Search the Community

I recently moved some of my collection and noticed something loose on the bottom of the drawer under a barnacle. It's from a trip to the Calvert Cliffs in Maryland nine years ago. As I looked closer I noticed that they apparently came from inside two of the barnacles. Is this a fossil that I had dismissed as matrix, or is it a modern insect addition ?

Yesterday (January 2nd) was only my second trip to Calvert Cliffs. I'm pretty new to fossil collecting, but thanks to the wonderful advice and reading the greatly informative posts from members such as @Darktooth @FossilsAnonymous @WhodamanHD @racerzeke @KimTexan and @paxhunter I had a lot of success and it was a much more productive trip than my first. Below is a brief summary and some pictures of what I found: I woke up, put on a few layers clothing, and had my coffee at 3:45am. After my morning pipe (tobacco...I actually make briar tobacco pipes as a hobby) I got in my pre-loaded truck and headed south at 4:45am. I made good time on the drive down as I hit 695 and got around Baltimore before the morning rush. At 7:10am I arrived at Brownies Beach and pulled in to a parking lot with only two other cars in it. After putting on my full waders, I grabbed my sifter and headed towards the beach. I planned this trip so that I could arrive midweek and get there early enough to catch some of the low tide (tides times were not friendly this week, but I start teaching classes next week so it was this week or wait until spring). Sunrise was at 7:24, but there was more than enough light to see...and what a sight it was. When I entered the beach area the tide was way, way out. I couldn't believe how far out it was, as it was past two small sandbars (if I get my GoPro video edited I will post it). Once I was on the beach I headed south towards the cliffs. I hurried through the beach area because I wanted to be by the cliffs with the tide so low. I know I missed teeth along the beach, but I wanted to get to the cliffs with the tide being so far out where I could hopefully find some larger teeth than what are common at the beach area. As I neared the end of the beach I ran into one woman who was there just to relax and walk on the beach. We said good morning and I knew who one of the two cars in the parking lot belonged to. Once I went around the point and turned my eyes close to shell line and started looking. Because of all the wonderful advice from this forum I had a much better idea of what I was looking for and how to best look. After a few minutes I had some ray plates, very small teeth, and my first ever vert. It wasn't even 7:30 and I knew it was going to be a good day. As I made my way down the shore line that I figured had been pretty well picked over from people being off over the holidays, I remembered a forum member saying 'you need to look in the places that others don't'. I approached a fallen tree that I remembered from my first trip a few weeks ago, and with the tide being so low almost the entire tree was exposed so I got down on my hands and knees and started looking at some of the gaps between the tree and sand...then it happened. You know when you day dream and picture yourself finding a great tooth or fossil? Well that's what happened as my eyes saw a pristine Mako just laying there (pictures below). I know its not a huge tooth or a meg, but to me being new to the hobby this was completely awesome and a trip maker. I think I still have a smile on my face from finding it. As I continued down the beach I collected many more teeth from various sharks. I couldn't believe it when I found an awesome cow shark tooth (my second trip maker) laying out in the open about 8 feet up the beach. Beside it was another good tooth as well that went in my pouch. Around 10:30 I ran into a very friendly gentleman and we chatted a bit. We talked about the weather and the cliffs, what he had found (a few hemis), and he told me a story of a fall he had witnessed a few years ago that was too close for comfort. A chunk of clay the size of a car fell and nearly crushed him, but luckily he heard some soil falling and he ran straight out into the bay right before the cliff fell. Although the clay chunk did't hit him, the water threw him up into the air when the clay hit. His friend who was a down the cliffs said he heard it and it sounded like a car crash....I didn't get this gentleman's name but I feel like I read his cliff fall story on here, so if you know who it may have been please let me know. I continued south until the tide started coming in pretty far and I thought it best to head back towards the beach since I didn't know how far it would come in or how high the water would get. I continued my search along the way back and made it to my truck around 2pm. I took a short break, ditched my sifter, texted my wife, checked email, watched a truck with two high school kids pull in to smoke a pipe (although this one wasn't filled with tobacco), and headed back out for one more quick trip down and back as the tide started to go back out. It wasn't until about 3:30pm when two more local fossil collectors came up behind me and we said hello and chatted. All in all, I only ran into 3 other collectors during the day so there was not a lot of competition (although I do like the interesting conversation). After finding a few more teeth and interesting fossils dusk approached and I headed back to my truck. After putting my gear away and changing into some dry clothes I started my trek north after a fantastic start to 2019. Below are some pictures of my finds from the day. I know what many of the teeth and other fossils are, but if you can ID something that a newbie like me probably wouldn't know then please do so as it will help me get better with this hobby. Thanks!

Yesterday I followed the stream that starts in my backyard to the bay. Went north a bit and saw what looked like a piece of lignite in a small slab of cliff about to fall, tapped it with my machete(needed for clearing brush, spider webs, maybe a copperhead Lol!) and it made an unexpected clink instead of the mush that lignite usually is. My extraction method would probably make you guys puke but yes, I used my machete to slice until free. It was high tide, waves splashing against me and cliff, also had two impatient boys and two dogs in tow so it was quick and dirty. Anyway, it ended up being a pretty large bone. Probably whale/dolphin rib, maybe flipper?? IDK... Looks like some sort of joint at one end. Kinda wonder if a whole skeleton is buried in the cliff????

My family and I were at Calvert Cliffs today and discovered this. Any thoughts?

Can anyone help me identify this tooth? Found at Brownies Beach on the Chesapeake Bay. It looks similar to Makos, but I can't find any pictures of one this curved?

