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Hello! New to the forum here as I have some young fossil enthusiasts at home. We just returned from a trip to E. Oregon where my kids were hunting for fossils in an area known for mammal fossils. Can anyone tell me if they think this is a modern bone or a fossil? It seems to have stone fused in the middle and feels slightly heavier than a regular animal bone.

McAbee Fossil Beds site ready to reopen to the public Site was taken over by the Province and closed to the public in July 2012, Barbara, Roden, The Ashcroft-Cache creek Journal. June 11, 2019 https://www.ashcroftcachecreekjournal.com/news/mcabee-fossil-beds-site-ready-to-reopen-to-the-public/ https://www.ashcroftcachecreekjournal.com/our-town/group-is-working-to-reopen-mcabee-fossil-beds-site/ "Fossil Feather" - actually about McAbee Fossil Site to re-open to the public at the end of June 2019, ARCHEA, Musing in Natural history https://fossilhuntress.blogspot.com/2018/08/eocene-fossil-feather.html According to the above web site: " McAbee will re-open to the public at 10AM on June 21, 2019..." McAbee Fossil Beds - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McAbee_Fossil_Beds Yours, Paul H.

Here's a few things I've learned about the best marine fossil sites. All the right ingredients need to come together in one spot for a great fossil site to come together. But I know there's much more than what I've listed below. So I was hoping other people could add to my list and correct anything they see that's amiss. I figure if your going to search for fossils, you might as well go with the best ideas in hand. All the right ingredients typically found at a good Marine Fossil site: * High elevation limestone shale cliffs, high elevation hill country or areas around ancient seabeds. *Marine rocks in the area like limestone, basalt, dolomite , loess, silica. *Excessive iron presence, magnesium, sulfur and copper carbon ore in the area is ideal. *Presence of certain minerals like bertheirine and calcium carbonates. *Evidence of trace fossils on the surface so you don't waste time digging in the wrong spot. * Mud stone, clay, coral formations, or coral rocks. * Rocks with flow lines, water marks, algae or microorganism markings. *Evidence of oxidation or oxidized rocks. Ross P. Anderson, Nicholas J. Tosca, Robert R. Gaines, Nicolás Mongiardino Koch, Derek E.G. Briggs. A mineralogical signature for Burgess Shale–type fossilization. Geology, 2018; DOI: 10.1130/G39941.1

I live in Rhode Island where there aren't that many fossil sites. does anyone know of any fossil beds in or close to Rhode Island?

I got certified to dive last year so I can find more fossils. A friend of mine owns a 1200 acre pine tree plantation in Camden county, Georgia with a 26 acre man made lake on the property. As some of you may know the St. Mary's river is in the area, and is known to produce very high quality megs and other shark teeth and fossils. So putting two and two together I figure if the lake is deep enough it might be hitting the "fossil layer", which is at least around 15 ft below the surface, and as much as 80 ft, depending on where you are. I got lucky! in 20 ft of water, low and behold, the classic signs of a Miocene fossil bed. Lots of black fish and whale bones mixed in with the grey/silver clay of southeast Georgia. As soon as I got close enough to take a good look I saw a sand tiger shark tooth just sitting on the surface. I searched the area pretty thoroughly and only found a few fossil shells. at the very end of my 2nd tank I found another fossil bed in 15 ft of water in a different part of the lake, this one looked even more promising, but I was at the point where I had to come up and I couldn't look at all. Luckily I decided to rent a third tank earlier that day, and with that spent 68 mins on the fossil bed. I found some whale bones and 13 shark teeth, Hemis, makos, a few sand tigers, and some smaller species of shark that I cant 100% identify but are most likely black tip, dusky, bull, lemon or something similar, one was a 3.4 inch Meg! I have found better teeth washed up out of rivers on the surface, but only one complete meg, and it is only 3.2 inches. My first meg found while diving is beat up and the tip is missing, but i'm proud of it. Really didn't expect to find any fossils, I was more just trying to get some dives in for practice as I don't have many under my belt. Well now I have a copy of the key to the property, with permission to go any time, and the rest of the summer to work on my dive skills and search the private lake for fossils. And did I mention it was my birthday Friday? Couldnt have asked for a better bday present.