Why Did You Fall In Love With Fossils?

[dylandreiling]

I've been known to be sentimental at times. I drift in and out of The fossil Forum as my life ebbs and flows, leading me in different directions. Yet sitting here reading all of your wonderful posts, it made me wonder "What inspired all of these people to fall in love with fossils?". We all have our own unique journey, and I'd love to hear yours. 

 

My journey began as a very young child. My father is and was an extremely scientific and nature loving man. I grew up surrounded with dinosaur books, digging in the dirt, and nature in all shapes and forms. Growing up and being homeschooled, I spent many days on digs and field trips with the University of Kansas Paleontology team. My family owned a large swath of forest in eastern Kansas, so my free time was spent digging through shale for ferns or cracking into limestone in search of crinoids and ammonites. (My parents still have a 22 inch Permian ammonite that I found in the river bottoms when I was 10.) Fossils were all I thought about, I remember on long road trips, looking out the window and imagining what the world must have looked like so many millions of years ago. Suddenly, in the chalk flats of western Kansas, mosasaurs and megaladons were battling it out for supremacy. I completely fell in love with these great ancient creatures. Today, my life is far more complex. I'm an entrepreneur who runs a number of companies, my wife and I are expecting our first child, the sands of time have moved on... Yet I still haven't lost that wonder, the bubbly sensation in my gut whenever I discover a trilobite, or visit a museum and see the grandeur of a T-Rex. With fossils my inner child is awakened, my soul comes alive... I believe that our society is missing something, in our mass amnesia and our obsession with the ephemeral... We're missing a sense of wonder, my friends. And holding a fossil so ancient, so lasting and steadfast, seems to give us continuity and peace in our ever changing world. 

 

 

Please share your stories my friends! I would love to hear! 

Dylan

 

(PS, wasn't sure which category this should be in. Mods, please feel free to assign accordingly.)

[Ptychodus04]

I was introduced to fossils at a young age by my father, but it wasn't love at first sight. I collected and enjoyed them but a strained relationship with the old man got in the way.

 

Fast forward 10 years and a somewhat patched relationship brought the fossils to the front again for me (he really loved them). At this time it was more of a summer infatuation rather than true love of fossils.

 

10 years creep on and the fossil collecting gets more interesting as well as the relationship better. Then, my parents moved back to Texas and 8 years of the best fossil collecting and a great relationship with my dad began. I found the oldest fossil bird in North America and the news broke almost one year to the day before my dad passed away at the age of 56.

 

Long story short... I guess I fell in love at the age of 5, I just didn't know it until I was 30!

[dylandreiling]

 

2 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

I was introduced to fossils at a young age by my father, but it wasn't love at first sight. I collected and enjoyed them but a strained relationship with the old man got in the way.

 

Fast forward 10 years and a somewhat patched relationship brought the fossils to the front again for me (he really loved them). At this time it was more of a summer infatuation rather than true love of fossils.

 

10 years creep on and the fossil collecting gets more interesting as well as the relationship better. Then, my parents moved back to Texas and 8 years of the best fossil collecting and a great relationship with my dad began. I found the oldest fossil bird in North America and the news broke almost one year to the day before my dad passed away at the age of 56.

 

Long story short... I guess I fell in love at the age of 5, I just didn't know it until I was 30!

 

Beautiful story @Ptychodus04. I've had my moments with the old man myself, but it all heals in the end.

[ynot]

My story is in the thread linked in My signature at the bottom of this (and all of My other) post. The fossil one....

[Miocene_Mason]

I had loved other things science (and history) since an extremely early age, as my mother would buy documentaries instead of Disney movies and the like. One of these was walking with dinosaurs, as well as the others in that series. I especially liked walking with cavemen, I still keep a love for paleoanthropology (I recently took a course on it). I always researched fossils in my area, but information was (and to an extant is) slim. Calvert cliffs is hours of traffic away, so I only went there once. Fast forward some years and a love for science and history remain intact. I'd educated myself ( with books and documentaries, but mostly Wikipedia) on dinosaurs and other paleofauna, but I still thought the area was fossil barren (although I had a chance to see a huge dinosaur footprint, or rather the sandbags in top of it at NASA green belt.) I had a collection of various historic objects, chemical elements, interesting rocks, gems, and such, but fossils were not a huge part. A few were from gift shops at caves (I love caves, I'd live in one if I had the chance and a cave with indoor plumbing and electricity) but I still had no idea of how to fossil hunt. Eventually, my mothers 8th grade science teacher (earth sciences is what we learn in 8th grade here in Maryland, he still substitutes, so he's been working for a very long time) put together, as he had done sense my mother was there, a fossil hunting trip. I signed up as soon as was possible, and I went for my first real fossil hunt. That was hugely exciting and fun, so I went back to the sites continually, and I started to notice some things I couldn't identify. One such thing were some strange rectangles and thing that looked like a chicken footprint. After an incredible amount of research I only came across one thing any bit similar and it was on this forum. I had seen it pop up before but I had never considered joining it, I did (the things were worm burrows, some bifungites) and the rest is history, and a ton of learning. that was longer than I thought, felt shorter when it happened. 

