Miocene Weekend

[CrocodileJen]

My family went on our first fossiling trip of the season this weekend. It was a guided group hunt with access to normally restricted areas under the cliffs at Stratford Hall along the Potomac River in VA. The cliffs hold an amazing array of fossils from the Miocene era (10-20 million years ago), from when the area was covered by seawater. I don’t normally like to hunt with so many people but in this case the site access, along with so many seasoned hunters to learn from, made it a special experience. Bit of background: as a child/teen I searched near there at Westmoreland, when I was an adult and went back I was sad to see that there was only a small picked over section of beach left to search. So last year we started paying fees to visit Shark Tooth Island (aka Hollis Marsh). This is really only my second year of real hunting and I still have a lot to learn, so we thought we would do a guided hunt to learn more and have access to a new site.

So anyway, back to this past weekend. Unfortunately the finds were harder to come by this weekend than normal (people who do this trip twice every year said it was the worst ever). I thought that since we were under the clay cliffs it would be better, but it turned out to not be much better than finds that wash up on the island. Tides were not on our side and there had been no recent storms. I don’t get out searching as often as I would like so I was really worked up in anticipation about this weekend. Anyone else get like that? Plus I really wanted it to be special for my kids and wanted them to have some finds, which they did eventually but not at first. It was still overall a good weekend, learned a lot, found some neat things, and met some amazing people. Met two forum members, Glitchy and Optimist. Optimist is a really seasoned hunter with a vast knowledge of teeth, and she was kind enough to help me sort and identify some of our finds. All the people were so nice, some were helping my kids find or were giving them teeth, and some even lent us their screens. Usually you don’t have to screen so I didn’t have one, but like I said finds were hard to come by on the beach so we had to work for it. Saw some folks with prospecting screens, hadn’t seen that before and they seemed to work really well. Also saw one man with a plastic spice jar on a string around his neck, and all he had to do was flip open the “spoon” side of the jar to add teeth for safekeeping. Genius!

Some decent Megs were found by other people this weekend, mostly by screening, one had washed up. Some crocodile teeth, squalodon, scutes, dolphin teeth, lots of whale bones and verts, lots of different kinds of shark teeth, and someone even found a perfect arrowhead. A really nice large Mako and the biggest Hemi have ever seen on a hunt were found by people a few feet from me. Happy for them, frustrated for me, you know what I mean? Then there was this one really nice guy who had been letting my son help him screen and had been teaching him about fossils. On day two I heard him yelling… turns out he found a lovely Meg on his fourth screen for the day. I was thrilled for him.

The guide, a paleontologist and former curator of the VA Museum of Natural History, found a fresh fall FULL of Chesapecten Nefrens. Some even had both valves. He collected the specimens and let people choose from them. He also showed us a large (at least 5 foot) whale skull in the cliff. For complicated reasons there are no current plans to collect it. He hated having to leave it exposed~ both to the elements and the possibility of poachers who might damage the specimen and destabilize the cliff.

On to my family’s finds: My son found an amazing turritella impression, and I found a partial inner mold. Then someone who heard I was giving a presentation of fossils to my son’s second grade class gave me a bag FULL of perfect inner molds (found in a fall in NC) to give to them. Like I said before, amazing people. I also found a tiny turritella shell. We have a partial croc tooth, lots of ray plates, a fish vert, whale verts and bones, and varied teeth: grey, hemi, lemon, mako, sand tiger and tiger. My husband found our biggest Mako so far, it was beautiful. I also found a cool trace fossil: a tiny portion of a burrow. My Dad found and gave away what I now know was a large shark vertebra, several inches across. He didn’t realize what he had and did it before I could speak up. I was upset then, and even more so when I realized what it was. Somebody tell me they aren’t that rare and I will feel better. I’m all for sharing, and did some myself, but I would prefer not to give away our only specimen of a new find. I hope those guys cherish it

Some firsts for me were a portion of a stingray barb and a partial cow shark tooth. Neither is great quality, very small and broken, but like I said, first finds of those specimens so very exciting. I also found an adorable tiny little impression, not sure if it is turritella or not. Plus when I was rinsing everything off I found a dolphin tooth in our collection! Not sure if someone in my family found it and didn’t know what it was/ thought it was bone, or if it was in the teeth that Optimist gave me. Either way it was a fun moment and we are excited to have it… another first!

All in all a fun and informative weekend, but of course I am not fully satisfied because it is so addictive… I can’t wait to go back again!!! In fact, I couldn't seem to turn it off when I got home and kept seeing shark tooth shapes EVERYWHERE... in the scrollwork on my lamp, in the pattern on a marbled tabletop, even when I closed my eyes.

Pics of a few of the pieces in a few, and will be posting about yesterday’s visit to my son’s second grade class to show off and give away some fossils J

Edited June 7, 2013 by CrocodileJen

[cowsharks]

Wow, I've often wondered how those guided trips go. Glad you and the family found some nice specimens. About the shark vertebra though, if it really was "several" inches across, it was most likely a vertebra to a Megalodon, and those are super rare, especially at that purported size. The largest I've ever seen was around 3" in diameter. If the person your dad gave it to was a "seasoned" collector, then shame on them for accepting something so rare, especially if they didn't give/trade something in return. I don't want to hinder your (or your dad's) generous spirit, but as "newbies" to the hobby, sometimes it is best to keep what you find until you know for sure what you have. You can always trade/give it away later as you wish. If it makes you feel any better, I'm sure it has happened to many other folks. For example, I heard a story recently about a guy who got to go collecting in the "famous" Lee Creek mine in NC. He was a newbie and upon his first trip into the mine he kept finding these "broken" saw-blade like teeth and tossed them aside. At the end of the end as folks were gathering around for show and tell to see what folks had found, someone showed off a few really nice cowshark teeth - the very same type of teeth that this guy mistook as "broken" because of their jagged crown structure. He said he felt sick because he said he found at least 5 or 6 of them, all probably in perfect shape, and simply tossed them aside. You live and learn.

