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Hello everyone! My name is Jacob and after about a year of lurking in the shadows I have taken the dive into creating an account, thanks to a few friends that are active here and giving me the ol peer pressure treatment. I live and work in Washington state, am brand new to fossil hunting and fossils in general, but consider myself an expert at finding and packing out leave-r-ights. I have zero prep experience but after a recent trip to the Green River formation I have come home with some awesome practice fish (and some beautiful not practice fish that will wait) and hope to pull the trigger on some prep tools very soon. Feel free to ask me questions if I left anything cool out.

I found this fossil in Eastern WA (Pasco, WA, Benton County) in areas of the flood basin near the white bluffs in the hills along the Columbia river. It's from the Ice Age as my father who is a geologist said thats the era it's from with the layer of earth, and he was thinking it would be maybe from a camelops, bison, giant sloth or some other medium sized animal. But as I was looking at pictures of bones of these animals I couldn't figure it out. None of the vertebre seem to match this one. I'd love help ID-ing this fossil vertebra please. If you need better images please let me know, I've used a ruler in some of the pictures.

I can't find much history or geological information of the Seattle area in Washington State before the people started settling there. I get lots of history about how everyone settled, who they were, dates of events, and the beginning of industries. Is there a easier way to find out through other resources about actual formations of the land and geological events that have happened in the past throughout the centuries? Is that made available to the public for research in their findings of fossils? There's more then I thought to learn about when it comes to fossils, and when it comes to fossils being found in or out of profound areas where you don't know how it may have got there, takes you more on a history hunt for answers to the how? question, and the when? question. Finding a fossil in someplace that makes you scratch your head???.. I'm sure this has happened many times. Hasnt it?.. Ocean animal fossils no where near the ocean? I believe that would be evidence of a past tsunami. Could there be any reason why sea fossils would be found in the middle of a populated city not really that close to a Ocean but close to a man made lake. Half salt water half fresh water. I think there should be a key importance to explore more of city populated areas before major construction. Seattle is a place that has never been explored geologically so much other then the beach along the coastlines. I find no evidence of geological history of Washington but of our volcanoes, not so much tsunamis at all. Seattle has just been built on top of so quickly, that Seattle hides a whole lot more beneath the high rolling hills and valleys surrounding then we think. There are less and less places to explore in a growing city and I'm not a expert, but when I can notice something out of the ordinary and you know it's of importance, how can it not excite you enough to find out more about it! So who's the first one I would call to report a geological formation of importance? How are those steps determined in the concept of discoveries ownership and so on? The laws are so twisted and much goes into it. The reward it's self in fossil hunting or just stumbling upon one is the past answers they give us, but they are our future answers too!

I found this snake shaped head in my uncles creek. After cleaning and not fully done. Because i am not a professional. Lol. Could someone tell me if this is what I think it is ? Washington state NW

Hello! I am new to fossils by accident and finding that i am very interested in knowing more. Starting with time lines there seems to be many time lines and what i think could be a fossil is another ? i cant seem to verifiy if they are fossil or remnant or is just me being new. I put 2 that i have found Thank you for accepting me. and look forward to this new journey!

Me and my girlfriend went to Murdock Beach, we found a ton of concretions, one of which (which I left in the car and can't include) was an agatized acila clam I believe. With pretty good detail. However that was the only fossil that I found which I could recognize. I will post all the finds here which I was curious about. I continually saw these rectangular cross sections of some strange agatized fossil. Then, I split one of these rectangular fossils just right and got a print of what the "skin" or outside layer looks like as almost a cast from a mold of agate. The perfect mold is the last picture I posted. If anyone has any clue as to what this is, you might be the first to identify what all these famous Murdock beach concretions are.

I wanted to thank everyones thats helped me figure out what I'm doing! With the stimulus checks I purchased me a cheap 290 dremel on online, specialized tips, and some paraloid. I got em all together about a month ago and have been prepping most days since. This has been really fun to do and I'm thankful for the knowledge y'all shared with me. The crabs from left to right are the order I found and prepped them and are also named charles, duchess, and peanut butter!

Hello, I am a newbie here and hoping to get some help IDing some what I believe to be fossils I found at Murdock and the Twin Rivers beaches (both are along the strait of Juan de Fuca coastline). These beaches are well known for having lots of concretion fossils. From what I’ve heard lot of sand shrimp, clams, and sometimes even whale or other mammal bones. Pic 1 &2:I think this giant rock is a fossilized whale vertebrae... I had one other person who is a fossil expert say that but looking for second opinions. Pic 3: Smaller fossilized bone? Pic 4 &6: my biggest interesting mystery!! Is this fossilized kelp, Crinoid or something else???? Pic 5& 9: curious what the cylinder long fossils are... many of them are hollow in the middle and have calcite/quartz crystals inside. I read another persons post about those strange tubes possibly being burrow tubes for mud shrimp. I originally thought crinoid stems or kelp tubes. Thoughts? Pic 7: Just a nice example of a concretion with a claw (crab or shrimp) round in this area Pic 8: Sea slug? I have no idea... Pic 10 & 11: Again I am wondering if it is a bone (my initial reaction) or if it’s fossilized kelp? Thoughts? Thank you for any help you can provide! I am teaching my sons who I homeschool along with myself as we get more into rockhounding and fossil hunting! -Holly

Would love some help identifying this tooth. Found at a local riverside park near Castle Rock Washington. Thanks so much!

