South Dakota Hell Creek Formation Digs

[hxmendoza]

September 2017 was a busy month for me. Worked a day in the Thornton, CO Triceratops dig with other DMNS volunteers and staff.

 

Then headed up with my son to hang out with my friend Walter Stein (Owner of Paleo Adventures), and some of his friends, to help dig at his Tooth Draw Quarry.

 

Several good fossils were found. I found a Nanotyrannus tooth, a Thescelosaurus ulna, and other teeth and small fossils. My best find though, was a very well preserved left dentary from a mammal that may very likely be Didelphodon, or something closely related.

 

 

Had a fantastic time and and made new and fun friends. 

 

Then this past weekend, I went back up to SD by myself, to help my friend Tom Caggiano (Owner of Lost World Fossils) to dig up Edmontosaurus bones at a monospecific bonebed, with some friends of his that have been collecting there for a very long time. 

 

Friday was overall a nice day. But we got rained out on Saturday. So we all headed out to Hill City, SD. First we visited with Sandy Gerken. I got to see her fossil prep lab. And several cool fossils she is working on for clients. 

 

Then we went to visit BHI and it's museum. Had the guys pose next to the bronze Triceratops skull out front.

 

Also checked out some nice rock shops in the area.

 

On Sunday, weather caused us to have a late start at the Edmontosaurus Bone bed. Worked on trying to fully expose an Edmontosaurus ilium I found on Friday. It turned out to be much larger than we thought. Only had a little more than a half day to work on it so unfortunately, I only got 3/4 of it exposed for removal. 

I was leaving  Monday morning for home, so Tom Caggiano was going to try and finish pulling it out Monday morning before he also leaves. Unfortunately, they got rained out on Monday too. So Ken And Glenn said they would double foil it cover it up for us.

 

I also found a partial Edmontosaurus maxilla, Edmontosaurus sqaumosal, cervical rib, Ischium, small manus phalanx, and a few Edmontosaurus teeth, some with roots. 

 

It was a fun trip. It was a pleasure meeting Ken Roblee, Glenn LaPlaca, and @Troodon. All three are very nice gentlemen. They made me feel quite welcome.

 

@Troodon was a pleasure to finally meet up with. He and I spent a lot of time talking about all things dinosaur fossils. Great guy! All four individuals are, in fact, great guys!

[Miocene_Mason]

Looks like you had a fun month! That mammal jaw is a beauty, FOTM contender?

[hxmendoza]

14 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said:

Looks like you had a fun month! That mammal jaw is a beauty, FOTM contender?

 

Thanks, it is!

And FOTM contender would be cool.

But I don't know how that gets done.

[RJB]

Wow, nice jaw bone with teeth!!!  I can see its fractured, did it come out all right? 

 

RB

[Nimravis]

@hxmendoza if you don't mind, could you ID the guys in the pic? It is nice to put a face to a name. Thanks 

[Miocene_Mason]

4 minutes ago, hxmendoza said:

 

Thanks, it is!

And FOTM contender would be cool.

But I don't know how that gets done.

Just post it here with region, common or scientific name (as specific as you are comfortable), date of find and formation, good luck! Haven't looked at the other contenders but yours is really really cool!

 

[hxmendoza]

1 minute ago, Nimravis said:

@hxmendoza if you don't mind, could you ID the guys in the pic? It is nice to put a face to a name. Thanks 

 

Left to right:

Troodon, Glenn LaPlaca, Ken Roblee, and Tom Caggiano.

[hxmendoza]

10 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said:

Just post it here with region, common or scientific name (as specific as you are comfortable), date of find and formation, good luck! Haven't looked at the other contenders but yours is really really cool!

 

 

Okay, posted. Thanks!

16 minutes ago, RJB said:

Wow, nice jaw bone with teeth!!!  I can see its fractured, did it come out all right? 

 

RB

 

Yep, one piece.

[RJB]

A really nice fossil!!  Must have been super exciting to expose that!  

 

RB

[Carl]

FOTM FOTM FOTM!!!!

[Nimravis]

1 hour ago, hxmendoza said:

 

Left to right:

Troodon, Glenn LaPlaca, Ken Roblee, and Tom Caggiano.

Thanks

[jpc]

That is the best Cret mammal jaw I have ever seen.  Wow!  and Wow some more.  

 

 

[jpc]

That is the best Cret mammal jaw I have ever seen.  Wow!  and Wow some more.  I would agree with Alphadon.  The biggest Lancian mammal.  There are several species and I am not going that far.  

 

 

[hxmendoza]

16 minutes ago, jpc said:

That is the best Cret mammal jaw I have ever seen.  Wow!  and Wow some more.  

 

 

 

Thanks JPC!

[hxmendoza]

20 minutes ago, jpc said:

That is the best Cret mammal jaw I have ever seen.  Wow!  and Wow some more.  I would agree with Alphadon.  The biggest Lancian mammal.  There are several species and I am not going that far.  

 

 

 

I looked at Alphadon. I still think this jaw I found is more along the lines of a Stagodontid though...

[jpc]

6 hours ago, hxmendoza said:

 

I looked at Alphadon. I still think this jaw I found is more along the lines of a Stagodontid though...

Hmmmm... I may have to look into that.  My wife and I moved earlier this year, and unfortunately my bools and papers are still not organized.