RandyB Posted June 2, 2022 Share Posted June 2, 2022 (edited) My wife and I made our way down to North Carolina for the Aurora Fossil Museum's Fossil Festival last weekend. Overall it was a pretty productive trip and we came away with well over 1000 shark teeth, some nice shells, lots of ray teeth, some shark, fish and cetacean verts, small cetacean teeth and a bucket of coral pieces. We heard many of the regulars say that the tailings weren't as productive as other years, but I saw quite a few nice specimens being collected. A few of the larger teeth, most of ours were damaged, but some of the colors are great: Lots of smaller teeth, I will try to take some better pics once I get them sorted and layed out flat: Ray teeth and spines: All the verts were pretty beat up: A good sampling of shells: Crab claws: Sea Urchin spines: I couldn't manage to find a whole cow shark tooth, but I did see a gorgeous little complete one come out of the hole next to me. Here are a few partials we found: A few micro samples, I did grab a few jars of sifted matrix once I realized how many small teeth were falling through And lots and lots of coral my wife wanted for some project she wants to do: Overall it was a good time. We met a lot of friendly and interesting folks and my wife already asked if I wanted to book the place we stayed to come back next year. Thanks for looking, Randy Edited June 2, 2022 by RandyB 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyB Posted June 2, 2022 Author Share Posted June 2, 2022 Forgot about this vert still in a phosphate nodule I found the 1st day: 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darktooth Posted June 2, 2022 Share Posted June 2, 2022 Geez, Randy it looks like you did real well. Thanks for sharing! I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam86cucv Posted June 2, 2022 Share Posted June 2, 2022 Looks like a good haul, especially like the variety and size of the shells...and the sharks teeth are shabby either. I'd be interested to see what your wife's coral project turns out to be when completed. We spent several hours there at the piles and the museum back in August 2019 and had a blast. I'd love to be down for the fossil fest one of these years, usually we're at a sports tournament that weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Family Fun Posted June 2, 2022 Share Posted June 2, 2022 Awesome, you killed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixgill pete Posted June 3, 2022 Share Posted June 3, 2022 Not bad. Not as good as the old days, but not bad at all. You should have came tothe community center to see the NCFC displays. There were at least 5 forum members in there. Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt behind the trailer, my desert Them red clay piles are heaven on earth I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt Patterson Hood; Drive-By Truckers May 2016 May 2012 Aug 2013, May 2016, Apr 2020 Oct 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreatWhiteMac Posted June 3, 2022 Share Posted June 3, 2022 Awesome results!! Congrats on a great hunt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted June 3, 2022 Share Posted June 3, 2022 Wow! What a nice variety of finds. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minnbuckeye Posted June 3, 2022 Share Posted June 3, 2022 Randy, you cleaned up as always!! I hope to time a visit to my brother's "beach house" at Salter Path with the Aurora festival some day. Will we bump into each other this year? Let me know if you are in the area. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyB Posted June 4, 2022 Author Share Posted June 4, 2022 10 hours ago, minnbuckeye said: Will we bump into each other this year? Let me know if you are in the area. @minnbuckeye no plans to get quite that far west this year. Heading to Penn Dixie's dig with the experts this weekend . Hopefully Chris or I can find something interesting 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted June 4, 2022 Share Posted June 4, 2022 Wow you did outstanding, I need to go there one of these years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyB Posted June 4, 2022 Author Share Posted June 4, 2022 Also seem to have missed the cetacean teeth: 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j pru Posted June 5, 2022 Share Posted June 5, 2022 Randy, What a great haul! Thanks for sharing. It was good to meet you and Chris on the fist day in the 'VIP' piles. It was our first time at the pits/festival and the crowded piles were a bit overwhelming to me and my nephew, but Chris helped him and it made quite the impression. Thanks again :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted June 5, 2022 Share Posted June 5, 2022 On 6/4/2022 at 7:00 AM, RandyB said: Also seem to have missed the cetacean teeth: Randy, I love marine mammal teeth also.. Never been to Aurora. For a newbee, can you describe what you paid, what you did at the Festival to acquire all these goodies... Ant photos of the "piles"? The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyB Posted June 6, 2022 Author Share Posted June 6, 2022 @Shellseeker this was our 1st trip to the museum and festival. The museum has 2 areas of material brought in from the local phosphate mine available to search for free all year round that gets refreshed a couple times of year. This was (I think) the 1st year the museum ran the festival themselves, previously it was a town run event. I was told the pits were closed for the week prior to the festival while they were refreshed, plus they temporarily created a 3rd pit for a VIP dig. The regular pits were free to dig, the VIP area was limited to 100 spots at $100/person. Same material so no advantage for potential finds in VIP, but it did pretty much eliminate small children climbing across collapsing the walls of the area you were searching and included a festival shirt, a reusable cloth bag and a few tchotchkys, 2 small meals, access to a large shade tent with chairs and tables and separate portapotties and a hand washing station. Because it was the first year with a VIP area the staff did ask a bunch of questions looking to improve the option for next year so not sure what may change. My wife and I primarily sifted material. Screens are limited to no larger than 1 foot square with a maximum screen of 1/4" squares. They sold screens, hand trowels, small shovels and small hand rakes on site (at least until they ran out, it was their biggest attendance ever so they sold out). The screens were $13/each. Some people simply use a tool or even just a rock, to shift layers of gravel as they searched. One kid (late teen I would guess) who worked near me on day 2 simply used a phosphate nodule he picked up off the pile to trench through material like a plow. It obviously worked for him as he pulled a complete cow shark tooth and 2 nice megs out in short order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey P Posted June 7, 2022 Share Posted June 7, 2022 Nice haul Randy! Congrats. The ray barb and the gastropod shells are my favorites. Thanks for sharing your wonderful time there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plax Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 Would have enjoyed seeing more of the Forum members at the displays in the community building. Maybe I did and didn't know it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironhead42 Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 Aurora has lots of great smalls! I love going through the matrix from there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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