Hello again! Found this bone fragment at Flag Pond yesterday and it appears that it may have been modified. Could it possibly been a Native American tool? Notice the point, symmetrical indentations at the base/stem and the hole at the base. Thank you for your help!

Went fossil hunting with my daughter this morning in the Bookcliffs, North of the Grand Junction, CO airport. We found this weathering out of the shale in a wash. The Baculite is about 8" long and 1.5" wide. Can hardly wait to prep this, I think it will make a nice display. My plan is to slice the base of the matrix flat (without damaging the fossil) so it will sit nicely on a table or shelf.

I live in Dallas and usually hunt the NSR. However, I had some airline miles and decided to fly to the Chesapeake Bay for the weekend. I probably could have waited for a chance to spend more time there, but eventually convinced myself it was a great way to end the year and told myself that I would find a Mako and Megalodon tooth. If I could do that, the trip would be worth it. I only had 24 hours there, but made the most of it. I'm at the airport now heading home, figured I would post my finds. Thanks to @paxhunter for the advice he gave me.

Collected from matrix that washed into the Chesapeak Bay by landslide. Donated to the Delaware Museum of Natural History.

Collected from matrix washed into the Chesapeake Bay by landslide. Donated to the Delaware Museum of Natural History.

This piece was excavated out of a block of matrix deposited in the Chesapeake Bay by a landslide. It was donated to the Delaware Museum of Natural History.

This piece was excavated out of a block of matrix deposited in the Chesapeake Bay by a landslide. This specimen was donated to the Delaware Museum of Natural History.

Collected from matrix in the Chesapeake Bay that was deposited by landslide. Donated to the Delaware Museum of Natural History.

Excavated from a block of matrix collected from below the low tide line in the Chesapeake Bay. Deposited there by landslide.

Found 3 more fossils at Calvert Cliffs I would like help identifying. Item 2 Item 3

Went fossil hunting today with my sons after a bad storm that rolled through over the weekend at Calvert Cliffs in Maryland. It was a pretty good day hunting. My sons only lasted about an hour because of the heat. Anyways, we came across this object which we think is a tooth. We have been wrong before. Any help is much appreciated as always. I am also including a photo of our finds today.

A trip to Haute Normandie cretaceous cliffs ( The plasterers' balad ) - Part 1 During three days we travelled along the Haute Normandie coast. The area we ventured in is cretaceous : cenomanian (-99 MA), turonian (-93 MA) and coniacian (-89 MA), following the west to east dip. Day 1 : Antifer We met in Saint-Jouin de Bruneval, on the beach parking lot next to the oil terminal. We started the trip at 9 am, so we could hike quite far before the tide would stop us. Sky was shiny and quite fast the temperature started to rise. We mostly spent the morning looking for fossils in cenomanian boulders and chalcedonies among the peebles. We let the tide lock us and made a break for a picnic and a nap. Once the tide let us, we started again to look for fossils, under a scorching heat. At about 6 pm we made our way back to the cars. The beach which was empty in the morning was now overcrowded. We mostly found some irregular echinoids : crassiholaster and catopygus (some with a really nice preservation), some brachiopods, some bivalves (most fragile) (including nice rastellum) and 2 shark teeth. Here's a geoligical presentation of the area (in french unfortunately) http://craies.crihan.fr/?page_id=13478 Some of my finds on that day : heres a link a my flickr galery for the whole trip : https://www.flickr.com/photos/48637020@N06/albums/72157682540354264 Crassiholaster subglobosus Crassiholaster subglobosus Crassiholaster subglobosus with a smal bivalve print Catopygus colombarius more to come soon...

Hi everyone! Had a few finds today but I'm very new to fossil finding and identification, wondering if anyone could help me with these and start my knowledge?

Hello dear fossil-hunters! So here is the report that a few of you have been waiting for: my trip to the Formação dos Olhos de Ãgua! So after a nice breakfast in the sun, we took the car from Vale do Lobo to Albufeira, another coastal city in the Algarve of Portugal. After just a bit of searching, we found a good parking spot for our car. We walked down towards the beach, Praia de Oura, and were amazed by the magnificent view.

Hi everyone! I'm new here, but I plan on being an active poster. Geology and paleontology are my passions. I was out at Calvert Cliffs yesterday and the erosion is in full-swing, yielding many a Chesapecten. I also came across plenty of iron sandstone concretions. Everything I have read on the web is about the Navajo concretions in Colorado which are spherical. Obviously these are not spherical and their abundance at the cliffs in all manner of shapes and sizes is intriguing. I was wondering if any of you know how these formed? My geology professor was stumped (he has a doctorate in invertebrate paleontology, not geology, so I can understand). Here are a couple in situ inasmuch as this is where they landed after eroding out of the cliff face. I realize I am guilty of a major faux pas by not including something to scale these formations. One of the photos you can see my shoe so it gives some inkling as to their size. However, I figure you have plenty of experience among you all to know exactly what it is I'm talking about so hopefully this isn't an issue. https://www.flickr.com/photos/alliecat1881/15642517576/in/photostream/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/alliecat1881/15046115813/in/photostream/ I am really looking forward to some insight! Anyone who somehow has yet to acquire a Miocene bivalve, now's your time! https://www.flickr.com/photos/alliecat1881/15479680839/in/photostream/ -Allison

Went for a drive to a little town called Mannum in South Australia today. One of the main streets is cut through the river cliffs. Thought you would find the pictures interesting. Most of the fossils are above the 2mtr mark but there are thousands visible on the cliff face. Most of them are a few types of echinoids, brachiopods and oysters in coral.