Biotalker Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 Imagine working for a year in a small college science department and there was a room you vaguely knew was there but didn’t have the keys to and never saw anyone going in or out. Then one day, campus grounds workers open the door, and you inquire what is going on. You discover it is an old earth science storage room (earth science hadn’t been taught there in many years) and everything is to be discarded the next day into the dumpster to make room for some new purpose. It’s a room about 15 feet by 20feet packed with boxes on shelves filling the space up to the ceiling. It is a dusty disordered mess. You don’t have the authority to put off the clean out. What would you do? Exactly, cancel all plans and stay up all night sorting out the room and triaging the best stuff. So that’s what I did. Not heroic like running into a burning building to save children, but someone had to do it. Even with several trips I could only take a small percentage of the material but most of the fossils. Most were labeled, some had numbers on them but there was no accompanying key, and many had no identification at all. Perhaps 2% of the material was fossils, and it was scattered throughout the room, like some sinister easter egg hunt with every minute ticking down until the morning workers showed up. Here then, are some of the unlabeled and unidentified fossils I recovered. Some are obvious, others less so. I thought TFF members might have some fun with this. # 1 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotalker Posted September 15, 2021 Author Share Posted September 15, 2021 # 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotalker Posted September 15, 2021 Author Share Posted September 15, 2021 # 3 # 4 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotalker Posted September 15, 2021 Author Share Posted September 15, 2021 # 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotalker Posted September 15, 2021 Author Share Posted September 15, 2021 # 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotalker Posted September 15, 2021 Author Share Posted September 15, 2021 # 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotalker Posted September 15, 2021 Author Share Posted September 15, 2021 # 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotalker Posted September 15, 2021 Author Share Posted September 15, 2021 # 9 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotalker Posted September 15, 2021 Author Share Posted September 15, 2021 # 10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotalker Posted September 15, 2021 Author Share Posted September 15, 2021 # 11 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 Wow ! That's a lot for one post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristineR Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 I would love to know the location of that dumpster. Did you call in reinforcements? I can only imagine the pressure you experienced Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 Hi, I can't help you, but with all these pics, it would be good to numerote them... And on some fossils there’s a number, which probably means there was a catalogue somewhere at some point. Coco ---------------------- OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici Un Greg... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Rico Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 (edited) Firstly I congratulate you in rescuing these fossil from the landfill. Please number the specimens on this post so when your reading or writing a replies it is easy to know what is been talked about. I am also known to go dumpster diving in my time . I have rescued Bell jars, 1950s science posters, metal tripod stands, filling cabinets and even some art work from 1960 that was very popular with the ‘A’ list celebrities John Lennon, Jaqui Dupre, Thora Hird, Haley Mills, Jack Palance and Charles Bronson or collected here work. cheers Bobby Edited September 15, 2021 by Bobby Rico Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 You certainly did save a good selection for posterity. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 Okay. Got a big chunk of half rotten spruce rolled in that should keep my brush fire going a while. Let's get the mall out and start here. Top down, by specimen. 1 - Metasequoia 2 - The texture underneath looks a bit like lung fish tooth. The piece looks like it's being processed somehow. 3 - I see the geometry of syringopora, but the texture is so obscured it has the look of a feeding trace at the same time. I think a closer look is called for. 4 - I pigeon hole as a helispiral gastropod. 5 - Angiosperm leaf. 6 - Neuropteris 7 - Lacking context I have to say ostracod is the likely candidate. 8 - Psaronius type tree fern. 9 - Bivalve. Mussels 10 - Tree fern. I'm thinking a dryer ground species. 11 - Herbaceous Paleozoic plant ? 12 - Stigmria Ta da Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 Hum . . . If you can keep your, , , while all others are, , , Am I missing something ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdp Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 No way is 2 a lungfish tooth. 3 looks like graptolites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 1 hour ago, Rockwood said: Hum . . . If you can keep your, , , while all others are, , , Am I missing something ? I sometimes find your posts a bit confusing. 6 minutes ago, jdp said: No way is 2 a lungfish tooth. 3 looks like graptolites I agree with # 3 being graptolites: Cropped, rotated, black and white reversed, and back-lit. Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotalker Posted September 15, 2021 Author Share Posted September 15, 2021 sorry, 10 is a magnification of 11. Fixed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 # 4 looks like Turitella agate. 1 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 29 minutes ago, jdp said: No way is 2 a lungfish tooth. Didn't say it was. Said it had the texture of one. I see now that a spiral (serpulid/gastropod) shell appears on what ever it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 23 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said: I sometimes find your posts a bit confusing. Don't you like a challenge ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 33 minutes ago, jdp said: 3 looks like graptolites I see that now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 45 minutes ago, Rockwood said: Don't you like a challenge ? I do. Sometimes more than others. Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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