Hello, I am from Washington and am trying to learn more about the geology and history of the area, and hope to collect a few cool fossils along the way.

Hey gang. This is my first looking for an ID, hopefully I'm going about it the right way. I found this gorgeous little tooth a couple weeks ago in big chunk of matrix I brought home from an exposure I believe is miocene Lincoln Creek Formation. It is my first found shark tooth, and I am super excited about it. From what I can tell, shark teeth are fairly uncommon in Washington, and any ideas on species would be much appreciated. Sorry for poor image quality, photography is on the long list of things I need to improve upon.

A couple of recent mammoth tooth finds are: A. Camano Island, Washington (state), mammoth tooth Camano family finds woolly mammoth tooth on the beach By Evan Caldwell, Stanwood Cammano News, Jan. 30, 2021 Woolly mammoth tooth discovered on Camano Island By KIRO 7 News Staff, KIRO, Channel 7, January 31, 2021 Camano Island, Washington - Wikipedia B. Chernivtsi region mammoth tooth Tooth of 300,000-year-old mammoth found in Chernivtsi region, UAZMI News UkrInform: Tooth of 300,000-year-old mammoth found in Chernivtsi region, UkrInform, January 20, 2021 Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukraine - Wikipedia Yours, Paul H.

Hi - New to fossil collecting, but have been rockhounding for a while after my girlfriend got me interested in it again. I got more interested in fossils after finding some on the beaches in Oregon. Petrified wood has fascinated me for a while, especially the pieces where cell structure and growth rings are still visible. Still learning locations for collecting, ID, and all the other fun outdoor stuff that goes along with the hobby. -J

This was found, with other bone fragments and a partial shark's (?) tooth in the ditch by a roadcut on North River Rd., just East of the little town or Artic WA. It's 10cm long. I hope the photos show the knobby, crooked form, it's shaped like a crooked finger, could it be a broken and healed rib bone? Please see arrow ---> on "top" pic.. I'm interested in what you all think! Thanks.

Spent the day with a friend and her young son, he loves anything fossil. Arrived at a favorite site, Astoria Formation, Middle Miocene in Washington State. We hadn't even swung a pick yet and they found a nice Parotodus Benedeni tooth, a big one at that. I have never seen one from here. Just lying on the surface, winking at us. He was so excited! Now, the torch has been passed onto the next generation.

Spent the day in Washington's Astoria Formation. I was looking for anything avian related, but anything, especially pinniped or cetacean would be just fine. Found a few shark teeth, nowhere near as plentiful as the Carolinas and some whale bones (ribs and a vertebrae). If I'm hunting, I'm happy.

Hi from Washington state! I was wanting to talk to people about paleontology and then realized that were probably many paleo forums. Guess I'm here now haha. I tend to focus on Mesozoic life but sometimes I go off the deep end and spend a few weeks obsessed with the Paleozoic or Cenozoic. I have some fossils but no vertebrate fossils yet: I have a chunk and a log of petrified wood, a snail shell, a leaf, and some shark parts. Looking forward to going on some hunts one day but WA is more for mammal fossils. I'm looking to go into paleontology at the University of Washington and I'm excited to finally be at school for my passion. Looking forward to geeking out over bones with you!

No Social Distancing in The Cretaceous: New study finds earliest evidence of mammal social behavior https://www.washington.edu/news/2020/11/02/mammal-social-behavior-cretaceous/?utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=1132020&utm_medium=email

Hi All! Newbie here in Western Washington. I’ve been into rocks and fossils since childhood but just started hunting recently after going to Murdock beach for the first time. I’m interested in learning about preparation and just learning more in general. I’ve been visiting the forum for about a year and love seeing everyone’s posts and new finds. Here are a few of my favorite little treasures from my last trip to the peninsula. Nothing fancy, but they are precious to me!

