Collect fossils from closed sites?

[Jurassicz1]

Hello! I have a question. Recently I have started to purchase fossils from closed locations and countries that are now closed for fossil collecting. 

 

Can anyone tell me any good closed sites that I can purchase fossils from? I barely know any. 

 

I only know about these closed sites / countries.

Chile

Brazil

Lee Creek Mine

Bone Valley? I'm not sure if it is closed.

 

Hopefully someone can tell me some good closed sites. Age and country / area does not matter

 

Thanks

Cheers - Adriano

[connorp]

There's a big difference between a mine that no longer allows collectors access, and a country that makes it illegal to export fossils.

[Meganeura]

Bone Valley isn’t closed - there’s still places to find stuff! 

[Jurassicz1]

1 hour ago, connorp said:

There's a big difference between a mine that no longer allows collectors access, and a country that makes it illegal to export fossils.

Yes I know. I'm looking for both. anything helps.

Cheers.

[Jurassicz1]

22 minutes ago, Meganeura said:

Bone Valley isn’t closed - there’s still places to find stuff! 

Oh did not know that! Thanks.

 

Cheers.

[A.C.]

Swatara PA (Rusty trilobites) 

St Clair PA (White ferns)

[jpc]

Most developing countries do not allow fossils to be exported,  other than the two you mentioned…

 

Mexico

Argentina

Peru

Niger

Tanzania

Kenya ( i think)

Italy

Spain

Mongolia

China

Canadian province of Alberta

 

... and I am sure there are a ton more.

[Troodon]

There is a lot of Chilean material available that was exported before the ban so those can be commonly found on many sites.  Even when it was legal to export fossils from Brazil they were not seen in this country so those may be extremely hard to find anywhere.

Material from the Mine and Bone Valley is very common and you just need to search the internet

[Jurassicz1]

Thanks!

[Jurassicz1]

On 6/26/2022 at 5:18 AM, jpc said:

 

spain

Spain aswell? Never heard of them not allowing to export fossils.

[jpc]

2 hours ago, Jurassicz1 said:

Spain aswell? Never heard of them not allowing to export fossils.

This is what I have heard.... 

Any ne in Spain here can confirm either way?  

[caterpillar]

The search for fossils is strictly prohibited in Spain. So I imagine exporting too

[FB003]

Even searching? Wow.

[FranzBernhard]

15 minutes ago, FB003 said:

Even searching? Wow.

Maybe its some mistranslation, @caterpillar? I can not really imaging that it is forbidden wandering around and photographing fossils that are lying free on the ground or are embedded in open rock faces. Its a country of the EU, after all!

Happy to be in Austria, also EU.

Franz Bernhard

Edited June 28, 2022 by FranzBernhard

[Troodon]

Rarely do I see any material available for sales from Spain at fossil shows.  

[FranzBernhard]

Just now, Troodon said:

Rarely do I see any material available for sales from Spain at fossil shows. 

Do you see Austrian material ?
Franz Bernhard

[Troodon]

9 minutes ago, FranzBernhard said:

Do you see Austrian material ?
Franz 

Not really just seen a couple of shark teeth sold over the years

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

1 hour ago, FranzBernhard said:

Maybe its some mistranslation, @caterpillar? I can not really imaging that it is forbidden wandering around and photographing fossils that are lying free on the ground or are embedded in open rock faces. Its a country of the EU, after all!

Happy to be in Austria, also EU.

Franz Bernhard

 

Yeah, it is. I suspect Dominique was thinking of "chercher", which in French has the double meaning of "to search (for)" and "to collect".

 

2 hours ago, caterpillar said:

The search for fossils is strictly prohibited in Spain. So I imagine exporting too

 

But I too have heard that fossil hunting in Spain is strictly prohibited (even if, surprisingly, I have heard of one of two people who did/do).

[FranzBernhard]

5 minutes ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

I have heard of one of two people who did/do).

