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What are some of your not so mysterious finds?


KimTexan

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I think some of you will get a laugh out of this. I certainly had a good laugh at myself.

 

I hope I’m not the only one to occasionally pick up some mystery item only to realize it isn’t mysterious at all and have to laugh at myself.

 

Saturday I went out fossil hunting to NSR. I drove out a mile or so down some unoccupied dirt, hayfield, farm road to get close to a particular spot on the river without having to hike there. I nearly got stuck in the mud a good hours hike to the nearest paved road, but thankfully my daddy taught me how to drive and get out of a few pinches. I backtracked about a mile and parked along a lessmuddy part of the dirt road about a mile from the paved road.

When I got back to my car, after hunting it was after sunset. I was totally worn out from hiking. Anyway, I saw this rock on the ground near my car with bright yellow on it. There were a few scattered around. At first I thought it much be some strange lichen or moss. I saw one with yellow sandwiched between two layers of rock so I ruled out lichen and moss and thought it might be some weird sulphur. I had never seen sulphur quite that yellow though. But I was by the Sulphur River after all. I had smelled something I thought might be sulphur a couple times, but thought hog sewage was more likely.

So today I found the rocks and it suddenly dawned on me what it was in full light.A5F506FF-471B-4ADD-B67A-E46C57724D4C.thumb.jpeg.bf645024ebc6e1e8f49d45de1eeb75f1.jpeg

Doh! 

Asphalt with yellow reflective paint!  No mystery there. Being dog tired, after sundown and a mile from the nearest asphalt or paved road it didn’t initially occur to me what it was. I can only laugh at myself.

 

It isn’t the first time I’ve picked up something wondering what it was only to have a good laugh at myself later for having picked it up.

 

This past summer I picked up some mysterious item in the Pennsylvanian, it was one of my first times ever collecting there. Many things were new to me. I picked up a mysterious cluster of something and brought it home only to realize it was some form of scat, mammal poop that was nearly fossilized, but not quite. LOL It looked a bit like decomposed bunny poo all flattened. I picked up other clusters that were remaines of crustacean burrows or the likes that had similarities to the bunny poo stuff.

 

So what odd or mysterious things have you picked up and brought home only to realize what it was later and you had to laugh at yourself?

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I once noticed a perfect modern-looking scallop on a wooded hillside that exposed Ordovician limestone and shale beds.  It looked like a "Shell Oil" scallop.  I thought "that's weird, it sure doesn't look Ordovician". When I picked it up I realized it was a ceramic ash tray, and immediately after that I noticed among the trees all the other very modern rubbish someone had dumped down the side of the hill from the road further up the slope.

 

Don

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@FossilDAWG oh I hate it when people dump stuff or trash gets washed into creeks or rivers. I like to be out where it is clean of pollutants and just natural. Trash ruins the whole atmosphere of nature.

I own land up in Oklahoma and I have to go out there periodically and pick up bags and bags of trash that people throw out the window. It’s mostly drink containers.

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I was collecting on the Potomac in an area where the Aquia is exposed. Similar thing in that it was getting dark and I was half running back up the beach (this was years ago when running was still an option). Right at the waters edge I saw what I thought was a massive croc tooth. Scooped it up, and kept on trucking. Couldn't wait to get back home to look at it in proper light.Get home, and the "croc tooth" was actually hard rubber. LOL

 

Turns out, there is an Army base near by where they fire weapons. This rubber piece was off the nose of one of the rounds they fire. Or so I was told. No reason not to believe that. I have heard similar stories from others. I kept it for a long time because it was pretty cool no matter what. Alas, it has disappeared somewhere along the way. 

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We’ve all felt the humbling chagrin of being duped along the way.  I’ve heard of “indian pottery” in the nsr which turned out to be floor tile, “fossil leaves” in cement, a “mammoth tusk” that turned out to be a slug of paint where the can rusted away.  Someone tried to dupe me at the nsr by leaving a glass point at the 68 bridge.  But they weren’t a good enough knapper to trick me as the stack they couldn’t remove revealed it was made from plate glass, easily pegging it as modern.  But on an ongoing basis, I get tricked by suggestive splats of bird poop more than anything.

Grüße,

Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas

"To the motivated go the spoils."

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The ultimate irony is that bona fide coprolites can at times be difficult to recognize in the field.

Grüße,

Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas

"To the motivated go the spoils."

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3 hours ago, Uncle Siphuncle said:

The ultimate irony is that bona fide coprolites can at times be difficult to recognize in the field.

Hahahaha.  Might want to do a sniff test before collecting!:rofl:

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Do I have a coprolite story!!!!! I was at Calvert Cliffs with a rather well known paleontologist going to check out a whale jaw I had found. (someone else had gotten to it and ruined it by the time I got this individual out to see it) On the way we were, of course, collecting. He was down closer to the water and I heard him say "nice coprolite". I turned and saw the scrap of shirt someone had used to wipe. Before I could say no dont, he reached down and grabbed it. 

