Atomic_Monkey Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 The last year or so I have gotten back into fossil hunting which I loved when I was young (45 now). With a 9 year old son that loves it too (I have even converted my wife a little!). We were invited to look for fossils in a small creek accessible by foot on 4-28-18. Less than a foot deep where we dug and sifted by hand and small garden shovel for about 4 hours. Mostly found a couple hundred small sharks teeth that we will donate to a science facility here that will put them in a sand box and let children find them at a class/event. An interesting bone that looks like a socket joint piece, and a few other things... Mostly Bulls and Lemons here Cool socket of some kind (hoping I don't find out its a chicken bone someone threw in the creek!) Tube worms or coral / sponge maybe..? 4-30-18 we made our first trip to the actual Peace River and rented a canoe at The Canoe Outpost for the day. I have read about fossil hunting there a little (a good bit from this forum) and knew to look for gravel bottom and that deeper banks could be best. We just paddled north about 1.5 - 2 miles and found a nice sandy bank on the inside of a bend to put the canoe on. As I waded out I could feel the rocks crunching under my feet and it seemed to go down about 12" so we set up and started digging/sifting (1/4" mesh). Found some nice 1" teeth in the first half hour and there were generally a small tooth or two mixed with some various sizes of turtle shell etc. on each screen. Never found a real gem on the trip but did get a nice gator tooth and a few other teeth including barracuda. Some interesting bones and shell fossils that I kept as well. When I dug down I got about 12" of mud and gravel, under that was a white clay like sediment that contained nothing. I have heard digging deeper can produce better finds, maybe next time I will prod for a deeper gravel bed. All in all for not knowing much of where to go it was a great day, and I surely can't be disappointed with some nice tiger shark teeth and the Gator tooth...Also found the largest sting ray plate I have seen so far. Just one more screen full I promise! This was close to The Canoe Outpost...(We did not dig here!) The ID section of the forum helped identify the far right tooth as barracuda and the second one as alligator. The better of the teeth. Also found a couple hundred more small ones to donate. Bivalves Not sure what this is, looks like piece of broken tooth coming out of a root..... Interesting bones. turtle shell pieces I believe Not sure about this either, maybe a skin plate of some kind. My wife claimed this turtle shell fragment for the peace sign. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan 1000 Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 Great Finds! Have a few Peace River Fossils but have never been there myself. Looks like an awesome spot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darktooth Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 Nice report and finds! Congratulations on a good hunt! I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 Cool finds...the Peace is a great place to find all kinds of critters remains and traces...I'm thinking the one unknown "broken tooth" is actually barnacle and the other unknown "skin plate" is a ray dermal denticle. Is this shark tooth broken and does it have a very small cusp on the right side? Thanks for sharing the report. Regards, Chris 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atomic_Monkey Posted May 5, 2018 Author Share Posted May 5, 2018 Thanks @Plantguy I'll take barnacle! For a tooth it would have seemed strange that the tooth color was the same as the root so that would make sense. I have seen post of Ray dermal denticles a while back but wasn't sure if that's what this was or something similar, so thank you for identifying that for me! The shark tooth is not broken and is in great shape here is a close-up. Looks like a small nub of a cusp.. But seems to be a tooth from near the hinge of the jaw, or a juvenile I guess so I'm not as good with off-shape teeth like those.. I thought it was likely a bull shark tooth from near the hinge at first guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atomic_Monkey Posted May 5, 2018 Author Share Posted May 5, 2018 Also found one of these at each location. The first one we found we threw it out thinking it was man-made. When we found one at the Peace River I realized it might be something. No idea what this is or what it is from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 18 minutes ago, Atomic_Monkey said: Also found one of these at each location. The first one we found we threw it out thinking it was man-made. When we found one at the Peace River I realized it might be something. No idea what this is or what it is from. That is a sea urchin spine. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 45 minutes ago, Atomic_Monkey said: Thanks @Plantguy I'll take barnacle! For a tooth it would have seemed strange that the tooth color was the same as the root so that would make sense. I have seen post of Ray dermal denticles a while back but wasn't sure if that's what this was or something similar, so thank you for identifying that for me! The shark tooth is not broken and is in great shape here is a close-up. Looks like a small nub of a cusp.. But seems to be a tooth from near the hinge of the jaw, or a juvenile I guess so I'm not as good with off-shape teeth like those.. I thought it was likely a bull shark tooth from near the hinge at first guess. That’s a Meg! From a juvenile or very posterior of course, but a meg nonetheless 4 “...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atomic_Monkey Posted May 5, 2018 Author Share Posted May 5, 2018 3 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said: That’s a Meg! From a juvenile or very posterior of course, but a meg nonetheless That would be awesome! When they're this small do they not always have the dark area beneath the root? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 9 hours ago, Atomic_Monkey said: This was close to The Canoe Outpost...(We did not dig here!) Aw come on, he just wants to snuggle! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 9 minutes ago, Atomic_Monkey said: That would be awesome! When they're this small do they not always have the dark area beneath the root? They actually do (it’s called bourlette), it’s just very thin and usually a bit worn, which is the case in your tooth. It’s there just very thin, and in some places rubbed off. 1 “...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atomic_Monkey Posted May 5, 2018 Author Share Posted May 5, 2018 19 minutes ago, caldigger said: Aw come on, he just wants to snuggle! Yeah, I know how those gators work... First they snuggle, then they rob the sandwich in your cooler! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 They like to win you over before they mooch a meal. "Hey buddy, ya got any diet sodas to go with this?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 Nice finds, and a nice report, thanks for sharing. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted May 6, 2018 Share Posted May 6, 2018 Love the posterior meg. Nice report and other finds too. 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...
Shellseeker Posted May 6, 2018 Share Posted May 6, 2018 On 5/4/2018 at 11:49 PM, Atomic_Monkey said: Tube worms or coral / sponge maybe..? I believe that these are fossilized tree roots... especially true if you found them in a creek. You found a MEG on your 1st trip to the Peace River... the river gods must love you.. 10 years ago , it took me over 10 months to find my 1st Meg in a River that had tens of thousands of Megs... I was dumb as a rock when it came to fossil hunting. I am better now. 2 The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peace river rat Posted May 6, 2018 Share Posted May 6, 2018 Good finds, as a local Arcadian who has spent much time digging, I agree with every ID. The only one that would have stumped was the sea urchin spine. I too, thought they were man made, my guess was some king of ceramic insulator. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JarrodB Posted May 6, 2018 Share Posted May 6, 2018 Nice trip report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted May 6, 2018 Share Posted May 6, 2018 On 5/5/2018 at 8:35 AM, Atomic_Monkey said: Thanks @Plantguy I'll take barnacle! For a tooth it would have seemed strange that the tooth color was the same as the root so that would make sense. I have seen post of Ray dermal denticles a while back but wasn't sure if that's what this was or something similar, so thank you for identifying that for me! The shark tooth is not broken and is in great shape here is a close-up. Looks like a small nub of a cusp.. But seems to be a tooth from near the hinge of the jaw, or a juvenile I guess so I'm not as good with off-shape teeth like those.. I thought it was likely a bull shark tooth from near the hinge at first guess. Yes Barnacles are good. We have some really bigun's and more modest ones around here and their infills like yours remind me of little volcano cones!. Yay! those little Megs are sneaky good! Congrats! Regards, Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcbshark Posted May 6, 2018 Share Posted May 6, 2018 Looks like you had a great day hunting, 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...
Nimravis Posted May 6, 2018 Share Posted May 6, 2018 Great trip report and finds, thanks for posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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