jcbshark Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 I'll take one of those shovels Ken, but I'll take luck over skill any day lol! You guys have definatley earned these beautiful pieces and hopefully inspire those who hunt these " hunted out spots". Every year people with the passion and drive are rewarded with things that make up " awesome collections" . I'm just glad a couple folks who served the time got to find the holy grails : ) again congrats!!!!!!!! Every once in a great while it's not just a big rock down there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted May 20, 2015 Author Share Posted May 20, 2015 I also came up with two mystery bones that appear to be from from the joints of some appendage so would likely be classified as phalanges of some sort. The first is smaller (approximately 2.5 x 2.5 x 4.0 cm in overall dimensions). It is overall a rather symmetrical boxy shape but with some interestingly asymmetrical features that I'm hoping are diagnostic to its identification. It seems about the right size for a deer joint but I am just guessing at this point. Mystery bone number two is significantly larger (5.5 x 5.5 x 3.5 overall). On the side with the curved surface that looks like is part of a rotating articulated joint there is a single pointed projection. It appears that there likely was a matching projection next to it which has broken off. The opposite side to that has some interesting smooth flat pads that I hope increase its distinctiveness and make it possible to place this bone. Looking forward to being educated by more knowledgeable folk on the forum. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSRhunter Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 Congrats to the both of y'all on spectacular finds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted May 20, 2015 Author Share Posted May 20, 2015 (edited) Thanks again Jeff--your lucky shovel is in the post. I hunted the same (convenient) stretch of the Peace River for years by rented canoe as I had no kayak/canoe to take me elsewhere. It was meeting up with other TFF members to break that bad habit and start exploring more out of the way places that really has made a difference to the diversity in my collection as well as to the renewed passion for the possibilities that these treasure troves in Florida hold. I may have been the one holding the shovel and shaking the sifting screen but TFF was a significant factor in these finds which cannot be discounted. Yay forum! -Ken Edited May 20, 2015 by digit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancient Bones Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Wow Ken awesome finds, two beauties! Congratulations! ' Keep calm and carry on fossiling ' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 (edited) john & ken, Out hunting today and even though I had a great day of Megs, nothing to compare with your finds.. You both really deserve this type of breakout finds!!! You have worked hard for your results. Ken, I love your trip reports -- really helps me live vicariously. That is the best Mammoth tooth I personally have ever seen come out of the Peace River... Nice Mammut Americanus is the American Mastodon -- this is not its tooth. You either Have Imperial or Colombian. Count the number of plates and distances between plates. That is the only way to differentiate. NICE!!! Found this on the web-- Teeth All mammoths are identified primarily by features of their teeth Thickness of enamel Number of enamel loops in the molar teeth, seen from bite surface view (Laws 1966) Columbian Mammoth molars have 5 to 8 enamel plates per 100 mm (3.9 in) (Maglio 1973) Channel Island Mammoth molars are like the Columbian's, only smaller Twenty six teeth in all Six sets of teeth in a lifetime Resemble Asian elephant teeth, with closed enamel loops viewed on chewing surface All mammoths have strongly curved and twisted tusks (Lister 1996) Tusks continue to grow throughout the mammoth's lifetime Life history data is stored in the dentin's growth bands (season of death, age at sexual maturation, calving, migration) (Fox et al 2003) Edited May 21, 2015 by Shellseeker The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 Oh, and there were shark teeth too. By using the sifter with the larger 1/2" mesh screen, most of the tiny teeth fell right through the sifter and returned to the river to let someone else have a chance at finding them. The only teeth that seem to be large enough to catch in my sifter are a few of the larger lemon shark teeth and lots of tiger shark teeth (both the extant Galeocerdo cuvier as well as the extinct Galeocerdo/Physogaleus contortus) but mostly lots of nice hemis aka snaggletooth (Hemipristis serra)--both the serrated uppers as well as the thick pointy lowers. I don't think I've ever found as many large tigers and hemis as I have the last two times out. Tiny meg or enormous hemi--both actually. These two teeth both measure around 4 cm along the long diagonal. Just thought this would be a fun photo to take--hope you enjoy. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 Ken, I love your trip reports -- really helps me live vicariously. Thanks. This is the very reason I take the time to do it (and, of course, I enjoy telling stories). That is the best Mammoth tooth I personally have ever seen come out of the Peace River... Nice Mammut Americanus is the American Mastodon -- this is not its tooth. You either Have Imperial or Colombian. Count the number of plates and distances between plates. That is the only way to differentiate. Thanks for the mammoth tutorial. I enjoy every bit of knowledge I gain in my hobbies. I'll do some looking at this tooth and see if I can determine if it is Imperial or Colombian. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 From further research online it seems that Mammuthus imperator (Imperial Mammoth) have from 3.5 to 5 ridge-plates per 100mm while Mammuthus columbi have more as noted above. My specimen has 8 so I'm comfortable calling it a Colombian Mammoth. I feel smarter already. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Hey Digit, Really nice write up on Your fabulous trip. Sounds like You and Sacha hit a good hot spot with a lot of enviable finds!! Sorry to hear that You are done for the Year, was looking forward to seeing more fabulous things from Y'all. Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunt4teeth Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Congrats Ken and John! Your hardwork has paid huge dividends. Thanks for taken us along for the ride with the great trip reports and pictures. Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 (edited) Hi Ken, As you stated, you really enjoy telling stories and I can now state that I really enjoyed reading it. You paint a good picture with your words which makes it easy for the reader not only to envision the outer circumstances but also to empathize with the accompanying emotional experience. Of course, the photos are the icing on the cake. Congratulations on the perfect tooth! Roger Edited May 21, 2015 by Ludwigia Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrz4u Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Wow what a way to end the season. Congratulations on some very nice finds. I hope you can go back NeXT seeason. Kind regards Torben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 Thanks for the kind words all. I enjoy the experience of hunting as much as the resultant finds. These last two trips with John have been highly memorable. I'll be able to summon up many of the details of these trips whenever I see the items I brought back from this trip. Now I just need to scan this forum and maybe do some Google image searches to get some ideas on what kind of a display mount to build to hold this big old tooth. It will get a place of prominence in the house so I'll be reminded of this trip on a daily basis. At the moment it is sitting near my left shoulder on the desk in my office. I still need to touch it now and then to verify it is real--hurts less than pinching myself to see if I'm dreaming. John may still have another go at this site while the conditions are favorable for hunting. There are probably a few more spots worth checking out at that site and I'm sure John will work them methodically. If that site has anything more to give for this season I'm sure we'll read about it here (though we seem to keep setting the bar higher with each visit). I'll give the shovel and sifter a rest for a few months (they've earned a break). I plan on going out hunting again as soon as the river level drops in the autumn with renewed optimism for some more interesting memory makers. In the meantime I've got some other fossil hunting trips up my sleeve so there will be more stories from me before long. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Oh, and there were shark teeth too. lots of tiger shark teeth (both the extant Galeocerdo cuvier as well as the extinct Galeocerdo/Physogaleus contortus) but mostly lots of nice hemis aka snaggletooth (Hemipristis serra)--both the serrated uppers as well as the thick pointy lowers. I don't think I've ever found as many large tigers and hemis as I have the last two times out. It looks like you had a nice trip. Some of the tiger shark teeth that Sacha posted in post#14 are Galeocerdo mayumbensis. If you have time I would be interested in seeing a photo of the tiger shark teeth you found. I would also like to hear other people's opinion on the vertebrae you posted in post #24. I'm pretty sure they aren't dolphin but I have no idea what they are. You might try posting them in the ID section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donbrunning Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Would've LOVED to have gotten that "on the GoPro insitu" for the show! Congrats to you both! The Peace isn't tapped out... not by a long shot. Here's to future finds (both