GaryMc Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Can anyone help me identify these? Ì have found these on my property where some excavation work was done. A hillside was excavated and I started finding these around the 4 foot mark. I have so many more. I believe I've stumbled across a whole colony of something that was killed off at the same time. Any input is tremendously appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kane Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Welcome to the Forum. The first image is a bit blurry, but these seem to be weathered sedimentary stones. I’m not seeing anything diagnostic here to suggest fossils, but perhaps better, close up images may reveal more. 1 ...How to Philosophize with a Hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 I also don't any obvious fossils. Perhaps you could post some photos that show just one or two specimens clearly and in good focus so we can get a sense of what you are seeing. Welcome to the Fossil Forum! Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaryMc Posted January 2, 2019 Author Share Posted January 2, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herb Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 sorry. not seeing any fossils, but welcome to the FF "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"_ Carl Sagen No trees were killed in this posting......however, many innocent electrons were diverted from where they originally intended to go. " I think, therefore I collect fossils." _ Me "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."__S. Holmes "can't we all just get along?" Jack Nicholson from Mars Attacks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darktooth Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Welcome to the forum from New York! I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaryMc Posted January 2, 2019 Author Share Posted January 2, 2019 Hi Don and thank you for the welcome and looking at this. This is the first one I found. Now I've got enough to cover the entire floor of my living room and my wife is trippin on me since this started at the beginning of a remodel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaryMc Posted January 2, 2019 Author Share Posted January 2, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 I’m thinking these are rocks that weathered into interesting shapes but not fossils Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macrophyseter Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Welcome to the forum I agree that they are geological pieces. If you're a fossil nut from Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Redondo Beach, or Torrance, feel free to shoot me a PM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramon Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Welcome to The Fossil Forum!! "Without fossils, no one would have ever dreamed that there were successive epochs in the formation of the earth" - Georges Cuvier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 I think you should do your wife a favor and take the rocks back outside. They could be useful as edging material around the house. 1 Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 I, too, see only non-fossil rocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 I agree with the others: i see no macroscopic("visible to the unaided eye") evidence for the biogenicity of the pieces . Perhaps you can outline the evidence? In this case literally,perhaps? Also,you mention the word "colony",which I find intriguing anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 11 hours ago, GaryMc said: A hillside was excavated and I started finding these around the 4 foot mark. Welcome to the forum, Gary. You'll find lots useful information here about fossils and a great community willing to share their accumulated knowledge. None of the rocks you have found have the signs of containing fossils. They seem to be a variety of different sedimentary rocks that have been rounded and smoothed probably in an ancient river bed. I'm sure you've seen similar rocks in the Salt Fork River which runs just south of Oakwood. The path of rivers changes over time as the river meanders this way and that. I can see from Google Maps that there are a large number of old river paths and oxbow lakes just SE of town: https://goo.gl/maps/i7HNCJVnX4q Most likely the hillside you were excavating was previously in the path of the Salt Fork or a related waterway some time in the distant past. These rounded river cobbles were then buried under lots of overburden material and remained there quite out of sight till your excavation revealed them. This aggregation of rocks was an interesting and unexpected find but is really nothing more than the artifacts of an ancient waterway and do not show any signs of being fossils. I'm not familiar with the the geology of this part of Central Illinois. Possibly some other members may have some geological maps to see what age of materials might be outcropping at the surface in your area. It is important to know the age of the surface rocks where you are hunting fossils so that you can be aware of what types of fossils might be present. I grew up in the Chicago area but had no chance of finding dinosaur fossils as the age of the rocks in the area are hundreds of millions of years too old for dinosaur fossils (but do contain interesting fossils from earlier time periods). South Florida (where I am now) was underwater during the age of dinosaurs and since dinosaurs weren't great at swimming, we don't find them here either. Our oldest surface rocks down here don't go back quite far enough anyway and were deposited well after the dinosaurs were gone. Knowing what types of fossils might be in your area and then learning what they look like is key to hunting for fossils. We get a steady stream of new members to the forum that join because they have found something interesting and want to learn more. Sometimes they get their answer and they leave--other times the experience piques their interest