Devonian Fossils From Red Hill Pa

[hitekmastr]

We collected these fossils at the classic Devonian site at Red Hill in PA (where some of the first early tetrapods that crawled onto land were discovered). Shown are a Placoderm tooth, a very clear Hynaria tooth impression, Hynaria dorsal spines, Placoderm scale (note the texture on the scale) and a fragment that we aren't sure if it's skin or bone. Note the tiny white dorsal fine/spine from a Devonian fish.

Most intriguing to us is the vertical fossil next to the white dorsal spine which looks like a full fossil of a minnow sized fish - I added a separate horizontal image of this and the horizontal has a piece removed to reveal a "lobe" at the left side. Since posting this it has been suggested that the long fossil is actually a plant - archaeopteris - and what we thought was a "tail" is actually a leaf. However, the white bony dorsal/spine fossil still appears to be a Devonian fish.

This was our first fossil hunting trip but although we are new to the field, we are enthusiastic about our new avocation. Doug Rowe who co-discovered and manages the Red Hill site, was extremely patient and helpful. Cathy Young and Karenne Snow led the trip, which took us to half a dozen Devonian and Ordovician sites and introduced us to a wide variety of fossil rich terrains.

Edited June 26, 2012 by hitekmastr

[TMNH]

Wow sounds like a great trip! Nice finds... I would love to visit Red Hill!

[Shamalama]

Very nice. Looks like you got lucky on that trip. It would be helpful if you could label each pic so that people can tell which is which from your description.

[squalicorax]

Hey thats a nice variety of stuff from there. I still need to pay a visit to the site. Seems like even the stratigraphy is way cool.

Dave if you hover over the photo with your mouse there is labels on the photos.

[hitekmastr]

We're new to fossil hunting as I mentioned but we worked hard to identify and extract larger pieces of shale from places that looked promising to us. I did the extraction and Nancy did most of the examination and I.D., and the finer splitting/separation. At Red Hill we selected a formation that was hard to reach, requiring us to balance on a crumbling ledge, but it had the right color and geology and Doug Rowe described the geology. It looked "peculiar" to us and I think finding something that looks just a little out of the ordinary is a good strategy. I'll post our Montour photos soon in a separate gallery.