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What's become of our great Wild Kyle and Paleo Chris hunting in the Floridian jungle videos? I know the rivers are probably swollen, but that has never stopped our boys from finding great things roadside. Alright, I don't really care where they are, I just miss the duck!

Hello, so i was thinking about buying this tooth, what do you think of it? is it real? Thanks.

Hi, Are seahorse fossils considered rare and what is the smallest seahorse ever discovered??? Thanks

FYI @DevonianDigger @JamesAndTheFossilPeach @Kane @Malcolmt @caldigger @RJB @Ptychodus04 @Fossildude19 @FossilSloth @FossilDudeCO I need your guy's input as I go along! I'm a green horn! Thank you in advance. Well since some of you who I know have started your own fossil preparation threads I thought I'd do the same. A lot has transpired since, well Saturday morning. I went all chips in and bought a really nice two stage, 60 gallon Kobalt air compressor. You don't want to know the cost. My jaw dropped when the cashier rang up the total but I had no other choice. I was all in at this point. Went home and my neighbors helped me lift this monster out of my cousins pickup and I spent the rest of the day setting everything up then realized that I didn't have the connector for the 3/4 output on the tank so went back today and figured it out. The Lowes guy and I had fun figuring this puzzle out together. So I have a moisture trap, emergency shutoff (isolator) valve, regulator, 25 foot air hose, CP-9361, some fossils to prepare, and 240 volt connection (yes I wired up the plug and cabling). Wiring up this 240 volt electrical housing was probably the scariest thing I've ever done in my life. Definitely not a lot of room for error. Really was nervous about doing this. Also nervous about this. Had to punch a hole through 11 inch dry wall and plywood to get to the washer/dryer room to access the 240 volt dryer outlet. Thankfully we weren't using that outlet as our drier runs on natural gas. Here's the big 250 lb air compressor. This thing pumps out a ton of air. I was able to run the scribe continuously for three hours. No stopping! Moisture trap, shut off valve, and the regulator all hooked up to a large 3/4 elbow. One of the reasons why I had to get the elbow was because I knew with all the extra valves and connections it would put strain on the line so I wanted gravity to compliment the setup (as punishing as gravity can be at times). So now for the good part. The fossils. Recently acquired a massive Tumidocarcinus giganteus crab concretion from New Zealand. Within a few hours the carapace is well exposed. I'm not exactly sure what to look for here. There's either an exoskeleton that's flaking off or that's some sort of chemical process on the outside. I'm really not sure as I've seen these crabs in both that light pinkish hue and then in the black color. Where the black is was where the concretion was exposed to the elements. You can see the non-dominant left claw being teased out. That's also delicate so I've really been taking my time. Worked on it for about 3 hours total. So far so good. Here's a couple pictures to illustrate the process. Unlike @RJB I may not have a beer by my side but I'm ready to go crabbing. Definitely needed the safety goggles. Will need to pickup an air mask tomorrow along with some noise cancelling headphones (have some Beats at work). Roughly 10 minutes in and am really taking my time (don't want to do anything that I might regret later). About 40 minutes in. Slowly inching my way towards the left claw. About two hours into the process. The carapace is starting to show. Decided to leave at this point with nearly three hours invested. I hear crabs can have leg parts in virtually any arrangement depending on their displacement and preservation but I'm anticipating legs going from the carapace region out towards the edges (you can see points where legs should be). Really decided to slow down and take my time. I think this is going to be a very special fossil especially since it's the first crab I'm preparing and the first fossil prepared by my first owned air scribe the tried and true CP-9361. I'm sure I'll make mistakes along the way and I'm not doing this the way other more experienced prepares would but it's a start. The CP-9361. I'm in love. Then for kicks I decided to do some work on this little Knightia from the split fish layers. The Museum of Ancient Life curator that I've been volunteering with has been teaching me the ways of prep. Some secrets I won't be able to divulge here as I've sworn an oath of secrecy but he's really good at preparing Green River fish. He actually uses a CP-9361 so I figured why couldn't I right? Well I went in really slowly on this fish and exposed it in about five minutes flat. There's a few punch holes on the far end of the tail from where I was a tad bit to aggressive with the scribe but with time and practice I'll get a better feel for how to work with this soft matrix. I'm sure the 18 inch layer is a bit harder. Still I think it came out for a common fish and it looks pretty good. I forgot to take a before picture but here's an after picture. Little Knightia required only 5 minutes of preparation work with the CP9361 when it would have taken at least an hour with dental picks, which I'm never going back to again.