ON and off camera)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 It looks like you had a nice trip. Some of the tiger shark teeth that Sacha posted in post#14 are Galeocerdo mayumbensis. If you have time I would be interested in seeing a photo of the tiger shark teeth you found. I would also like to hear other people's opinion on the vertebrae you posted in post #24. I'm pretty sure they aren't dolphin but I have no idea what they are. You might try posting them in the ID section. I culled out the broken tiger teeth already but here is the selection of whole tigers from the last trip. If you'd like to see more I can go find the tigers from our first visit from this site and search through the giveaway bag of broken teeth to see what other variations of tigers are hiding within. When I get a moment I'll repost a couple of the mystery bones from this trip in the ID section and see if I can get any traction there. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Ken Thanks for photographing these teeth. I want to say that several of the teeth in your picture are G. mayumbensis but I'm really being thrown off by the fact that they are about the same size as the contortus tooth on the bottom row. I normally see mayumbensis teeth that are larger than contortus. A few are most likely "aduncas" type teeth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donbrunning Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Al Dente. Are those opalized sand tigers on your profile pic? Can you post a full size pic. of them? Awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Al Dente. Are those opalized sand tigers on your profile pic? Can you post a full size pic. of them? Awesome. Not opalized, just odd lighting on tiny teeth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 Thanks for photographing these teeth. I want to say that several of the teeth in your picture are G. mayumbensis but I'm really being thrown off by the fact that they are about the same size as the contortus tooth on the bottom row. I normally see mayumbensis teeth that are larger than contortus. A few are most likely "aduncas" type teeth. I might be able to research this online but I'll be lazy (busy) at the moment. Are there any distinctive features that would identify a tiger tooth as G. mayumbensis? I've not even heard of "aduncas" yet as most of my books only have the extinct contortus as an option to the extant cuvier. Honestly, while sifting my mind rarely registers more than just "tiger" before I slip the tooth into the pouch of my goody belt. Occasionally I will see a slimmer elongated point and think contortus but I've never applied more brain cells than that. Maybe I'll have to dump out my container of shark teeth and sort out the tigers to see what biodiversity I've collected over the years. If anybody has some a nice image showing the variety of tiger shark teeth I'm sure all on the forum would enjoy the visual aid educuation. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Here is a photo with three types of tiger shark teeth. The top row is G. mayumbensis from Bone Valley. They are Oligocene to Miocene. The middle row is G. aduncas from the Middle Miocene of NC. The bottom row is G. cuvier from the Pliocene Yorktown Formation of NC. Both G. mayumbensis and G. cuvier have complex serrations, G. adunas usually has more simple serrations. G. aduncas from North America are usually fairly thin when compared with other tiger shark teeth. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Search4 Posted May 23, 2015 Share Posted May 23, 2015 Here is a photo with three types of tiger shark teeth. The top row is G. mayumbensis from Bone Valley. They are Oligocene to Miocene. The middle row is G. aduncas from the Middle Miocene of NC. The bottom row is G. cuvier from the Pliocene Yorktown Formation of NC. Both G. mayumbensis and G. cuvier have complex serrations, G. adunas usually has more simple serrations. G. aduncas from North America are usually fairly thin when compared with other tiger shark teeth. tiger.jpg Found these and few others last season on a construction site in Manatee county. I was pleasantly surprised to find some Oligocene fossils in my part of Florida. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted May 23, 2015 Author Share Posted May 23, 2015 Thanks Al Dente. I already feel smarter (well, better informed anyway). I'll have to go through a bunch of my own specimens in hand till I'm able to assign a species to each. Should help hammer home the differences. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Mud Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Great trip report guys, I was there with you in my imagination. What a wonderful adventure topped off by spectacular finds. You really highlighted how much work goes into working these deposits. But the rewards are certainly worth it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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