Search the Community

I found an unidentified fossil on the beach here in Ponte Vedra, just south of Jacksonville. Previously I have found other Ice Age mammal bones and teeth, including a Glyptodont scute, a horse tooth and part of a mammoth tusk as well as fish and reptile material. I’m no anatomist but based on the bilateral symmetry this looks to me like it comes from the spine or tail of something. Actually I’m put in mind of the bony knob on the end of the tail of an Ankylosaur, though I’m obviously not suggesting it is that. Can anyone weigh in? Thanks in advance...u

Hey everyone! On Wednesday, as I finally had some time, I decided to take Sara out to my favorite hunting spot: the Zandmotor (Netherlands). I definitely did not regret that decision! If you've never heard of the Zandmotor before, it's an artificial beach extension just south of The Hague, and the sand that was used was dredged from the North Sea and is full of Ice Age megafaunal mammal bones and tons of Eemian shells. If you want to see some more of my finds and hunts there, just look up "Zandmotor" in the TFF search bar and you should find a bunch of stuff When we got there it was raining, which annoyed me a little bit because the forecast said it wouldn't... The rain also makes the sand stick to the fossils which can become annoying when looking for small fossils or trying to recognize the thing you just picked up. But, having just spent an hour in the bus to get here, I didn't want to turn back immediately. Luckily the rain stopped within half an hour, and I wasn't even on the Zandmotor yet (I have to walk about an hour from the bus stop to the Zandmotor itself) and after that the weather alternated between cloudy and sunny which was nice. While I usually always take a pass by the shell banks, today I decided to only walk along the shoreline to increase the chances of finding good mammal stuff. In fact, there had been a strong eastern wind on Tuesday which helped uncover a lot of the bones and make them wash ashore. This did not go unnoticed, there were a lot indeed! Here is my first big find of the day, a great complete horse astralagus!

Found an object among rocks which resembles eroded teeth enamel Location: Tobermory, Ontario Dimensions: Length: 4 cm Width: 2 cm Height: ~ 1 cm Any ideas?

Hi all, Planning to better organize my small fossil collection in a single showcase, so with emphasis on Mezozoic finds I'll probably be able to devote max one shelf to the Quarternary. Would be good to clean up and recheck the ID (I know just a half anyway). So a bit of help will be appreciated:) The items: 1. Woolly mammoth tooth?

Hey guys can anyone recognize what this piece of bone is from? It matches the look of Pleistocene material from my area, far north central Texas. Thanks!

https://www.treehugger.com/animals/11-foot-tall-bird-discovered-crimea.html https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2019.1605521

Need some help identifying this tooth I found the other day. I thought it was a horse at first but the molar pattern is a bit different and it doesn’t seem to be as wide as a horse. Any thoughts?

Hi everyone, Last Thursday I had a school trip to the harbor of Rotterdam, the biggest harbor in Europe and 10th biggest in the world. We were specifically in the Maasvlakte 2 area, the newest addition to the harbor to accommodate larger ships and more containers. There's a small museum there which we visited. The intent of the trip was to discover more on how the harbor evolved to fit the needs of the world in the ever-growing globalization of the planet. However what no one else in the class knew (because no one else in the class is as crazy as we all are ) is that the sand used to make the artificial beach of the Maasvlakte 2 is full of fossils. Same story as for the Zandmotor (and many other fossil-containing beaches in the NL), the sand used to make the artificial beaches is extracted from the North Sea floor, which is very rich in fossils, especially of Pleistocene age. I was really hoping to be able to have some free time during the trip in order to go on the beach and hunt a little bit (I've already been there once, some 4-5 years ago), but that unfortunately didn't work out. Luckily in the small museum they had a section dedicated to the paleontology of the beach, and I had the pleasure to visit it. Big mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) tusk. This one is probably not from the beach itself but rather dredged from the North Sea. And here's a view of the small exhibition with a big mammoth hip and femur (I think they're casts though).

Found a large chunk of bone while fossil hunting in Florida earlier this month. Found in a tributary to the Peace River near Arcadia. Not sure there is enough left to get a useful identification, but figured I would post and see how it goes. The chunk is roughly 5 x 4 x 2.5 inches, the grid underneath is quarter inch squares.

