bocaciega Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 Found this fossil sticking out of the sand. In pinellas. Also found what I think is a mosasaur tooth. Been walking here twice a week and I have found some other mammal teeth, smaller megs, and other various fossils that look like pieces of bigger bones. I enjoy fossils but I am no where near an expert. Just an excited amateur. Thanks! 4 Link to post Share on other sites
fossilus Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 Yes, nice chunk of mammoth tooth! The other turtle spur? 1 4 Link to post Share on other sites
bocaciega Posted February 1 Author Share Posted February 1 7 minutes ago, fossilus said: Yes, nice chunk of mammoth tooth! The other turtle spur? It could be! My wife said it looked like a mosasaur tooth she wanted at last months fossil fest in NPR. I'm not sure what it is exactly but it stuck out to me for sure! Thank you! Link to post Share on other sites
Meganeura Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 3 minutes ago, bocaciega said: It could be! My wife said it looked like a mosasaur tooth she wanted at last months fossil fest in NPR. I'm not sure what it is exactly but it stuck out to me for sure! Thank you! Mammoth and tortoise (not turtle) spur, yes! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites
digit Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 Indeed, it is a tortoise leg spur. The problem with considering mosasaur is that they were from the Late Cretaceous (roughly 101-66 Ma) and the oldest surface rocks in Florida stretch only back to the Eocene. Decent size chunk of mammoth tooth. Well worth continuing to walk where these have been found. Looking forward to seeing what else you turn up. Cheers. -Ken 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Meganeura Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 2 hours ago, digit said: Indeed, it is a tortoise leg spur. The problem with considering mosasaur is that they were from the Late Cretaceous (roughly 101-66 Ma) and the oldest surface rocks in Florida stretch only back to the Eocene. Decent size chunk of mammoth tooth. Well worth continuing to walk where these have been found. Looking forward to seeing what else you turn up. Cheers. -Ken Especially given it’s Pinellas! There’s apparently just nothing there from what I’ve been told and experienced, minus the very rare small shark tooth, so these are both quite neat finds! Link to post Share on other sites
digit Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 There are some known fossil sites in Pinellas County, FL. There is a lot of development in the Clearwater/St. Petersburg area so I'm in agreement that these are really nice finds and hopefully a sign of more to come. Cheers. -Ken Link to post Share on other sites
Meganeura Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 37 minutes ago, digit said: There are some known fossil sites in Pinellas County, FL. There is a lot of development in the Clearwater/St. Petersburg area so I'm in agreement that these are really nice finds and hopefully a sign of more to come. Cheers. -Ken You know I pass over the Franklin-Howard bridge every day on my way to work. They’re building a third bridge. And every time, I want to stop and ask them if they’re finding fossils… Link to post Share on other sites
bocaciega Posted February 2 Author Share Posted February 2 5 hours ago, Meganeura said: You know I pass over the Franklin-Howard bridge every day on my way to work. They’re building a third bridge. And every time, I want to stop and ask them if they’re finding fossils… I heard of people finding fossils out in that construction by Gandy! I was a part of the group that discovered the fossils at boca ciega millenium in 07ish. Got me started down this crazy road. Still looking! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Meganeura Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 7 hours ago, bocaciega said: I heard of people finding fossils out in that construction by Gandy! I was a part of the group that discovered the fossils at boca ciega millenium in 07ish. Got me started down this crazy road. Still looking! Well I’m definitely going to have to ask… fossils all of 2min from my house? How could I not! Link to post Share on other sites
Meganeura Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 9 hours ago, bocaciega said: I heard of people finding fossils out in that construction by Gandy! I was a part of the group that discovered the fossils at boca ciega millenium in 07ish. Got me started down this crazy road. Still looking! Do you know what kind of fossils they were finding? Link to post Share on other sites
bocaciega Posted February 2 Author Share Posted February 2 1 hour ago, Meganeura said: Do you know what kind of fossils they were finding? A fellow teacher friend sent me a picture of matrix with fossils in it last week from some dirt piles at "gandy" specifically. We went down to the Ellenton spot instead. But yea, I guess some searching is in order! I'm down to link up! Link to post Share on other sites
digit Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 12 hours ago, bocaciega said: I was a part of the group that discovered the fossils at boca ciega millenium in 07ish. So you've got some experience looking down while walking and spotting fossils hiding out at the surface. I'm familiar with the site you've mentioned and I've seen some of the fossil material from that site at the FLMNH. Looking forward to any additional mystery bits that reveal themselves to you. Cheers. -Ken Link to post Share on other sites