[snolly50]

1 hour ago, dylandreiling said:

Yet I still haven't lost that wonder, ...

Here is a link to my post from one of the Forum's poetry contests. It asserts (via shaky doggerel); what you have correctly identified as the genesis of all of this endeavor.

 

 

 

[MeargleSchmeargl]

Fossils and I have had a long history. A very long history...

 

     Ever since I was born, I was engulfed in a sea of dinosaur books. At first, I had no idea where they came from, simply knowing their awe inspiring presence in Jurassic Park, or their more colorful counterparts in the books I had about them. My kindergarten, first and second grade years creeped by slowly. All the way up to the later half of my 3rd grade year I had never heard of the word fossil, yet I could easily spout off dozens of dinosaur names. It was in that 3rd grade year that our teacher, Ms.Sisler moved on to the geology related portion of 3rd grade science curriculum. 

     It was this first day of the new geology unit that the fossil preservation process was taught. While the other kid's eyes were darting about, anxiously awaiting the recess that was coming in 15 minutes, I was fixed on the board. I had never heard of an animal's remains being petrified in million year old rock deposits. My curiosity was sparked. After recess had began, and the other kids ran out to the vast field that had the school's 2 playgrounds, I did something I had never done before; I stayed behind.

     Ms.Sisler quickly noticed my odd behaviour and asked what was the matter. I then told her that what she talked about regarding fossils and how they were preserved was an interesting subject. I told her I wanted to know more. Her worried face soon melted into a warm, welcoming smile. I remember her next words vividly:

 

"I don't know a whole lot about that, but I have a book that does!"

 

     Ms. Sisler then got out what must have been a 200-300 page book filled with pictures, names, and descriptions of various plant, invertebrate and vertebrate fossils. I sat there in that trailer classroom, flipping through the pages, admiring the intricate patterns left by the ancient life. This is where my passion was sparked. I brought the book home with me, and had already finished it the next day, though I was still admiring the spirals that I would later know as ammonites.

     Just before I got out of the third grade later the next year, my mom had taken me for a trip through our town's less well known area that had many antique shops. The second to last shop we came across was a geology store. It caught my eye immediately; an inch diameter ammonite with a beautiful cross section. After pleading my mom into it, she got me my first fossil in the collection.

     It wouldn't be until years and many store fossils later, at age 12 that I went on my first trip, to the calvert cliffs. 

 

That is how my passion began, all those years back.

[RJB]

Hey @MeargleSchmeargl, that was a most wonderful story.  May I ask if you still have that 1 inch ammonite?

 

RB

[MeargleSchmeargl]

1 minute ago, RJB said:

Hey @MeargleSchmeargl, that was a most wonderful story.  May I ask if you still have that 1 inch ammonite?

 

RB

Sure do! I'll get it out for a pic later!

 

Also, thanks for the story compliment! I've written many of them (that reminds me of that contest I started that I totally forgot about ).

[RJB]

I was 33 when I found my first fossil.  I was always interested in fossils shows that came on TV once in awhile but not having the slightest idea of what to do or how to go about it, thats as far as it went.  I then got a paint job on this big house that had a room built onto the original part of the house that was filled with bones and skulls and fossils and stuff.  The owner came home during the day and I asked him about his 'room'.   He asked me in, ( told my employees id be back in about 10 minutes), and about 2 1/2 hours later I returned outside to work.  I was soooooooo excited!   This guy was showing me real actual fossils and where to find them!  and the places he told me where to find them was right there in the county I lived in.   I was out the very next day on my very first fossil hunt.  I found a small rock that had the impression of clam.  That was it.  I was totaly hooked!!!   I quite all other hobbies to this day.  That was back in 1991.   Thats the very condensed version.  Whoever wants the  whole story will have to go on a fossil hunting trip with me and in the evenings it will be wiskey, steak and lots of conversation.