Here’s an interesting one. I docent at the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits, and while I was talking to some visitors one of them gave me a piece of bone fragment his father found (among many other easier to identify pieces) at the tar pits before the museum was created. I have showed to some of the researchers at la Brea, and their guess was that it was a tibia fragment from some mammal. So far based on my own comparisons, it seems closest to a dire wolf, but if anyone else has any other ideas, I’d love to hear them. Thanks!

Do you have ice age animal bones, teeth, or tusks found in British Columbia, and want to learn more about them? Or share a story about them? If so, the British Columbia Megafauna Project wants to hear from you! Ice age animal remains are dispersed across museums and private collections and there is no synthesis on the condition of these specimens, their species, their provenience, their age, or to when they date. In effort to remedy this, we are a research group based at Simon Fraser University looking to partner with individuals to better understand the Late Pleistocene in British Columbia. Our goal is to know when these animals lived (from radiocarbon dating), information on their health and age (from the bones), composition of their diet, and how and where they moved across ice age British Columbia (using stable isotope analysis). We are traveling the province to visit collections this summer. If you are interested in analysis, we can do minimally invasive sampling on-site, and will not take away your bone, tusk, or tooth. All results will be shared with participants, and participants will be gratefully acknowledged (or maintain anonymity) in SFU Megafauna Project research. For questions, more information, or to discuss collection specimens, we can be contacted on this forum, and at: Archaeology Isotope Lab: archiso@sfu.ca Phone: 778 782 5045 Website: https://www.sfu.ca/megafauna.html

https://phys.org/news/2019-02-macaque-fossils-bottom-north-sea.html

Found on Ice Age Trail walking trail. Fossil bone or tooth? Odd shape. Lighter than rock.

I recently was given a fossil as a gift. As I understand it, the seller does not know where it was found or has any idea what it is. There is some writing on the side which I’ll attach a picture of. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Between work and home life 2018 wasn't much of a year to get out hunting for me. Outside of two short trips down to the Ramanessin I didn't really get out this year. Hoping to change that in 2019. To start I am working on a family vacation to Florida around March. The last time I was down there at that time of year I was able to do a day of creek hunting around Wauchula that netted a ton of small shark teeth including multiple mini megs as well as a slew of ice age mammal items. My favorite was a small glyptodon scute which was one of my personal bucket list items . I am looking for suggestions on areas I can start researching that would be in range of a day trip based out of the Orlando area. Call it a 2 hour radius of Orlando so I have time to hunt. Not looking for anyone's special hunting grounds, just general suggestions. Haven't looked to see who might still be offering guided trips these days as its been a few years since my last visit, but I am willing to entertain that option. I still have the books I gathered for my last trip so I will start with a refresher from those, but any advice would be appreciated

As some might have read in a previous topic, I went to visit my girlfriend in Finland. Unfortunatly Finland must be one of the worst places to find fossils in the world, I did manage to find some quartz vains and a few pieces that may or may not be amber (have to do the hot needle test on them first) Even urban fossil hunting is near impossible as pretty much all buildings are made from the fossil-lacking stones that can be found in Finland. The only urban fossils I found was in the Burger King in the Helsinki Central Station, the floor was littered with orthocones there. But Finland really isn't a good place to hunt fossils. But one thing that definitly is a worth a visit is the Finnish Museum of Natural History! It isn't a really big museum, the collection isn't that big, but the way it is presented is very awesome! One of the few musea that nails being modern and educative at the same time without overdoing it. Especially the Taxidermy diorama's were done amazingly. But I will ofcourse start this topic with what I think will interest you guys the most, the Paleontology part of the museum. A mural with Pikaia, Opabinia & Hallucigenia models Trilobites, most of which were found in Aland (Finland), Gotland (Sweden) and other neighboring countries of Finland Trilobites, most of which were found in Aland (Finland), Gotland (Sweden) and other neighboring countries of Finland Orthocone models Graptolites Eurypterid found in Saarermaa in Estonia (Silurian age) Eurypterid model Giant orthocone model

Hi all, I found this fossil vertebra near the Zandmotor (Netherlands) last weekend. It's from the last Ice Age, late Pleistocene (around 40'000 years old). There is the possibility that it is middle Pleistocene (around 600'000 years old), but that possibility is very slim. So it's (most likely) a fossil vertebra from one of the typical megafaunal Ice Age critters that roamed Europe alongside the mammoths, woolly rhino's, etc. For now, I am thinking it could be from some deer species, but I am really not sure. What are your thoughts? Thanks in advance, Max

