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I found this yesterday in the Peace River and only really looked at it now, I think it’s an armadillo scute but I’m not %100 sure. Help is appreciated!

The peace river was still low so I decided to try my luck, ended up finding some decent stuff and two mystery items. I think the first is a pathological mako tooth but I’m not 100% and I don’t know anything about the bone so help is appreciated!

Found in the Peace river today. At first I thought vert remnant, I think turtle. On each outer long side, there is a line in the middle that is very turtle like.

Last one I hope to get some help on is circular and had me thinking it was a ring when I first pulled it up. It is not metal (tried a magnet) and has the bone sound to it when tapped. Inside seems to have some bone material. Vertebra?

These two, being as small as they are, have me confused. I am leaning toward mammoth on #5. Could #6 be Sloth? Any input is appreciated.

Two more items from the Peace River yesterday that I hope may be able to be identified -

Back to the Peace River yesterday and the spot I have been digging for the past few weeks keeps on giving. I believe I have identified the two items displayed here after several hours of searching the web and looking at hard copy references. Specimen #1 that I believe is Bison is thanks to a post from 2012 by Shellseeker. He posted a tooth that he noted as a Bison upper premolar, P4 that I think is a match. Item #2, also after a long search that included prior posts by Shellseeker, I believe (hope) is a fragment of Glossotherium Harlani - Harlands Ground Sloth. Please let me know what you all think.

These last two resembled some photos in the books I had on hand but nothing definitive. When tapped with metal they do have that distinctive bone/china sound. Could they be claw cores? Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Spent the day on the Peace River yesterday with some success. I was concerned, after the recent rains, that the river was getting too high. I was still able to get to my latest spot via kayak (just made it under one downed tree). Found a few nice Megs, Snaggletooth, Horse teeth and Tiger shark. Also, found a few items I can't identify. I have purchased a copy of Vertebrate Fossils: A Neophyte's Guide along with Fossiling In Florida to help ID the finds. As a novice I am enjoying the learning experience and am grateful that the Forum is here to help when I am stumped. So here is the first item I could use some assistance with:

I found what looks like a tooth in the Peace River near Arcadia, Florida. Any idea what it came from?

Sorry to be posting so many things at once. I do truly appreciate the feedback you all can provide. Last three items from my Wednesday trip to the river follow. I also found numerous shark teeth of various kinds, but no outstanding specimens. Many pieces of turtle shell, ray teeth/mouth plates were also recovered. Here are the last for help with ID. #7 maybe mastodon or mammoth tooth fragment? The unnumbered item I have no idea on. Thanks!

Several interesting finds from the Peace River Wednesday. I will post in pairs and hope for assistance with ID. First up are two specimens that came up on the same shovel. Guessing at #1 as a Giant Armadillo Scute, #2 I have no clue. Thanks for any input.

Another found in the area where a lot of Dugong fragments were. The shape and patterns of the core has me wondering what it might be.

Another find from last week in an area where I found a lot of Dugong fragments. This one I was at a loss on. Thinner than anything I have found of similar length.

Spent a long day on the Peace River last week and came up with many bone fragments, teeth, etc. There are several items I can't identify and hope the knowledgeable folks here can help. First up, fragment of alligator bone?

Found this Sunday, thinking it a "cattle horn" but later realizing it is cortical bone. Now I need some help. I don't see any articular surface since both ends are gone, but the smaller end, as shown, is pretty much solid. Does not strike me as a rib texture or shape, despite the curve, and it's not keratinized tissue. I've never seen a sloth claw in hand, but I am starting to think it is from something very large like that. Strikes me as typical fossil bone, and it was very deep below the river bottom, if you are wondering why it is so light in color. I have numerous elephant toe bones, ribs, and long bones with the same look. above image: 8 inches total length, with an indentation along this surface, like there may have been another one beside it. (or it's just worn more) small end thru magnifier light to shown solid bone structure, NOT TUSK, NOT DUGONG RIB! 1 inch in Dia. large end showing cavity and thickness of bone edges. 2.6 inches across. Very massive to not be a weight bearing bone.