Daryl.

[CrocodileJen]

Here are some pictures, I had a lot of trouble with the lighting so sorry about the poor details...

shark teeth, partial croc, dolphin tooth, some tunnels (hard to illuminate opening, sorry), stingray barb, tiny verts...

Edited June 7, 2013 by CrocodileJen

[CrocodileJen]

About the shark vertebra though, if it really was "several" inches across, it was most likely a vertebra to a Megalodon, and those are super rare, especially at that purported size. The largest I've ever seen was around 3" in diameter. If the person your dad gave it to was a "seasoned" collector, then shame on them for accepting something so rare, especially if they didn't give/trade something in return.

Oh man now I am really upset. My Dad did it right in front of me, and I was immediately upset and said to both of them, "OH NO! My son wanted to show that to his class!", and the guy just looked at me. Honestly, if someone gave me something not realizing his grandson wanted it I would have given it back! And no, he did NOT reciprocate the goodwill. I couldn't believe it was happening. Then I find out the guy had found more than one Meg tooth, so he already had some amazing finds. My Dad didn't realize it was something, and he was just trying to be nice. Plus honestly he wasn't feeling well with some health problems and shouldn't have been on the hunt in the first place, so maybe he wasn't thinking straight. The vert was about the size of a mouth of a coffee cup, bleached white, with holes in the sides. Looked most like the third vert in this picture: http://www.sharkwatc...rkvertebrae.JPG

*sigh* Okay, time to let it go... yes live and learn...

[CrocodileJen]

Turritella imprints, I especially love the one with the impression through it. I tried as best I could to get the detail inside, was holding a flashlight in my teeth to try and illuminate it

[CrocodileJen]

-Whale verts & bones (so hard to light up the details, sorry!). Another family member has a complete vert several inches across. Epiphysis. Some random fish bone (tailbone?)

-Chesapecten Nefrens

Only posted some of the pieces we found... fun weekend. Mostly small finds.

Edited June 7, 2013 by CrocodileJen

[zachj]

that was a fun report to read! i think you had a great trip! one day i would love to visit the restricted areas myself! and i would love to see the meg your son found!

[CrocodileJen]

that was a fun report to read! i think you had a great trip! one day i would love to visit the restricted areas myself! and i would love to see the meg your son found!

Thanks! And I WISH we found a meg! A few other people did, but not us. Some good makos though ONE day we will find a Meg... one day...

and as far as the restricted areas go, sometimes Westmoreland does canoe trips. Stratford Hall sometimes organizes fossil hunts, and then there is the private fossil tour group they allow to hunt there several times a year.

[Fossildude19]

CrocodileJen,

I use Photoscape Editing software. It is great for editing photos, free to download, and easy to use.

Here are some of your photos I took the liberty of editing with PhotoScape.

Also, if you take your pics outside in daylight/sunshine, they will come out better - and make sure to use the Macro feature of your camera if taking close-ups. (Flower Icon)

Hope this helps.

Regards,

[lissa318]

Sounds like it was a great time and congrats on what you did find! Thanks for sharing.

[CrocodileJen]

CrocodileJen,

I use Photoscape Editing software. It is great for editing photos, free to download, and easy to use.

Here are some of your photos I took the liberty of editing with PhotoScape....

Also, if you take your pics outside in daylight/sunshine, they will come out better - and make sure to use the Macro feature of your camera if taking close-ups. (Flower Icon)

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Goodness gracious, I love that! Thank you! Now you can really see the cool detail on the turritella tunnel. I was using an iphone, but will break out my old camera next time. Thanks for the setting tip.

I wanted to take the pics outside by right now we have a little visitor named "Andrea".

Cheers!

[flyersfan805]

sounds like you guys had fun Jen, you have some pretty sweet teeth above, I always love the hemi's! Nice report thanks for the read.<br /><br />Mike

[siteseer]

Yeah, that is really cold that the guy didn't give it to you (or offer something else) especially since you reacted right after your dad gave it to him. I hope the guy thinks about it and decides to give it to you later. I can understand wanting to keep something that rare, but in that situation, how do you hang onto it?

A big shark vertebra would not be the best thing to take to class because they are very fragile (not as 'bony" as mammal bone) - easily chipped or broken and the fragments become fragments. You need to be careful with even the small ones.

Oh man now I am really upset. My Dad did it right in front of me, and I was immediately upset and said to both of them, "OH NO! My son wanted to show that to his class!", and the guy just looked at me. Honestly, if someone gave me something not realizing his grandson wanted it I would have given it back! And no, he did NOT reciprocate the goodwill. I couldn't believe it was happening. Then I find out the guy had found more than one Meg tooth, so he already had some amazing finds. My Dad didn't realize it was something, and he was just trying to be nice. Plus honestly he wasn't feeling well with some health problems and shouldn't have been on the hunt in the first place, so maybe he wasn't thinking straight. The vert was about the size of a mouth of a coffee cup, bleached white, with holes in the sides. Looked most like the third vert in this picture: http://www.sharkwatc...rkvertebrae.JPG

*sigh* Okay, time to let it go... yes live and learn...

[CrocodileJen]

Been meaning to post this (article is from a month ago). This is the whale skull we saw in the cliff at Stratford Hall in June. It took almost two months but they finally retrieved it

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-08-04/local/41067209_1_whale-skull-calvert-formation-fossil

[Auspex]

Several of our members were involved in its recovery