Hi everyone- I have a juvenile mammoth tusk that I would like to learn how to stabilize and restore. The problem is I have (almost) no idea how to even start! The tusk is fully dried out, but it’s split down the middle. I need some advice! Here’s what I know has to be done: 1. Clean the outside and inside as much as possible without using water- any suggestions on what to use? 2. Superglue the two pieces together and use hose clamps to hold the two pieces together- any suggestions on glue/method? 3. Fill gaps/cracks with epoxy- any suggestions on a good type? 4. Sand sand sand! 5. Beyond this point I’m not sure- is there some sort of protective varnish people use? I’m sure I’m missing about a dozen crucial steps here- I have literally never tried anything like this before, so any advice would be greatly appreciated. I posted some photos of the tusk, and I will post photos of progress! Thanks everyone.

I had a great day today sifting with my mom. We started at Ramanessin but the finds were far and few between so we switched to big brook. I found this in one of my last sifter fulls. It was sitting right on top after I sifted the sand out. I was wondering if this is most like Pleistocene or more modern and what kind of animal it might be. Thanks!

About 3 years ago I was walking along the dunes by the river, across from Farewell Bend State park on the Idaho side. I noticed that there was what looked to be an abnormal amount of crystallized and glassy material, conglomerates, basalt and lots of sand. The sand can be explained by the presence of mud volcanos and hydrothermal vents that can be seen in satellite photos. My premature analysis and imagination were wild with fantasy. The samples I was collecting were like nothing I've ever seen. I knew something was up, but there were and are, still more questions to answer. Idaho Falls sits at ~4700ft above sea level. Farewell Bend is ~2300ft. Making the Treasure Valley of Idaho a 340mi basin that becomes a bottleneck at Farewell Bend, which would explain the accumulation and abnormal variety of material. I have always been good to pay attention to the composition of the soil and rock in my environment. Usually the material is pretty consistent, but I've seen nothing like the variety that is here. Traveling upriver deposits of glacial stone are evident in the bends of the river, indicating ice jams that built up on the tips of islands. The stones are always upriver of the islands. About 30mi to the Northwest is a very large cement plant run by the largest cement manufacturer in the nation, Ash Grove. I'm still working on understanding the erosion and possibility of run-off and river flows changing the route in which the Treasure Valley drains. The Idaho State Fossil is the Hagerman Horse, which is from an abnormal collection. "Ultimately five nearly complete skeletons, more than 100 skulls, and forty-eight lower jaws as well as numerous isolated bones were found." (wikipedia) There are a few theories as to how the bones made it there is such large numbers. One theory being that they were swept up in a flash flood, ~3.5mya. My own personal theory is if the horses could have been herded by the Native peoples and eaten. The more I look into it though, I see that it is more likely that this is not an isolated event. The deposits in the Hagerman beds may have been, but the odd numbers of bones vs. complete skeletons points at dismembered animals in my opinion. Just as this flash flood 3.5mya could have wiped out the Hagerman Horse, so too could have the human population that would have been very likely to have populated the Treasure Valley region in much larger numbers than we currently understand. Further passed Farewell Bend the Snake River winds into Hells Canyon. The Hells Canyon is the deepest gorge on the North American Continent. Which, to me, says a couple of things. #1 Must be the oldest, Orrrrr #2 Must have had the most aggressive run off which carved it deeper than the Grand Canyon. These are questions will be investigated further as my collection of maps and topographics grows. I am working on understanding what allowed the formation of valleys and plains through the Treasure/Magic Valley ranges, and the lower elevations from the Blue Mountains north to the Cascade range which also has the not so mountainous regions that, by the tectonics in the area, should not exist like they do. Ancient inland seas are what I am looking at currently. Satellite photographs seem to suggest there was a drainage that went to the south and I believe that there were more salts in the waters in these Idaho waters. Which looks to have drained towards Salt Lake. This easily could have been via aquifer, or by displacement from meteoric impact. There has been some problem with correlation because "~" timelines are a bit loose when it comes to lining up events. For instance, the flood that apparently killed the horses in the Hagerman beds was ~3.5mya. Geologists seem to like this ~3my marker for some reason. Same with this is the 12,000 - 15,000ya mentions, some reports mention that the abrupt end to the last Ice Age was ~12-15,000ya. Which, only really gives me direction to look into whether or not, and how the end of this ice age caused the flooding and debris to completely chew up the fossil record and make it incredible hard to identify locations and patterns in events. The "quaternary" deposits at Farewell Bend do and do not make sense. So, while the standard may be to look at a USGS map of deposits to determine what minerals and fossils might be where, it becomes a problem in Idaho because by the elevation drop and the likely age of the Snake River, literally every single time period "should" be represented in the deposits that have accumulated at Farewell Bend. Though, they might just fit somehow in the corresponding periods of deposits, but will need to be given a new description for how the periods are represented in these constantly modified deposits. Suevite chucks, Still working on getting the equipment to make slices. Recommendations I need to head back to the site to take photos of the large suevite boulders that are very clearly ejecta from an impact. Where the top of the boulder is exposed and shattered from weathering. The boulders have a mix of glass, crystal, concretions and stones showing shock induced spallation. The "eggs" previously hypothesized are likely to be shock induced spallation, still wondering how that may occur in an egg though. If an egg were to be fossilized prior to the shock, what would the effects be? Picture showing glass on concretion from suevite boulder. The glass inclusion shattered when chipping it free from the suevite. Part two of this post will be more photos that show the variety of samples collected. It is taking me quite a while to set all of this up. I plan for this to be a regularly updated post. Please, if anyone has any feedback or wisdom, please by all means, I'm here for correction in this critical analysis. One of my favorite things in learning is to be wrong, because that means my autistic thought process has investigated why it's not right, even if I don't know it yet. Suggestions, regarding missing considerations or needed analysis, please school me. I find it difficult to manage my tangents at times. Cited: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagerman_horse (web, 2018) https://www.britannica.com/place/Hagerman-Fossil-Beds-National-Monument (web, 2018)