Since the weather is (finally) behaving and the Peace River water level has now stabilized at a depth where South Florida fossil hunters can get in and get their hunt on, Tammy and I found a free day in our busy schedule and planned a day trip to Arcadia to try our luck on the Peace River again. If we do not drive over and spend the night in a local hotel, hunting on the Peace River involves an early morning wake-up call at the painfully early hour of 3:00 AM. We're all packed up and leaving the house at just around 4:00 AM with a long quiet drive through mostly empty highways--up the Florida Turnpike to the aptly named Beeline Hwy which makes a beeline straight northwest for the town of Okeechobee at the northern tip of Lake Okeechobee (the large lake that looks like it was hole punched out of the map of Florida). A stop for something approximating breakfast at the 24-hour Micky D's in Okeechobee (bring a jacket if you go because the AC is set for 60F ) and then it's a straight show west on State Road 70 into Arcadia. When we arrive we make a quick stop for a bag of ice for our cooler and a few snacks for the day. Then we roll into Canoe Outpost to fill out our paperwork and wait for the bus to take us to the put-in location. As we had a free day to make this trip on a Tuesday, Canoe Outpost is far from busy--in fact we are the only ones there save two employees who had to come in early to tend to our canoe rental needs. Today's hunting area of choice is on the lower half of the normal full-day rental. Usually, we put in at Brownville Park some 8.5 miles upstream of the Canoe Outpost dock and we stop at various locations along the way. We wanted to focus on some spots downstream from their half-day put-in location at the primitive campground area that is owned by Canoe Outpost (called Oak Hill). We've wanted to get dropped off here on some weekends when we only wanted to hunt along the lower 4 miles of the river above Arcadia but usually they have others going to Brownville on the 8:00 AM run and we just end up getting put-in there. We spend the first hour paddling the 4.5 miles down to the half-day put-in. This time we were lucky--nobody else was signed-up to go out at 8:00 AM so they were accommodating enough to put us in at the halfway point and save us an hour of paddling. We enjoy the peaceful paddling down the river looking for birds and spotting gators along the banks but the thought of saving an hour of paddle time was too good to pass up--more time for sifting. We made it down to the spot where we had found some nice armadillo bits two weeks before--a tooth and an astragalus from Holmesina septentrionalis a two meter beastie clocking in at around 250 kg. According to Dr. Hulbert specimens from this species are pretty rare in South Florida and the astragalus that we found last trip is earmarked for the FLMNH next time we are in Gainesville as the museum does not have any specimens of this bone from this species in its collection. We were hoping to possibly find some additional Holmesina bits though that was a long shot at best. We poked around the site chasing down areas with nice chunky gravel hoping to find some nice items and though we struck out extending our Holmesina finds we did come across a few nice items. On only the first handful of screens, a familiar triangular shape appeared in the sifting screen. Though the root was a bit dinged, this meg tooth that topped out at just about 3 inches is just shy of the 3.25 inch size that most teeth seem to max out at in the Peace River. A little while later a beautifully shaped smaller meg (just under 2 inches) turned up in the sifting screen. Here are some in situ (well, in sifter anyway) images of those teeth at the moment they revealed themselves. A little while later (after many smaller shark teeth and broken megs--fraglodons) we turned up one of the larger Carcharhinus teeth I've seen come from the Peace River. It was a nice surprise to see such a large example of a requiem shark tooth. No more interesting shark teeth turned up though we did find quite a number of the normal nickel and dime (size) teeth which will end up in an ever growing jar of teeth on display in the family room. Two other novelties helped to make the day a successful hunt in the record books. I turned up a tiny unerupted tooth that I believe to be tapir peccary though I've never seen one with six cusps (two small ones off one side). EDIT: Fixed ID, see below. As with many of these teeth the hollow nature of the tooth and fragile roots mean that usually only the enamel crown are recovered--at least this pretty little thing is solidly in one piece. The other tooth is a bit of a mystery. I'm sure @Harry Pristis will likely recognize this as it looks reasonably distinctive. The tooth looks like it has a complete crown (no parts missing) but it only has a trace of the roots left. Looking at the photos I can see that there are cracks forming on this tooth and it looks like it is ready to disarticulate into a puzzle of pieces. I think I'll be attempting to consolidate this item a bit with some B72. There is less than a month to go before the official start of rainy/hurricane season in June. Hoping to find some time in my schedule to make it back out to the river a few more times. It's been an extremely shortened season this year but the few finds we have been able to make have been enjoyable. Cheers. -Ken

