Peace River Adventure

[PODIGGER]

Got back to the Peace River yesterday for what turned out to be a beautiful day with a variety of finds and new friends.  On arrival at the river a little before 8 am the temperature was a balmy 48*F.  The temperature was projected to rise into the mid 70's but I started out the day in my wetsuit and dive boots with hoodie overall to combat the early morning chill.  I usually hunt north of Payne Creek State Park but decided to go south today where Megalodon teeth are more easily found.  I haven't targeted the big shark teeth since last spring.

 

I returned to the area where I found my first 3" whole Meg last June and saw some evidence that others had been searching in the area.  The water was very clear and shallow and it was easy to pick out a spot to start digging.  There is a lot of gravel in this area and it seems to produce good finds across the width of the river.  In just the second load in the sifter I came up with an almost whole 3" meg.  The good finds continued for an hour or more with many small shark teeth, more partial megs, a nice whole glyptodont osteoderm and a nice sized cetacean vert.  I then took a break from digging and walked around in the shallow water for a bit which resulted in my spotting a nice 2.25" meg just lying on the river bottom waiting to be picked up.

 

Just prior to the walk around a couple in two kayaks passed heading south.  I noticed they had sifters on board and we just exchanged hellos as they passed.  The temperature was warming up a bit and I decided to take a break, empty out my dive boots and warm my feet up.  As I was about to return to digging the couple that had passed returned heading north. The gentleman asked if I minded if they beached their kayaks alongside mine and I welcomed them to do so.  It took only a few minutes to discover that they were the ones who had been working the area most recently and that I had taken over digging in one of their spots.  It also turned out that the gentleman is a member of the Forum under the name @JMT2015. So, not only was I finding new fossils but also getting to meet new TFF friends.  We spent the rest of the day working the area and I am glad to say they also found Megs and other interesting specimens.  I concentrated on the same hole, going deeper and widening it with the result of several nice finds during the afternoon.  A partial whale ear bone, 2 dolphin ear bones, a 2.75" Mako, a pice of juvenile Mastodon tooth, partial dolphin tooth, Burr fish mouth plate, piece of gator(?) jaw, turtle leg spurs, turtle scute and two unknowns - one possibly another ear bone and one a tooth.  Photos of some of the days finds follow:

 

The Cetacean Vert:

 

 

 

 

The Megs - 

 

 

The Juvenile Mastodon tooth piece -

 

 

 

 

The ear bones -

 

 

Turtle spurs and scute, Burr fish mouth plate, jaw piece and partial dolphin tooth -

 

 

 

 

The Mako -

 

All in all a very good day on the river - looking forward to my next visit!

[Shellseeker]

John,

Living the sweet life.

Fantastic finds.... Not JUST a jaw piece.

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/46605-25-inch-predator-canine/

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/88040-a-jaw-fragment/

and your top dolphin ear bone, I think is river dolphin.

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/76091-owner-of-this-inner-ear-bone/

I was also out yesterday, same conditions, and I have been extremely fortunate lately but lower quantity  yesterday. My biggest teeth were Sand Tigers, no Megs or Makos. 

Still a fantastic day.. the afternoon sun was appreciated.

 

[PODIGGER]

Thanks for the info Jack.  Glad to see you had some worthy finds. The weather was great yesterday and I hope it returns next week.

The jaw piece tooth hole measures 10mm x 13mm.  Small toothed whale range?

 

Jim W.

[Shellseeker]

57 minutes ago, PODIGGER said:

Thanks for the info Jack.  Glad to see you had some worthy finds. The weather was great yesterday and I hope it returns next week.

The jaw piece tooth hole measures 10mm x 13mm.  Small toothed whale range?

 

Jim W.

Jim,

Your piece of marine mammal jaw is about 2 inches!!

From the 2nd thread: If we were looking at 2 inches of what looks to be dolphin jaw,  you would have 3 sockets, with very narrow spaces between them. It is not large enough for Kogiopsis teeth I have, but could be many of these large dolphin or the smaller whale teeth I have been finding.  

Would this fit? Let's see what @Boesse thinks.

 

[PODIGGER]

The tooth hole is at least 1/2" (18 mm) deep and the overall length of the piece is 2 1/16" (53 mm).  I think that long beaked dolphin would fit.  The indentations in each end in the above photo are not tooth sockets.  They look more like predation marks with the imprint of what looks like two teeth biting through the upper end in the photo. Thanks for tagging Boesse.  I look forward to seeing what he thinks.

[PODIGGER]

In the hope that @Boesse gets a chance to take a look I thought I would add more photos of the jaw piece.  The measurements are:

 

Overall = 53mm Long x 26 mm Wide

Hole/Slot = 10 mm x 13 mm with a depth of at least 18 mm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Boesse]

I hate to say it, but I don't actually think that's a jaw. It very much looks like a clam bored specimen to me - the grains are longitudinal and largely parallel, and cross-cut by the "sockets" - rather than changing texture around them, the grain is perpendicular to the "sockets". The spacing and orientation would also be very strange for a jaw.

[Fossilis Willis]

Man oh man, I would love to get my kayak in the Peace. That would be quite the paddle from here though.

[PODIGGER]

Boesse,

Thank you for taking the time to evaluate the piece. Your expert opinion is much appreciated. I just have to get back out there and keep digging! 

[Shellseeker]

4 hours ago, Boesse said:

I hate to say it, but I don't actually think that's a jaw. It very much looks like a clam bored specimen to me - the grains are longitudinal and largely parallel, and cross-cut by the "sockets" - rather than changing texture around them, the grain is perpendicular to the "sockets". The spacing and orientation would also be very strange for a jaw.

Very different. When I looked close... learned something.

 

[PODIGGER]

@Shellseeker Thanks for your help on this.  @Fossilis Willis come on down! The river is big enough for more hunters.

[Boesse]

1 hour ago, PODIGGER said:

Boesse,

Thank you for taking the time to evaluate the piece. Your expert opinion is much appreciated. I just have to get back out there and keep digging! 

Keep on diggin'! You'll find a nice jaw segment sooner than you think.