea) lie many fossils. So when that sand is pumped upon land, the fossils are brought with it. This is how the fossils came here onto the sidewalk of a street of The Hague. In fact, it's that same sand that composes the Zandmotor, which was built as a natural dam against the floods (which have a bad history with the NL) from the sand of the sea, which is why it is so rich in fossils. I hope that this little report has pleased you, and that you've learned things! Therefore remember to always keep your eyes open for fossils, even if you're in normally non-fossil places! Best regards, Max