Lets ask @Quer! At least, he has photographed Spanish fossils in the field. Unfortunately, his last activity was nearly 2 years ago.

Franz Bernhard

[Kikokuryu]

You get a lot of supposedly "lost" sites from old English and some American collections. I don't know if they really are literally lost, some become protected areas, but I've bought some the following locales. Someone more familiar, especially the English ammonite locales could tell you if this is accurate or not. It seems to me that England has a lot of lost sites, but I don't know if they really are lost or not.

 

Just looking through screenshots and notes I have:

 

Ammonites from Milborne Port, Sherborne, Dorset, UK

Cretaceous Sharks from Wilmington Sands from White Hart Inn Pit, Wilmington, Devon, UK

Pleistocene mammals from the Cotswold Water Park, Ashton Keynes, Wiltshire, UK

Ammonites from South Cave, Hull, Yorkshire, UK

Ammonites Eathie, Black Isle, Cromarty, Scotland

Various Eocene-Oligocene mammals from Quercy Phosphorites Formation from Lot (Quercy), France

Miocene Rodents from Gargano Terre Rosse Deposit / Mikrotia assemblage from Gargano, Foggia, Italy

Cave Bears from Drachenhöhle, Mixnitz, Austria

 

Not entirely sure:

Marine reptiles from the Kimmeridge Clay from Wicklesham Pit, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, UK

Pleistocene mammals from the Texas City dike, Texas, USA

Sharks from Pyramid Hill from Bakersfield, California, USA (Slightly older deposit than STH?)

 

I have no idea on this one, but the Triassic deposits from the Argana Group of Morocco are almost nonexistent for whatever reason. There was some pytosaur (as well as an Arganodus tooth I picked up) material, but it all seemed to be from an old collection? It could just be that Moroccan don't really care about obscure Triassic stuff or it is in a protected or inaccessible area.

 

I was also unsure about the coal mines in Illinois that produce Edestus. Are they still active? Or do they restrict miners from taking fossils? I've heard a mix of both.

 

Generally speaking, from countries that have banned their fossils for a while, you can still find ammonites from those countries that pop up from time to time. So if you want a little something from Argentina, Egypt, Peru, Spain, Mexico, etc, you might want to wait for an ammonite to show up. They also don't cost you an arm and a leg either.

[jpc]

2 hours ago, FB003 said:

Even searching? Wow.

Italy, likewise.  

[Notidanodon]

In the uk, you’ll find of all the sites ever accessible, only a very small proportion are still available to the public, mining isn’t such a big thing anymore and safety regulations are strict so access to quarries is fairly rare and most have been filled in anyway  in Victorian times there were pits all across the country

[caterpillar]

13 hours ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

15 hours ago, FranzBernhard said:

Maybe its some mistranslation, @caterpillar? I can not really imaging that it is forbidden wandering around and photographing fossils that are lying free on the ground or are embedded in open rock faces. Its a country of the EU, after all!

Happy to be in Austria, also EU.

Franz Bernhard

 

Yeah, it is. I suspect Dominique was thinking of "chercher", which in French has the double meaning of "to search (for)" and "to collect".

 

16 hours ago, caterpillar said:

The search for fossils is strictly prohibited in Spain. So I imagine exporting too

 

But I too have heard that fossil hunting in Spain is strictly prohibited (even if, surprisingly, I have heard of one of two people who did/do).

 

Yes, you corrected for me. I was talking about fossil hunting.

Only scientists have the right to dig, but with authorizations

[Jurassicz1]

Thank you! 

[siteseer]

On 6/28/2022 at 8:34 AM, Troodon said:

Rarely do I see any material available for sales from Spain at fossil shows.  

 

Years ago, I used to see fossils from Spain at shows.  I saw Miocene shark teeth from Rota and another site I can't recall at the moment plus some Miocene horse teeth from Teruel.  A friend had a nice Carboniferous fern plate from Leon.  I think I saw some trilobites too.