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This Strange Ancient 'Fossil' May Not Have Been Left by Any Living Thing Carly Cassella, ScienceAlert, Nature, February 25, 2023 The open access paper is: Nolan, M.R., Walker, S.E., Selly, T., and Schiffbauer, J. 2023, Is the middle Cambrian Brooksella a hexactinellid sponge, trace fossil or pseudofossil? Peer J. Yours, Paul H.

Made it down to the Conasauga Shale as the last of 10 sites on a 4-state, 6-time-period collecting expedition in mid-august. I'll post reports on the other sites (as well as other trips earlier in the summer) later. I elected not to split shale on-site and just collected shale for splitting in a controlled environment. I'm only interested in trilobites that still have the exoskeleton (rather than just impressions). I gently tap the shale until I see a fine crack in a bedding plane and then carefully pry it apart with an Xacto knife. The exoskeletons usually have a hollow space above and below them and are terribly fragile. One must hope that all the exoskeleton ends up on one side of the split. Any still unexposed require tedious removal of matrix under a scope with a fine needle while trying to avoid poking through the exoskeleton into the hollow space underneath. I wick consolidant under the exoskeleton to prevent it from flaking off. Even blowing on it can knock it off. Here are the keepers.