Hi all, I finally got to the Peace River for my birthday yesterday and found about 20+ teeth and then lost my mesh bag in the river! I only hope some kid who had bad luck finding teeth finds it. Of the ones I had left, I cant ID the one in the pic. Also put in the pic the tiniest tooth I've ever seen! I think it's a lemon shark? Any help IDing the bigger one great! Thanks in advance! - Jodi

I was out hunting today at a location that has larger "small" shark teeth. I really like lower hemis and that keeps me coming back. They can be found but are not "common", even here/ I was looking for them, and almost missed this tooth. That "bump" on the left photo is a cusp. Cusp means predator. The tooth is .95 inches long. Because there is only 1 cusp on the tooth, does that help to identify the position in the jaw of this incisor? I could guess at which predator, but would like confirmation from someone who knows. Thanks Jack

Found this on my 2018 trip to Florida, I believe it is a rodent incisor and I would like to confirm that. And if it is, does anyone have any indication as to what variety it belongs to? It's about 2 cm long.

Hey everyone, I found this fossil last February on the Peace River, I believe I posted it with a bunch of my other finds from that trip a while ago and the ID came up inconclusive. I was hoping the folks on the forum could help me out with this one again. It's about 3.5 cm in diameter and I first thought it belonged to a glypodont but I'm not so sure.

Hello Fossil Forum community, This is my first post. My name is Ben and I recently learned about the Peace River. After getting my fossil collecting permit, decided to try my hand at it! I loved collecting trilobites and sea animals in upstate NY, so to know there is a place in FL with abundant, remarkable and unusual fossils, makes me so happy! I live about 45min away from Paynes Creek Historic State Park; here the creek and river join. I collected these fossils just past the border of the park. I would like your help to try to ID them, please! Where Paynes Creek (right) meets lazy Peace River (left) Here are some fossils I think I know, but I am still unsure. Horse tooth? Dugong rib bone? (very dense feeling, like lead): Left: barracuda tooth? Right: claw? Back of "claw": Front: Front, zoomed: Side: Many thanks for any help, I love this River! Thanks for your time, Ben

I found the item on the right a couple years ago and wrote it off at the time as just a unique Giant Tortoise osteoderm. I'm having 2nd thoughts now that I've found another one yesterday when digging at Zolfo Springs. The newest one (on the left) is still wet so it shows what looks like a Fossa or a Facet on the underside more clearly than the one on the right. Both display (or would have displayed) a very definite ridge down the centerline. So, just a different osteoderm, or something different?