 

RB

[Virgilian]

18 hours ago, dylandreiling said:

Growing up and being homeschooled, I spent many days on digs and field trips with the University of Kansas Paleontology team. My family owned a large swath of forest in eastern Kansas, so my free time was spent digging through shale for ferns or cracking into limestone in search of crinoids and ammonites.

 

Interesting, indeed. I resided in eastern Kansas a number of years ago and spent considerable time exploring and studying the Late Pennylvananian paleontology/stratigraphy there (I roamed into the Permian now and then, of course). Some of the best times of my fossil-finding life.

 

But, anyhow.

 

Just a couple of questions.

 

First--Are you the Dylan Dreiling associated with Arbonne skin products, by any chance? AKA--son of Arbonne executive Christy Dreiling? I'm not associated with Arbonne in any way; but, I've heard of the organization.

 

And second--Since you're from eastern Kansas with the last name of Dreiling...well--you must get this next question at least once in awhile: Are you in any way related to THE Greg Dreiling, the 7 foot 1 inch center who played for the Kansas University basketball team in the 1980s (he started out with Wichita State, then transferred to KU)?

[dylandreiling]

3 hours ago, Virgilian said:

 

Interesting, indeed. I resided in eastern Kansas a number of years ago and spent considerable time exploring and studying the Late Pennylvananian paleontology/stratigraphy there (I roamed into the Permian now and then, of course). Some of the best times of my fossil-finding life.

 

But, anyhow.

 

Just a couple of questions.

 

First--Are you the Dylan Dreiling associated with Arbonne skin products, by any chance? AKA--son of Arbonne executive Christy Dreiling? I'm not associated with Arbonne in any way; but, I've heard of the organization.

 

And second--Since you're from eastern Kansas with the last name of Dreiling...well--you must get this next question at least once in awhile: Are you in any way related to THE Greg Dreiling, the 7 foot 1 inch center who played for the Kansas University basketball team in the 1980s (he started out with Wichita State, then transferred to KU)?

 

I loved the late Pennsylvanian fossils there, moving to Ottawa, ON and being exposed to Ordovician, I do love the Trilobites.

 

And to your first question, yes I am! To your second question, yes I am! Haha, funny enough I get that question every now and then. Us German Dreiling's tend to be quite tall.  

 

 

[Macrophyseter]

My interest in fossils have sprung up since I was a little kid, maybe it was when I realized that it was actually possible to obtain a fossils without traveling around the world during second grade when a classmate decided to do a rare fish fossil for show-and-tell (The only thing I actually remember about that fish fossil was that it was at least one or two complete and perfectly prepped fish on black shale, and SHE BROKE THE FOSSIL IN TWO AT CLASS AND TRIED TO FIX IT WITH FREAKING TAPE). But it wasn't until late in third grade when I actually got myself my first ever fossils, which was a educational set of a bunch of generic fossils. Ever since, I just went on a rage on collecting. I don't really remember why I had a want for fossils, but maybe it was just because I thought all fossils were incredibly rare and expensive at the time and the fact of owning something that was once a living dinosaur (I know it didnt have to be a dinosaur, but that was the though) was really cool. Its too bad that I can't go out adventuring for fossils since I'm stuck in a house with parents who keep insisting that what I want to do will drop me into a legal flat no matter where I go, so I simply google "fossils for sale" instead and burn those $$$ down. To whoever are able to travel to fossil sites and dig up their own fossils, I really envy you all.

[Miocene_Mason]

22 minutes ago, Macrophyseter said:

Its too bad that I can't go out adventuring for fossils since I'm stuck in a house with parents who keep insisting that what I want to do will drop me into a legal flat no matter where I go

Only if you don't read up on the laws, legal fossil hunting, is actually possible! But tedious, most sites that are perfectly legal are crowded and drained. Finding sites requires asking permission of people, pesky land owners! Always owning land! If you really want to fossil hunt, you will find a way. There's nothing like being the first to set eyes on something millions of years old, and letting it feel the sun again....

i must say however, I am guilty of once breaking a fossil and trying to fix it with duct take. I am not proud, but it kind of worked temporarily. I hope you can have some fossil collecting adventures of your own soon! 

[ynot]

As long as You only collect invertebrate fossils and are not on restricted public land (Wilderness or national monument) You can collect on public lands (BLM and forestry). There are a lot of places to fossil hunt on public lands. Check with the local management offices to see what restrictions may apply to a particular area.

Then there are some private lands that will allow You to dig for a fee. Some even have vertebrate fossils that You can dig for.

 

Good luck!