CDiggs Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 (edited) One thing worth thinking about with that big beautiful chunk of mammoth tooth is consolidation. Those alternating plates of enamel, dentine and cementum are super prone to separating, cracking and crumbling without some sort of intervention. Yours is already looking pretty crumbly so if you want it to last I'd highly recommend looking into some sort of consolidation. It's lucky you came along and picked it up, another year or two and it'd be in some pretty small pieces. I've added links to info from The American Museum of Natural History in New York and a very in depth thread from this forum if you'd like to learn more. http://preparation.paleo.amnh.org/1/home Edited February 2 by CDiggs 3 Link to post Share on other sites
bocaciega Posted February 3 Author Share Posted February 3 3 hours ago, CDiggs said: One thing worth thinking about with that big beautiful chunk of mammoth tooth is consolidation. Those alternating plates of enamel, dentine and cementum are super prone to separating, cracking and crumbling without some sort of intervention. Yours is already looking pretty crumbly so if you want it to last I'd highly recommend looking into some sort of consolidation. It's lucky you came along and picked it up, another year or two and it'd be in some pretty small pieces. I've added links to info from The American Museum of Natural History in New York and a very in depth thread from this forum if you'd like to learn more. http://preparation.paleo.amnh.org/1/home Hey thank you! I was thinking of asking about preservation. Would you use this on all mammal teeth? Horse tapir sloth etc? Link to post Share on other sites
CDiggs Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 14 hours ago, bocaciega said: Hey thank you! I was thinking of asking about preservation. Would you use this on all mammal teeth? Horse tapir sloth etc? The TLDR; yes. I usually decide on consolidation on a case by case basis, based on how stable each individual fossil is. I'm lucky enough to have access to a few different consolidants so I've got choices, but usually I prefer Paraloid B-72 or Butvar B-76 with acetone as my solvent so I can remove any excess or even undo the consolidation with more acetone. Sometimes the fossils are clearly very well mineralized, free of cracks and don't require any consolidation. Other times they're well mineralized but have visible cracks near the surface so I simply stabilize the cracks with some localized application and then remove any excess with a q-tip and some acetone. With my interest in Pleistocene material much of what I find is incompletely mineralized and needs serious consolidation so for those I soak or baste them in consolidant depending on how large the fossil is (and how much consolidant I've got on hand). Teeth usually fall in one of the last two categories for me as I've read here on the forum that they're frequently prone to cracking and splitting. Especially mammoth teeth; I usually find way more tiny fragments of enamel than I find larger pieces with cementum or dentine still present. Link to post Share on other sites
fossilbeagle Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 On 2/1/2023 at 2:45 PM, Meganeura said: Especially given it’s Pinellas! There’s apparently just nothing there from what I’ve been told and experienced, minus the very rare small shark tooth, so these are both quite neat finds! Definitely not true. I walk the beaches around me (treasure island) I have a whole jar of turtle shell fossil fragments, a basket of who knows but def bone, and a range of fish plates and teeth. We definitely have fossils around here they just tend to be very small or broken as you pointed out. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Meganeura Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 1 minute ago, fossilbeagle said: Definitely not true. I walk the beaches around me (treasure island) I have a whole jar of turtle shell fossil fragments, a basket of who knows but def bone, and a range of fish plates and teeth. We definitely have fossils around here they just tend to be very small or broken as you pointed out. Honestly that's really good to know. I'll have to keep an eye out for spots then, thank you! Link to post Share on other sites
fossilbeagle Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 52 minutes ago, Meganeura said: Honestly that's really good to know. I'll have to keep an eye out for spots then, thank you! Absolutely! Sunset beach I almost always find 1 fossilized shell fragment each time I go, no joke. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
bocaciega Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 On 2/3/2023 at 12:28 PM, fossilbeagle said: Absolutely! Sunset beach I almost always find 1 fossilized shell fragment each time I go, no joke. I also find fossils out in TI all the time. Imo certain times are better than others if ya get my drift Link to post Share on other sites
webmasterj Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 A lot of times those mammoth plates that comprise the tooth will break up, cool you found that many still together. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Meganeura Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 7 hours ago, webmasterj said: A lot of times those mammoth plates that comprise the tooth will break up, cool you found that many still together. Too real. The number of chunks I’ve found that are more than just one plate is… 2. Lol. Link to post Share on other sites
webmasterj Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 3 hours ago, Meganeura said: Too real. The number of chunks I’ve found that are more than just one plate is… 2. Lol. Gotta start somewhere Link to post Share on other sites
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