After a long long wait, the periodic heavy rains that have repeatedly pushed the water level of the Peace River up and out of range for Florida fossil hunters, our "dry season" is finally starting to act like the non-rainy part of our year. Tammy and I got out two weekends ago with a group of SCUBAnauts from the Tampa/St. Pete area. While checking the levels right before that trip, I visited one of my favorite spots along the river to see if it would be accessible for the group. The water two weeks ago was nearly a foot higher than at present but even with the higher level the locality worked for the group (11 canoes of kids and their accompanying adults). I like this site because it has more chunky gravel which results (on rare occasions) in finding larger items. I've pulled substantial chunks of mammoth molar from this site several years ago--as well as a gold wedding band (no inscription) and a gold tie tack (no Jimmy Hoffa jokes, please). The main draw though is dugong. Though fossil hunters who've spent any amount of time on the Peace generally have their share of the solid rib bones from these cousins of our modern-day manatee, newbies to the concept of fossil hunting in Florida never fail to enjoy these large and substantial items. Tammy and I went back this weekend without the crowd of two dozen we were guiding on the river at the end of March. We went on a Sunday and the river was reasonably quiet and peaceful. We met another couple on the bus ride up to the put-in and gave them some tips on hunting the river as it was their first time. They were the recipients of many fossils and fraglodons that (while interesting) would probably would have either ended back in the river or handed out to kids in passing canoes. I was prospecting around my "dugong" site (that's what it is called in my GPS ) and could feel with my feet the little pits and piles of chunky rubble left over from our last visit stripping out countless dozens of dugong ribs now scattered in the nascent collections of those we took down the river on our previous visit. Most of the site is still too deep to get to even with the river 10" lower than last time. The air and water temps were much more pleasant than last time and it didn't take as much motivation to walk into chest-deep water. I dug for about 4 hours and had little to show for it other than a bag of nice specimens of dugong ribs (to reload my "paleo paperweight" gifting stockpile). After a break back at the canoe for a drink and some more salty snacks, I ventured off in the direction where I used to dig but which was now probably too deep to dig. En route to that spot I passed a rise in the bottom that was so steep that it looked like I was walking up submerged steps till I was only thigh deep in the river. My trusty probe--which I carry like a walking cane, probing the sand with each step to test the subsurface composition of the river bottom--detected the delightful crunchy sound indicating some substantial gravel deposits not far below the sandy covering along the bottom. I did a test screen from this spot and was rewarded with a nice little Whitetail Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) molar. These are not as common (in my experience) as the Equus horse molars that are occasional finds in the Peace. This one came complete with a reasonable portion of the roots intact and will bolster my meager number of these in my collection. A few screens later would end up bringing in my trip-makers and the high point of the afternoon. While picking through the contents of that screen I spotted the very distinctive shape of a peg-like tooth from a member of the order Xenarthra ("strange joint") aka Edentata ("toothless"). I have just a few similar but larger teeth from ground sloths which are highly valued by Florida collectors. A few years back I found a similar but smaller peg tooth that turned to be from the armadillo Holmesina floridanus. I assumed this tooth might be from a larger individual but was pleased to learn more in a quick response to my query from Dr. Richard Hulbert from the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, FL. Richard confirmed that the peg tooth was from a Holmesina but that it was from the larger (2 meter long) species, Holmesina septentrionalis, that roamed Florida from the middle to late Pleistocene (500,000 to 11,000 years ago). The smaller H. floridanus that preceded it was in Florida from the late Pliocene to the early Pleistocene (2.5-1.5 mya). Contained in that screen was a very oddly shaped bone with curved parts and flat articulating surfaces. I assumed this was one of those odd bones in the leg like the navicular bone that I hear about but haven't seen enough examples of to fully understand or recognize. Richard commented that, the odd-shape bone that appeared in the same sifting screen was, coincidentally, from the same species (H. septentrionalis) and that it was an astragalus which articulates with the navicular so I get points for being close. Then he added something that made my whole morning: This is actually a rare find, especially in the southern half of Florida, for which we do not have a single H. septentrionalis astragalus in our collection. Please consider donating it. I quickly replied that I'd set this aside and would bring it up with me next time I visit Gainesville (where Tammy and I are looking for our next house). You can bet I'll be keen to get back up to the Peace to see if any other Holmesina bits might be hiding in the gravel nearby. These two items are likely not associated and it was probably just luck that I'd come across two very different items from the same rare species in a single sifting screen. If the two pieces were closely related in the skeletal structure I'd believe that they might from the same individual but I believe this is probably just a happy coincidence. A couple more hours of digging in the same area turned up no further identifiable bits from this species but you can be certain that I'll devote some extra effort to that spot next time on the river. Enjoy the wrinkly finger tips in the in-river photos below. Cheers. -Ken

I have had the delight of hunting the Peace river and it's Tributaries for a few years now. Time was taken to combine my finds and I discovered some unknowns that I hope someone can help me with!! Rib. It does not appear to be Dugong. Any chance of a broad classification?? These look like bullas, but so different than whales. I was told horse. Could this be correct?? Unknown Teeth: