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Hello everyone, This is my first posting on TFF (although I've been lurking on the forum for a while) and I am excited to be joining a community centered around one of my main interests. I have seen that this forum houses a very kind and helpful community, and I was hoping that some may be interested in helping a - very new and inexperienced - fossil hunter. I will be in the Charlottesville area for Labor Day weekend and I am in search of any tips for finding fossils in that area or general locations where they might be. I am willing to drive up to 3 hours to other locations in Virginia or locations in West Virginia, North Carolina, or Maryland. I have heard that there are some fossils in parts of George Washington and Jefferson National Forests in Virginia and I would be very glad to hear where I can find fossils there and if a permit is necessary to hunt for invertebrate fossils in that location. I am most interested in hunting for fossils from the Ordovician, Devonian, and Carboniferous periods, but any fossils would be great. I greatly appreciate any tips or information!

Hey everyone, Thought I’d share a recent acquisition of mine with you all! This is an extremely rare odontopleurid called Diacanthaspis sp. from the closed Ordovician locality at Swatara gap. These trilobites were not often found at the trilobite beds at Swatara Gap but rather in the echinoderm beds. One publications states that in 100 hours of digging one could expect one articulated specimen. It is probably the 7th 8th most rare trilobite species at Swatara behind Proteus and Platylichas.

It was a beautiful sunny day here in PA so I took advantage of it by cracking open some rocks I found earlier this year at Swatara Gap State Park. Pics 1 & 2. I'm thinking this is part of a Greenops. Both cast and mold shown. One pic taken in sunlight and one in shade. My question is, is this the head with eyes showing? It's at an angle where I can't quite figure it out.