deutscheben Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 There have been some great reports in the last week of folks hunting the Silurian and I wanted to add a report for my own serendipitous mini-trip from the last weekend. A few months ago, I had noticed a large pile of buff-colored stone dumped next to a retention pond in front of a local retail district. I thought they looked very similar to the Silurian dolomite I have seen and collected from elsewhere in Illinois, so I have been meaning to take a closer look. Last weekend I finally had some errands to run at Target with some free time on my hands, so I wandered over to the pile to check it out. In less than a minute I spotted a friendly face poking out of the corner of one piece of stone- Gravicalymene celebra! An iconic trilobite, and the biggest one I have found, with a cephalon just over 1 inch wide. It looks like it may be complete, although prep can be very difficult as @aek mentioned recently- at a minimum the cephalon appears to all be there. I looked around a little more and found a very poorly preserved cephalopod impression as well as one other rock with some intriguing shapes in it- it will need more prep though to say if it is anything. Since these were dumped next to a parking lot and there are no Silurian dolomite quarries within 60 miles, I can't say for sure what the source is. It seems likely to be the Racine or Joliet Dolomite of northeastern Illinois, though. I will definitely be returning when I have some free time and looking around some more- who knows, they may have used the same stone in other spots around the development! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kane Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 That Gravi looks promising. What a serendipitous find, indeed! ...How to Philosophize with a Hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiamL Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Finding trilobites at Target, nice! 1 Yorkshire Coast Fossil Hunter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sseth Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Sweet! _____________________________________ Seth www.fossilshack.com www.americanfossil.com www.fishdig.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Rico Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Wow I can’t find anything I like at Target. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve D. Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Nothing better than rooting around in some random rocks and finding something awesome! Good eye! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve D. Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Also, after further review... this Trilobite may have originated at the Steak N' Shake seen in picture one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 2 hours ago, Bobby Rico said: Wow I can’t find anything I like at Target. They usually have them on aisle 6 right next to the garden tools. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peat Burns Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Oooh. Nice find. Since it's a steinkern, I bet there is a space between the matrix and the fossil, and with a scribe, I bet the matrix will pop right off. Keep us posted. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Nice! “...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...
Nimravis Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 2 hours ago, Steve D. said: Also, after further review... this Trilobite may have originated at the Steak N' Shake seen in picture one. I was thinking the Panda Express Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilized6s Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Haha! Great find! Pays off to stop and take a quick look sometimes. ~Charlie~ "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK ->Get your Mosasaur print ->How to spot a fake Trilobite ->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raggedy Man Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 17 minutes ago, Nimravis said: I was thinking the Panda Express Yummu yummy right here! Lol those guys at union station ...I'm back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatinformationist Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 I hear a lot of Target goods come from China. Look for the label. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deutscheben Posted August 1, 2018 Author Share Posted August 1, 2018 17 hours ago, Kane said: That Gravi looks promising. What a serendipitous find, indeed! 17 hours ago, LiamL said: Finding trilobites at Target, nice! 17 hours ago, sseth said: Sweet! 15 hours ago, Steve D. said: Nothing better than rooting around in some random rocks and finding something awesome! Good eye! 12 hours ago, WhodamanHD said: Nice! 12 hours ago, fossilized6s said: Haha! Great find! Pays off to stop and take a quick look sometimes. Thanks everyone! I will post updates in this thread if I find anything else. 12 hours ago, Peat Burns said: Oooh. Nice find. Since it's a steinkern, I bet there is a space between the matrix and the fossil, and with a scribe, I bet the matrix will pop right off. Keep us posted. I hope so! Unfortunately, I don't have a scribe, so I will be manually prepping it. 15 hours ago, Steve D. said: Also, after further review... this Trilobite may have originated at the Steak N' Shake seen in picture one. 16 hours ago, Bobby Rico said: Wow I can’t find anything I like at Target. 12 hours ago, Nimravis said: I was thinking the Panda Express 12 hours ago, Raggedy Man said: Yummu yummy right here! Lol those guys at union station 11 hours ago, goatinformationist said: I hear a lot of Target goods come from China. Look for the label. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeargleSchmeargl Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 21 hours ago, LiamL said: Finding trilobites at Target, nice! Just like finding ordovician brachiopods at a certain target parking lot in Nashville! @deutscheben is lucky and has something like that right next to 'em (whereas I'd have to travel 200+ miles to reach Nashville -.-). Every single fossil you see is a miracle set in stone, and should be treated as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kane Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 Since Target failed miserably up here in Canada, it is so much harder to find trilobites these days. 2 ...How to Philosophize with a Hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Rico Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 21 minutes ago, Kane said: Since Target failed miserably up here in Canada, it is so much harder to find trilobites these days. I been to target in the US but I never thought to look in the car park. We don’t have Target in the uk but I will probably go fossil hunting in Selfridges car park in the week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 What a beautiful and sparkly cephalon!!! Congrats on the great find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walt Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 You guys are going to have me pulling over every time I see a pile of rocks at a building site! Everything is generated through your own will power ~ Ray Bradbury Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aek Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 Nice find! He's probably all there. You could attempt to carefully chisel him out. Have some glue handy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deutscheben Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 On 8/1/2018 at 10:54 AM, MeargleSchmeargl said: Just like finding ordovician brachiopods at a certain target parking lot in Nashville! @deutscheben is lucky and has something like that right next to 'em (whereas I'd have to travel 200+ miles to reach Nashville -.-). I feel very lucky! There are no actual fossil exposures my county, but there are a few spots where fossiliferous rock has been dumped. 23 hours ago, Walt said: You guys are going to have me pulling over every time I see a pile of rocks at a building site! I have to admit, I haven't looked at piles of dirt or rocks the same way since I got back into fossil collecting a few years ago! Sometime I have to remind myself to keep my eyes on the road... 20 hours ago, aek said: Nice find! He's probably all there. You could attempt to carefully chisel him out. Have some glue handy. 23 hours ago, Monica said: What a beautiful and sparkly cephalon!!! Congrats on the great find! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deutscheben Posted August 13, 2018 Author Share Posted August 13, 2018 I was able to spend a little time prepping the first trilobite I found and have exposed most of the cephalon- it is looking very complete so far! (With a few chips from my chisel unfortunately) I also poked around a little more in the store-front stone pile this weekend and found another smaller Gravicalymene : So that will be a prep project for another day. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl-Lewis Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 Let them soak in water and dawn dish washing soap for few days trust me I’m from Illinois . Vinegar and water also help. Be carful with that mix you have to soak in water to get rid of vinegar after soaking it in the mix. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 11 hours ago, Carl-Lewis said: Let them soak in water and dawn dish washing soap for few days trust me I’m from Illinois . Vinegar and water also help. Be carful with that mix you have to soak in water to get rid of vinegar after soaking it in the mix. Members please be aware this topic is almost 2 years old. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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