Found these in Lewis Creek near Issaquah Washington. Potential Fossil #1 Potential Fossil #2:

Last year, to celebrate finishing my undergraduate degree, my girlfriend and I went on a long (9,000+ mile) road trip around the western US and at long last (a little over a year since their discovery) the last of the fossils we found are out of the refrigerator and I’ve finally gotten all of them photographed. Here are some of the highlights and best fossils we found. A rough map of the route of the trip While the trip wasn’t entirely fossil centric we wanted to hunt at a few cool spots along the way. We chose to visit 5 fossil locations, the first of which was Clarkia Fossil Bowl in Idaho, a fantastic location for Miocene age leaves (Langhian Stage, ~15Mya) tucked behind a motocross track. These poor fossils have been through it all in the year between when they were found and when I finally got them dry. They’ve been soaked several times, gone mouldy twice, frozen at least once and flown across the Atlantic Ocean, all before spending the last 8 months in the refrigerator. Amazingly all but two of them survived perfectly including one of my favourite finds, a tiny flower. A maple leaf (genus Acer) still partly covered in matrix but with the stem intact. At some point I hope to get this one prepared. The best leaf find of the trip, with beautiful red coloration and mottling from fungus. A partial leaf, with beautiful vein preservation. The next spot was the American Fossil quarry in Kemmerer Wyoming to look for Eocene fish (Green River Formation, Ypresian Stage, ~53-48Mya). Splitting though the material left out by the quarry we found a few fish, primarily Knightia and Diplomystus. The best Knightia, including the best fish of the day with its head still partly covered. Some of the Diplomystus. The first needs some repair as it broke through the tail. The second has a counterpart as well and I’m hoping to frame it soon. And a mystery fish, I don’t know what species this is, it could just be Knightia or Diplomystus but it doesn’t look like the others we found. The star find came close to the end of the time at the quarry, a section of a puddle layer packed full of Knightia, at least a dozen fish piled on top of each other. The quarry manager was kind enough to let me take the blocks without splitting them thinner since the material is full of fractures and likely would not have survived. The layer as it split in the quarry (US size 13 hiking boot acting as a rough scale). The three pieces I managed to recover. The blocks are currently in a storage unit in Washington until I can figure out how to get them prepared. I am hoping the first two pieces can be reunited and the part and counterpart can be mounted side by side but I’m unsure about how to accomplish this. If anyone who prepares Green River fish has any ideas please let me know. The third locality we visited was Westgard pass in Inyo California, hunting for Cambrian archaeocyathids (Poleta Formation, Cambrian Stage 3, ~ 520Mya). We were only there a short time as there was a lot of driving to do that day, but I still managed to find one example in cross section. My girlfriend was more lucky, finding four examples. These are our favourites, particularly the third, which exhibits some dimensionality in addition to the cross-section. I’m absolutely thrilled to find anything Cambrian, and to make things even better the fossil locality is just down the road from the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, home to living trees more than 4,000 years old and one of my favourite spots on the whole trip. We also visited Capitola Beach to search for rolled cetacean bone. I found two examples with one clearly showing the cancellous internal bone texture. To cap off the trip I wanted to do a fossil hunt in my home state of Washington. Since I still don’t know where to go to look for the elusive Pulalius crab, we decided to search the West Twin River site for shrimp concretions (Pysht Fomration, Oligocene, ~22-33Mya). We found over a dozen of these containing partial shrimp. I think they are all Callianopsis clallamensis since this is a common species at this locality. The first concretion that I found after identifying the right material. Another shrimp nodule containing a large section of claw. The head of a shrimp. Two non-crustaceans, a gastropod internal mould and a beautiful white bivalve in a small concretion. A mystery concretion with something eroding out from both ends. And last, one of the strangest concretions I have ever seen. The outside is hardened but the inside is a soft clay consistency with several bits of shrimp shell, completely the opposite of the hard in the middle concretions I’m used to. In all, it was a fantastic trip. I would love to go back to all the sites we visited, and there is so much more to explore next time I’m stateside. I’m looking forward to getting out hunting again. Stay tuned for the next big trip to celebrate finishing our masters. Benton

Hi everyone! My son found this at the Gardiner boat ramp beach (a very rocky beach) near Sequim, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula. From a quick google search he thinks it might be horn coral. What do you think? And can he sell it for $799.99 and earn enough money to buy the LEGO UCS Millennium Falcon? Whole rock is about 70mm across. Please let me know if you have any other questions that would help you hazard a guess. Thank you so much! Beth Stucky

I found this specimen in a gravel bed on the bank of the Nooksack River a few miles east of Glacier, Wa. The rock is dark gray, river smoothed, and dense. I have very little experience in this field and was hoping someone might be able to shed some light on what this might be. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Heavily weathered nautiloid, Aturia, from the lower Oligocene marine sediments of Washington state. Agatized. Some prep work, too fragile to expose further.

Dear Friends! My apologies for staying away for many years. Things change, life evolves. Quick update: yes, I'm still alive, built a new house, nearly gave up on fossil hunts because of the restrictions. But! you can't keep someone's passion, especially fossil folks (we're stubborn like that) under lock and key forever. Met several new friends, started taking longer hikes deeper into the field, hills and canyons. Studied and researched the geology of my region and drank lots of coffee. With the help of some friends, I started understanding the history better. The results have been rewarding. I found a new fossil that's being described as we speak and when published, will share with you. Here's my latest find, unprepped, an isopod. Only took 32 years to find one! I will try to make more posts as new things come about. Fossil on!