Any public locations in central Illinois? Or near Bloomington Illinois

I recently came across the young earth theory (the theory that earth is 10.000 years old and dinosaurs coexisted with humans and traveled with Noah and his ark) and of course i thought it was unfeasible but one common argument they keep having is why are we finding soft tissues, proteins and other biochemicals in fossils like triceratops, t-rex and other dinosaur bones of course that doesn't mean DNA BUT they shouldn't have been preserved because such biochemicals don't get preserved after so much time. Another one is that some old fossils are still close to the surface when they should be buried really deep. So what are your thoughts on these arguments, in my opinion this theory is ridiculous but i'd love to learn the answers. Thanks (PS sorry for asking that many questions these days its just that im new to the forum and have lots of questions)

I found this in a creek on the top of a mountain in northern Virginia

Hello so could someone please explain the situation with sigilmassasaurus and spinosaurus was it the same dinosaur? was sigilmassasaurus bigger? Thanks

First time fossil hunter, and we had a blast! If anyone needs a guide, or just advice, I HIGHLY recommend Barry Segura of Fossil Madness (his company). He was able to point us in the right direction, as well as hook us up with some great equipment. Thank you for everyone on TFF that encouraged and gave me advice!!!

I collected a few fossils from the Mulbring quarry in the 1980's yet it's time I reduced my treasures & before moving house if possible. I'd appreciate any suggestions. Post isnt an option as I'm time poor.

Going really basic here being new on the fossil game i wanted to know how a fossil gets created because i have read that the bone gets replaced by rock or sediments and they take its original form but if that's the case then we are not holding teeth, we are holding rocks in the form of teeth when holding a fossilized tooth for example. I don't really know so if someone could please explain to me if the fossil is actual tooth like it was back then or it becomes rock and the general process it would be much appreciated.

So i have a small fossil collection and i want to learn how to study teeth and their anatomy the teeth i already have are from spinosaurus, mosasaur, carcharodontosaurus and megalodon if anyone could help me learn how to do it i would be really thankful. Thanks.

So having a small fossil collection i have thought of the possibility of studying the fossils especially the dinosaur teeth but the problem is im not a scientist so i don't know how to study them so if someone could tell me if cheap fossils like these could be studied and how it would be largely appreciated. (Collection includes 2 spinosaurus teeth, a meg tooth, 2 mosasaur teeth, mammoth hair, carcharodontosaurus tooth) Thanks.

I have read that land worm fossil are extremely rare but how about marine worm fossils? Are marine worm fossils as rare as land worms and has anyone every seen photos or heard of a marine worm that might have a calcium-like outer shell?? Thanks

Hi guys! Recently i got these several teeth from one guy from the US.They were found somewhere in Florida but he doesn't know the exact names of the species which i'm looking right now. If someone could help it would be much appreciated. P.s. They are from pleistocene. Thanks, Darko

Do these appear to be trace fossils? Found in Western Colorado. Thank you

Good morning to all, I will be traveling to Seabrook, South Carolina on Saturday (6/15/19), and have been doing some research regarding potential sites to go shark tooth/fossil hunting. I have been fascinated with fossils and shark teeth my entire life, but never lived in a location to support this hobby. I've read that Summerville, Charleston, and Cooper River (maybe off-shooting creeks), are common spots, but I'd like to have a more calculated game plan than just stopping at random rivers/creeks LOL. After reading through several of the forums here, I understand that some basic advice would be to utilize google earth or maps, and attempt to locate "dredge spots" in rivers..? Would anyone be willing to help a newbie out with some research 101 type advice? Again, your craft absolutely AMAZES me!!! Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!!!