 

Well, he was wearing gloves as it was winter, so he didnt actually touch it, but he DID put the gloves in a bag and chuck them when we got back. 

 

Yes, someone had taken a dump right there on the beach and not even bothered to cover it. And clearly it had been within hours of us getting there. I havent seen this individual in a very long time. But if I do see him again, I will certainly bring this up. LOL

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1 hour ago, smokeriderdon said:

Do I have a coprolite story!!!!! I was at Calvert Cliffs with a rather well known paleontologist going to check out a whale jaw I had found. (someone else had gotten to it and ruined it by the time I got this individual out to see it) On the way we were, of course, collecting. He was down closer to the water and I heard him say "nice coprolite". I turned and saw the scrap of shirt someone had used to wipe. Before I could say no dont, he reached down and grabbed it. 

 

Well, he was wearing gloves as it was winter, so he didnt actually touch it, but he DID put the gloves in a bag and chuck them when we got back. 

 

Yes, someone had taken a dump right there on the beach and not even bothered to cover it. And clearly it had been within hours of us getting there. I havent seen this individual in a very long time. But if I do see him again, I will certainly bring this up. LOL

:oyh:

:wacko:

:rofl:

 

Wow what a story... Though I would love to go to Calvert once, I'm glad I wasn't there that time!!!

Max Derème

 

"I feel an echo of the lightning each time I find a fossil. [...] That is why I am a hunter: to feel that bolt of lightning every day."

   - Mary Anning >< Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier

 

Instagram: @world_of_fossils

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/1/2018 at 7:44 AM, Uncle Siphuncle said:

But on an ongoing basis, I get tricked by suggestive splats of bird poop more than anything.

Bird poop? Is this sarcasm or serious? I could see it being sarcasm.

I’m trying to image how bird poop could be confused with any fossil. I’m thinking of the splat on the windshield kind of poop. I know your knowledge of fossils is very impressive though so if you say it’s duped you it makes me curious what type of fossils bird poop could resemble. The only thing I can think of is the glint of white particularly in the NSR can draw you to go check something out. I need some education. I’m always looking to learn.

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Hey Kim, I cant remember all the dumb stuff I've thrown in the collecting bag to bring home to inspect later that hasnt turned out to have been fossil material especially if its getting late in the day. I do remember some of that asphalt conglomerate. And while in college years ago I led some scouts on a field trip looking for Jurassic/Cretaceous stuff including belemnites. They did find those but we also did ID some similarly shaped deer scat--Oh well as others Dan and others have already mentioned it happens...My geology instructor who set me up to lead the trip thought the story about the incident was especially humorous. 

 

I know I've posted this somewhere before but here's another example that is more likely a Florida thing--a picture of an old blackened orange peel that I had to photograph thinking I had just come across another nice Holmesina (giant armadillo) scute. Well it was very well preserved and had the right orange color and texture! :faint:

5a7f5add1a80a_Darnorangepeel.thumb.jpg.d9c17abb12855a9a87099234ffadaed2.jpg

Here's what I thought I had from an earlier trip to the area. 

Holmesina.thumb.jpg.99391836f7ec637ab7e12ca82bd5b8e0.jpg

Regards, Chris 

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10 hours ago, KimTexan said:

Bird poop? Is this sarcasm or serious? I could see it being sarcasm.

I’m trying to image how bird poop could be confused with any fossil. I’m thinking of the splat on the windshield kind of poop. I know your knowledge of fossils is very impressive though so if you say it’s duped you it makes me curious what type of fossils bird poop could resemble. The only thing I can think of is the glint of white particularly in the NSR can draw you to go check something out. I need some education. I’m always looking to learn.

Lots of fossils weather and present in sort of a mottled white, barely peeking out of matrix.  Pennsylvanian shark teeth are just one example.  In this collecting environment, I have indeed been duped by poop.  Then again, my eyesight isn’t the best.

Grüße,

Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas

"To the motivated go the spoils."

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On 2/1/2018 at 7:44 AM, Uncle Siphuncle said:

We’ve all felt the humbling chagrin of being duped along the way.  I’ve heard of “indian pottery” in the nsr which turned out to be floor tile, “fossil leaves” in cement, a “mammoth tusk” that turned out to be a slug of paint where the can rusted away.  Someone tried to dupe me at the nsr by leaving a glass point at the 68 bridge.  But they weren’t a good enough knapper to trick me as the stack they couldn’t remove revealed it was made from plate glass, easily pegging it as modern.  But on an ongoing basis, I get tricked by suggestive splats of bird poop more than anything.

The mammoth paint slug was my friend on the Sulphur.

He was so excited till I stuck a hot pin to it. 

He carried that thing for miles!

 

The glass artifact was not me but I have done this thing before but everyone there knew what I was doing.

I gave it to the lady who found the least old bottles that day. We were digging in a turn of century bottle dump.

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