in fossils and they are motivated to learn more about the fossils in their area. Unfortunately, your collection of (ancient) river rocks are not fossils in themselves but there may be fossil containing exposures in your area. If you have the interest you might consider contacting someone from the Geology Department at UIUC (my Alma Mater). They might be able to provide some good information on your local geology. Cheers. -Ken 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalmayshun Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 There certainly are fossils in your area or not very far from you. Eastern Indiana has a plethora of them. Halfway between you and Chicago is the famous Mazon Creek area. It has lots of cobbles that look somewhat like yours - google Mazon Creek and you will see that similar shapes and textured cobbles sometimes contain a fossil inside. Cracking a few might reveal their composition, since you have so many, you could afford to open up a couple...inside will confirm these are probably just "rock"....saying that, the first time I cracked open a rock and discovered something inside, hooked me for life. Ive attached a split rock from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, from near Newberry,. It is a kind of shale, so has several split lines along its edlge. I split several of these and in this layer are remains ( impressions) of some kind of "orthocone"....a squid like creature with a long tubular shell. Various species have been found through differenet periods of time, and ranging in size from 1" through 6 feet. their somewhat hard cone shaped shell often leaves an impression. I have loosely circled the "cone"impressions in this split. If you look at the Fossil I.D. section of the forum, you'll learn to recognize some of the things that are a bit more mysterious than a simple, bone, shell, or tooth...I say simple bone, shell, tooth, because their characteristics so clearly mark them as fossils....as to what species they are, that is another fun part of discovering the find, and the forum has eager and knowledgable helpers who often will direct you to papers, and others who can help. So, welcome to the forum, I hope these finds excite you to took for fossils in your area...you obviously want to find some, so welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deutscheben Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 I live in East Central Illinois too- as others have said these do not appear to be fossils, but you are close to many areas where it is possible to see fossils. Vermilion County has many exposures of Pennsylvanian age rock, the same sedimentary layers that also produced the coal that used to be a major part of the area's economy. You can find plant fossils, as well as marine fossils such as shells, in these Pennsylvanian rocks. Additionally, as @digit said, the local rivers can carry rocks from other areas, and sometimes those have fossils from other ages in them too. Finally, there is even a long lost fossil site close to your town, on the north side of the horseshoe bend of the Salt Fork River. In the late 1800s, a deposit with the bones of large reptiles, similar to Dimetrodon, was found, and they were written up by the famed paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope. Unfortunately, the exact location of the site was lost over the years. So there is definitely a good potential of finding fossils in your area, the key is learning what to look for and where to look for them (and also getting permission, as there are not any publically accessible sites to collect fossils in the county). I hope that helps! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaryMc Posted January 4, 2019 Author Share Posted January 4, 2019 Hi everyone. Would like to say thanks to all who tried to help me yesterday! Here is a better pic of the underside of this find. It shows much more detail. I have also posted what looks to be a tooth or fang. No one yesterday was able to confirm what I think are snake heads. My problem agreeing with all is that all of these I've found have what appears to be eyes, a spot on what I think is posterior head, and they all look to have a mouth line. Nearly all of the individual stones are being found touching each other. What is more bizarre to me and my wife is that the stones all have nearly the same shape, however no two are alike, meaning I'm finding these now in big to little order or vise versa. Yesterday I was able to collect what appears to be an entire length of one of these. I have yet to clean yesterday's find but I am going to now and try to piece it together. If anyone wants to take a look at the pic I have of the big collection of stones, I have in the center of the pic a few partial pieces I found in the very same order. Also, the biggest one on the left rear was found as is. All the hundred or so pieces were found in an area about 8feet wide by 2 feet thick. In addition to these whatever they are, im finding petrified wood, or roots of petrified wood. Thanks very much for your time! More pics to come soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macrophyseter Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 I don't see any pictures? If you're a fossil nut from Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Redondo Beach, or Torrance, feel free to shoot me a PM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 This group is an enormous collective of very adept and experienced fossil collectors/identifiers and with rare unanimity we all agree that there is no suggestion of fossils here. Sorry. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyc Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 I agree with the others. Try googling images of what you think you have found. Actual fossils will look a lot different 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 As there is nothing more to be gleaned from this topic, it has been locked. Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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