Hello everyone! Thanks for taking a minute to read this. Heading over to Maryland this weekend for some fossil hunting. I was hoping to get some guidance on some spots in PA. Which we are planning on heading to on Tuesday (June 18th). Would like to know if there are any areas where we could find some plant fossils. I know from doing some research the areas may be limited. It's our first time collecting plant fossils so any tips would be appreciated as well! Thank you!

Because i live in Greece i wanted to know if any fossils of large extinct animals (like dinosaurs or big mammals) have been found in Greece because when i search it i get no valid results so could you help me?

So i recently visited this forum and i read somewhere that we haven't yet discovered spinosaurus legs and its appearance regarding its feet and legs may be just speculation. The argument that was made was whether spinosaurus was a species of crocodile rather than a dinosaur because he may had small legs. So could that be the case?

I did a tad bit of major clean up on my prep bench. Trying to get ready to start prepping some fishy's. Its not done but did find some things that have been buried for awhile. Some of these are now in the fossil room. Still have over halfway to go and wondering what I will be finding. Nice to be able to see some of my bench though. RB

Unknown fossils maybe claws if some sort maybe crocodile?? Left fossil: 2.3/4 inches long just over an inch wide at the base right fossil : 2.1/4 inches long also one inch at the base

I probably should have started this thread years ago but better late than never. Ive got a bunch of fossil fish im going to prep out this summer. Im going to start with a Priscara serata that my sons friend found just last week. This serata has another right on top of it but missing some of itself so its going by by. This fish is from the bottom cap of the 18 inch layer and is in some very dense and very hard rock. The stuff I really like!!! A lot harder to prep than the split fish but nicer fish to say the least. Much harder bone too and can stand up against even pure dolomite! My kinda stuff!!! So, here we go........ RB This is the way it came up from the slab lift. You can see the other fish that is on top. The bottom one is about a 9 incher. This is almost 5 hours of work. The tail fin is a really hard prep job to say the least!!! but lookin real good so far. Luckily there is a tad bit of matrix between the fishes!

My friend kris, Ptycodus4, and I planned a trip to the fish quarrys last september. Kris is very much like me and would rather prep out the fossil fish that in much harder rock than all the 'split fish' rock. I had to make a few phone calls but got us into a quarry that had some 18 inch material and some bottom cap stuff. The 18 inch where we were digging was in places a bit weathered and wanted to delaminate but we still got some very good stuff. The bottom cap was much more dense and in one place had some extraordinarily super duper preserved fish! We arrived at what is now 'In Stone Fossils' after a 7 1/2 hour drive and set up camp. Then the boys started lifting rock and in no time came across a very nice palm leaf! Dean, the quarry owner was quite happy. Had steaks over a fire with baked taters that had garlic onion and bacon all wrapped in tin foil and sat along the edges of the fire for 3 hours. Oh, the texas boys showed up that evening too. Put down a few drinks and had a blast just shootin the poop. Got up early the next morning and my middle son found a very nice Diplomystus right off the bat. Everyone was finding fish. The texas boys seemed a little slow and then realized they were not used to the altitude but they still gots lots of really nice fish. I think Kris was in heaven. he and I both are going to be quite busy preppin for a long time to come. My boys also uncovered a fossil that is extreamly rare and extreamly valuable but was asked by the quarry owner not to post anything about it till later. Once I get permission from him this mystery will be told. My youngest son is coming over today and we are going to go through these slabs and I will get a few more pictures to post here. I have to prep out some of the best of these for my sons and their freind, but then I get to keep all the rest. Woooooooop woooooooooop!!! RB Nice palm leaf. The missing stuff on the right is in another rock and will be saved and put back together. My youngest son either making a relief cut or cutting out a fish. My middle sons very firs fish of the trip and early in the morning too. A nice way to start the day. You can see the delaminating in this picture. A milk crate full of very nice fossil fish. Just need a lot of prep time. Back seat of my truck full of some very nice fish slabs!

Is anyone here familiar with a company by the name of "Fossils: Nature's window on the fourth dimension"? Our collection has some specimens with this label, but nobody is familiar with the title's significance. I'm trying to determine when and by whom they were established, which regions their fossils were collected from, and when they dissolved (if no longer active). Thanks!