It has been a few years since I posted an update on my woolly rhino composite skeleton. Due to regulation change, not a whole lot of bones are fished out of the North Sea these days. So I haven't gotten many new bones in recent years. But last week I got a whole bunch of extra bones so I got the rhino out of the many boxes I have it stored in for the most time and so it's time for another progress update. For those who've missed my previous posts. I have been collecting wooly rhino (coelodonta antiquitatis) bones for over a decade now ever since I got a few leg bones for my birthday. One thing spiraled into another and before I knew it I was trying to make a complete skeleton. Almost all the bones are from the North Sea where only isolated bones are ever found. So none of the bones have any context, which is why a composite skeleton is the only option. Of course this brings it's own problems, besides spending years trying to find all the correct bones, but also getting bones that actually match nicely. So some bones aren't an exact match but every once in a while I replace bones that don't match that good with better ones. And by now I have just over a hundred bones plus change for the extra bones I have doubles for. The skeleton is quite massive. Woolly rhinos were around the same size as modern African rhinos. Carrying over a hundred rhino bones up and down the stairs was also a good workout The only bone that isn't real is the skull, which is a replica cast. Only two bones come from different locations, one from a quarry in the Netherlands and the other from Hungary. All the other bones come from the North Sea. The neck is complete and I'm only missing one dorsal vertebra. I've got a partial sacrum with the front missing. I don't have any tail vertebrae. I've got a few ribs but not nearly enough and two large hip fragments. I've got all the big long bones except for the fibulae and one shoulder blade. By now I've got the hands fairly complete. I've got all the wrist bones, all the metacarpals. The phalanges however are harder to get and I don't have any unguals. On the hind legs I now also recently got the kneecaps as well as a few missing ankle bones. I'm only missing two ankle bones on both feet. I got all the metatarsals and the phalanges here are a similar story, I have the first phalanges, and one of the second. But again, no unguals. A beautiful humerus that now replaced a less complete dinky humerus. Left front hand of the rhino and my right foot for scale. And lastly there's this really nice nasal fragment where the horn would attach in life. It's just a small fragment, but the preservation is really quite nice. Some of the sutures can also be seen really nicely.

Found this in northern Arkansas. Need help identifying what they are from? slab is 6"x 4"x 5" some photos you can see the bone protruding and texture inside the bone

I know very little on Pleistocene fossils but I always thought the horses that roamed during the Ice Age were much smaller than the modern ones. I found this large solid rock horse cannon bone fossil at the North Sulphur River Texas which is comparable in size to the modern day ones I find. I'm 100 % sure it's a fossil. Sorry I can't take measurements but I'm offshore working. Lol you can use my 6 yr old grandson for scale.

Found in an ancestral Mississippi river channel deposit, Deposit is around 50,000 years old. Specimen is completely mineralized. I don't see much material like this, and any thing I offer would be a total guess. Opinions?