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olddude

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I'm new to fossil hunting and already know that I'm way over my head. I find that This hobby unlike the other habits I have had over the years takes far more brain power than I have at this stage of my life. I'm still trying to figure out how you guys can look at a rock and tell if there is a fossil in it or not. I find that I'm more fooled than actually finding something that's worth hauling out of the woods. And let me tell you I have dragged some big bags of rock off those hills I have been hunting for the past few months.

 

I started out just looking for arrow heads along the many creeks that are leaching out of the banks of these Chesapeake Group formation hills but soon became so fascinated by all the broken shells all over the place than I was collecting arrow heads. As I sat there wondering where  all these pieces of coral and shell came from it dawned on me that I needed to do some research. Sadly, it seems that the more I find out the less I know. Since then I have done more reading than at anytime of my life. I've read this whole site probably 6 times and every now an again something sticks out and makes sense then I read the next post and it all becomes a big blurred mass of big fancy words that have no meaning. Well at least to this old country boy anyway.

 

I've gone from walking the gentle rolling creek beds looking for arrow heads, to picking up odd looking rocks and giving each one the lick and  burn test or smelling each one for signs that it may be the prized poop fossil some folks seem to be so fascinated with.  Needless to say I have a pretty good sized rock garden in front of my shop from rocks that for one reason or another didn't pass the poop test.

 

I have collected a lot of bone fragments that I truly believe to be real fossilized pieces of bone and I have several that I'm not sure of. I'm going to post a couple pictures from around the site with a few of the pieces I have dragged out the woods just to see if there is someone out there that could tell me if I am wasting my time and should find something else to do with my life I have left. 

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On 3/5/2020 at 1:51 PM, olddude said:

 

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This doesn’t look like bone or was this not meant to be bone in the first place :). Sorry, I’m just a little confused.

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Corals, a shell fragment and what might be worm tubes. Not bone, but very cool none the less!

 

 

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Yes, and top left a lovely Ecphora gastropod. 

The coral could be Astrhelia palmate.

Nice finds! :)

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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Sorry for the mix up I was just trying to show a couple pics for you guys to look at just to see if I was looking in the right place for starters. I'll add some of what I think is bone for you to look at.

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meg teeth with bone pieces.jpg

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This might not be all bone but it caused me to do a 21/2 hour happy dance when I pulled this one out.

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front view of big meg tooth.jpg

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41 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Yes, and top left a lovely Ecphora gastropod. 

The coral could be Astrhelia palmate.

Nice finds! :)

Thanks I was wondering what they call these guys' Here's a couple pics of that little guy.

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:raindance:I would have danced if I had found that very nice meg tooth. I'd drink the beer to that find. Seems to me you are doing very well. Be patient, join a fossil club if one is nearby. Us old guys can still rock. Poop is harder than maybe you would think to find because it does not have hard enamel or shell material or bone. Have fun with being able to find stuff no one has seen or touched for many millions of years. Give some to kids and see their eyes light up. That is very special. All the best.

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Yes, bones and a lovely meg tooth. 

You're doing pretty blinking well! :default_clap2:

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

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Wow! Some really nice finds :)! I would be jumping up and down if I found a meg tooth like that.

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19 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Yes, bones and a lovely meg tooth. 

You're doing pretty blinking well! :default_clap2:

Cool I guess I'll head over to the ID section and see if I can find out what donated it. Thanks

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19 hours ago, Pterygotus said:

Wow! Some really nice finds :)! I would be jumping up and down if I found a meg tooth like that.

Thanks...I never thought you could find Meg teeth that large around here. I had found one just a few minutes before that was my personal best and was jumping for joy and it was only about half that size. I thought I would never find another one anywhere near the size of that one. Then I stumbled across its daddy. I post a pic of that one too.

Meg tooth.jpg

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i find teeth all the time that are all clean and free from the matrix they were trapped in for so many years. This leads me to another question I have and that is are all the teeth you find free of their matrix? Or is it possible to find teeth that still have hard matrix around them. I find small rocks all the time that share the same relative shape and size of the clean teeth in the same area. most people say they are just odd shaped rocks. I have a few pics if I can find them and will put them up for you guys to take a look at. I know I'm not the only person out there that has wondered this same thing....or could I be?

 

In the first pic look, at the third one from the left and then the others. Could there be teeth hiding under that crust?

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6 minutes ago, olddude said:

 

i find teeth all the time that are all clean and free from the matrix they were trapped in for so many years. This leads me to another question I have and that is are all the teeth you find free of their matrix? Or is it possible to find teeth that still have hard matrix around them.

 

Absolutely!

 

Here is but one of many examples of tooth in matrix, courtesy of member Vieira's album: 

 

...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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On 3/5/2020 at 1:48 PM, olddude said:

 

I'm new to fossil hunting and already know that I'm way over my head. I find that This hobby unlike the other habits I have had over the years takes far more brain power than I have at this stage of my life. I'm still trying to figure out how you guys can look at a rock and tell if there is a fossil in it or not. I find that I'm more fooled than actually finding something that's worth hauling out of the woods. And let me tell you I have dragged some big bags of rock off those hills I have been hunting for the past few months

 

Don’t worry about asking questions. I would be more worried if you didn’t ask questions. ;) 
 

We all start somewhere, and can learn something no matter what age we are. Just take your time and keep asking questions if you need to. Most of us don’t mind, and will help where we can. Besides, it looks like you have found some nice stuff so far. Your persistence has paid off! I love the coral pieces in your first picture.
 