Tony

[wamorris1999]

 wow great posts. I started as soon as I could read reading about Roy Chapman Andrews and every book about dinosaurs I could get my hands on. Then when I was about 9 they started digging a pit just down the road from me in order to build overpasses. Every Saturday and Sunday all day long my brother and myself were at that pit finding all kinds of cool stuff. Then a neighbor dug a pond, and same story. After finding a seven inch Megalodon tooth, needless to say,  I was obsessed. and I have been ever since!

[Jesuslover340]

Ever since I was little (starting at three years of age), I went camping a lot with my grandparents out at Canton Lake in Oklahoma. There, you could climb down the rocks to reach the best fishing spots-and those rocks contained fossilized shells (where from, I have no idea, as the rocks aren't immediately native to the area). I always had an interest in these, but my curiosity and subsequent passion was really kickstarted when I was enrolled in a local daycare around the age of eight. On the playground, gravel had been brought in from elsewhere, and on some of these rocks-if you looked really hard-you would find the cross-section of fusulinids (of course, I had no idea what they were at the time but I just KNEW they had to be fossils)! To a kid that absolutely despised daycare and being unable to read because of the schedule you had to follow, being able to find something so old and enigmatic during recess time definitely soon became an obsession! This was only further worsened when I consequently picked up a book on Tyrannosaurus Sue and Dinosaur Poop (that's the literal title), which claimed that the piece of rock at the end of the attached keychain was a coprolite. The next step was visiting the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History in Norman, Oklahoma, and getting a block of matrix that contained a Spinosaurus tooth you had to chisel out. Next, my father got me an ammonite, Ankylosaurus tooth, and Elrathia sp. trilobite from a local rock shop for my birthday. And from there, the addiction grips me to present day!

[Miocene_Mason]

8 hours ago, wamorris1999 said:

After finding a seven inch Megalodon tooth

Woah, you still have that monster?

[jpenn]

I love animals and nature, especially that which is exotic to where I grew up/live (Lower Delaware Valley of New Jersey/Philadelphia.) I regularly read National Geographic (the main magazine, not the children's one) as a child and my favorite articles by far were those on exotic wildlife, and fossils. This was the mid-late 1980s so there were a lot of exciting dinosaur discoveries.

 

I dimly recall in a local newspaper article a very short mention of crocodile fossils being found when excavating in Trenton, which for me was utterly mindblowing on multiple levels. First, the very idea of fossils being found right in my silty forested bottomland home area was incredibly exciting; I had only seen fossils in magazines and television being chiseled out of hard strata in distant arid Western locales. Secondly, it was thrilling to imagine crocodiles, such strange beasts so very much unlike the local fauna, swimming right were I stood tens of millions of years prior in an environment so very different than the one today. I'd love to read that little news bit again. I'm going to guess that the finds, if even mentioned, weren't much and probably something like an isolated vertebra or a tooth.

 

When the (then) New Jersey State Aquarium opened in I believe 1992, I attended a school trip. It was honestly quite boring, there wasn't much to see there yet. One single thing caught the attention of a friend and I, though- a very brief mention on a wall sign. Fossil shark teeth found at 'Shark River'. As soon as I could I was very quick to look on a travel map of New Jersey and found 'Shark River'... or, actually the Shark River Inlet, which is at the shore many miles downstream from the park that is actually the commonly collected fossil site.  Very fortunately that friend's mother liked to visit Belmar, so I got him to take me there on a daytrip as soon as we could. Despite this not being the actual Shark River sediments, I was quick to begin picking in the fine beach gravel near the inlet's mouth and found tiny and heavily worn shark teeth, the first fossils I ever found. I collected twelve in total, and it started a little sensation for a moment where people were gathering around listening to me explain what these were and then collecting for themselves. It really felt great and especially when I found the largest one that anyone found, which couldn't have been more than 17mm or so in length but still looked quite beautiful with a bit of blue color. None of these teeth were anything special, they were the sort of teeth that collectors in the Southeast put hundreds of into bottles and jars- but they were -fossils-, records of creatures that lived many millions of years before.

 

So yeah. I love animals, and I love fossils. And I've kept fossils as an interest and hobby of mine because I find them quite stimulating of thought. Paleontology is full of fun mysteries, not only the mysteries of the animals themselves but of the ecology they lived in. Thanks to the internet it's possible to acquire fossil pieces from all over the world and- and more importantly, acquire information from all over the world, past and present. I can spend hours reading dozens of papers and viewing thousands of images to identify fossils and understand the entire biotae they came from and geological conditions associated with them, learning of long-gone environments. What's not to fall in love with? It's better than TV, movies, games because it's practically endless, as story as large as this world is.