In this obsession (hobby), if you don’t constantly have a question about something, even after years of collecting, you are doing it wrong. It is undoubtedly a passion fueled by curiosity. :) 

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The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.  -Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't. -Bill Nye (The Science Guy)

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10 hours ago, FossilNerd said:

Don’t worry about asking questions. I would be more worried if you didn’t ask questions. ;) 
 

We all start somewhere, and can learn something no matter what age we are. Just take your time and keep asking questions if you need to. Most of us don’t mind, and will help where we can. Besides, it looks like you have found some nice stuff so far. Your persistence has paid off! I love the coral pieces in your first picture.
 

In this obsession (hobby), if you don’t constantly have a question about something, even after years of collecting, you are doing it wrong. It is undoubtedly a passion fueled by curiosity. :) 

Thank You for your response. When I first started looking around at this place those those pieces of coral were the first thing that really caught my eye, other than of-course the thousands of pieces of broken and whole pieces of Chesapecten - jeffersonlus (I think that's spelled right) clam shells. scattered all over the place. Those corals are so cool and I love collecting them I would have sure loved to see them in their glory days but that was a little far back even somebody my age.:dinosmile: 

Pm me your addy and I'll send you a couple pieces if you like some. But you have to Id them for me and let me know what they are. LOL

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On 3/5/2020 at 2:53 PM, olddude said:

Sorry for the mix up I was just trying to show a couple pics for you guys to look at just to see if I was looking in the right place for starters. I'll add some of what I think is bone for you to look at.

 

I am thinking "cannon" bone,  llama or deer.  You might check out this TFF Thread.

Identifying specific corals is more difficult. I received lots of help on this thread for identifying some Florida corals.

 

 

The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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I love all of this. Looking for arrowheads, shells, hauling stuff out of the woods, your interest and the beer. 
 

You rock sir. I’m envious of your finds but am so glad you did find them and posted. 
 

I’m a newbie and as soon as I figure out how to follow people, you are at the top of my list. Take care. 
 

Jen

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Hey @Jen Morris! If I haven’t welcomed you before... Welcome to the forum! :) 

 

To follow someone, click on their name when they post. It’s at the top. Such as your name in the pic below. Alternately, you can search for members with the forum’s search function. 
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Then when you are at their profile page click the button beside their name. The one that looks like a plus sign with a person. 
 

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You will then see this screen. Just click follow at the bottom. You can also uncheck the box to let others see that you follow someone. Your preference. Hope this helps! :) 
 

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The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.  -Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't. -Bill Nye (The Science Guy)

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I think I did it!  Thank you so much. Now I need to add Tiggys Dad and Shellseeker. I am in constant awe of how much information is on this site all shared by members. I was up until 2:30am looking at geologic maps of Florida. I must have gone a little overboard because when I woke up this morning Da Hub was standing over me and said “Honey... to you realize you sent 17 things to my printer to be printed in the middle of the night?”  Then I got the whole “there is a difference between a hobby and an obsession speech” blah blah blah blah I get that once a week I just tune that out. 


One of my favorite books is the classic Wind in the Willows. The river rat tells the mole that “there is simply nothing better in the world than messing about with boats”. I disagree. It’s digging around in the dirt. :rolleyes:
 

Take care. 
 

Jen

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14 hours ago, Jen Morris said:

I love all of this. Looking for arrowheads, shells, hauling stuff out of the woods, your interest and the beer. 
 

You rock sir. I’m envious of your finds but am so glad you did find them and posted. 
 

I’m a newbie and as soon as I figure out how to follow people, you are at the top of my list. Take care. 
 

Jen

Thanks, you are too kind. I don't have a BOAT anymore where I can run the banks of the many rivers we have up here so I had to stick my head to the computer screen and spend many hours searching dirt maps then many more hours following up on what I found. Some times it pays off but most end up in dead ends and sore feet. Oh did I mention another habit I've had for a long time? That would be Civil War relic hunting. I don't know witch habit is the worst one, but rock/fossil hunting is an absolute obsession. 

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Work has been getting in the way of my play and I haven't gotten out in a couple days but I found the time to re-size some pics and wanted to post a couple pics of some things I found awhile back at this site.

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On 3/6/2020 at 12:04 PM, Kane said:

Absolutely!

 

Here is but one of many examples of tooth in matrix, courtesy of member Vieira's album: 

 

Just look at the colors on that bad boy, that is absolutely beautiful.1

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On 3/5/2020 at 10:51 AM, olddude said:

 

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This is an admirable haul.. Is it all from one trip, or several? I don't know if I've seen so many fossil corals all in one pile like that before, at least from that location/formation.

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