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Dinosaur Park in Laurel, MD, is a tiny, 7.5-acre tract of county parkland surrounded by a business park in bustling, suburban Maryland. Nevertheless, it is the most prolific dinosaur and plant site east of the Mississippi. The first fossils there were found in the 18th century by slaves in the siderite (bog iron ore) mine that was there at the time. It wasn’t until 1858 that the bones turning up in the mine were identified as dinosaur remains. The bones found that year were from what would have been, if they a had done all the paperwork, the second dinosaur identified in the US, Astrodon johnstoni, which is now Maryland’s State Dinosaur[1] . Since then dinosaurs, turtles, small mammals, crocodilians, gastropods, clams, and tons of fossil plant material have been found there, all of it now at the Smithsonian. The site is part of the Arundel Formation, dating to the Lower Cretaceous, 115 mya, when the place was an oxbow lake. Tributaries were strong enough to wash dino bones into the lake. The fossils there are disarticulated wash-out. Whole skeletons are not generally found or expected here. The exposed hillside consists of a mix of fine grey soil, siderite bog iron and lignite (coalified fossil wood the consistency of charcoal). The lignite and siderite form a thin, dense gravel layer. The challenge for visitors and paleontology volunteers alike is to find the pale blue bones and shiny teeth in the cacophony of black and orange. Collection is done almost exclusively by surface scanning. If something large turns up by way of erosion, then they cordon it off and dig it out. Anything other than the wood is documented with the finder’s name and sent to the Smithsonian. Visitors may keep one palm-sized piece of fossil wood if they like. My husband and I met a friend and her two daughters there today. It was cold, but sunny. There were harsh shadows on the ground, which are supposed to make it easier to pick out shiny teeth. I find the contrast too harsh to see details. The park is open from noon to 4 every other Saturday. We got there close to 1 and spent a couple hours there, despite the chill in the air. I didn’t expect to find any exciting fauna. That’s usually our daughter’s job, and she was at work. I was engrossed in the lignite and the siderite plant impressions, hoping maybe to find a seed cone or two for their collection. Apparently, a handful in a day is not unusual there. I had no luck on either score. I did find a nice plant impression in the siderite. Looks like tree bark. I asked if that could be the one I took home. The volunteer looked at me sternly and asked, "Do you now what it is?" "Tree bark impression in siderite, but I don't know from which tree." “What do you do for a living?” “Artist.” “What do you do that will prove to me that this will be used for educational or scientific purposes?” I told him about my fossil blog and the homeschool paleontology series I just ran at my local library. He was convinced. Now I have it at home, but I may offer it to the Delaware Museum of Natural History, where I volunteer. Each of the girls also found something nice, albeit smaller, to bring home. Unsurprisingly, most of the other kids were disappointed because they didn’t find dinosaur teeth. There was a list at the registration table of maybe a dozen interesting things found today. As far as I know, no one found anything interesting while we were there. Some days go like that, but I was not disappointed. It was a good afternoon to see someplace new. [1] Maryland has both a State Dinosaur and a State Fossil. The State Fossil is a gastropod, Ecphora gardenera.

High water and cold weather, but still found teeth.

Hello everyone, I’m M and I’m very new to this site, my love and curiosity for fossils is also in its early stages. But I just wanted to introduce myself to everyone. I made my page last week but work has kept me from my intro and posting content. Thank you all for having me, and I’m around if anyone wants to chat sometime.

Hi there, just dropping an intro to show face. I guess this is where I talk about myself? Not very good about these things. I'd say my interest in paleontology started on a family trip in Colorado when I found the jaw bone of an elk in a stream my cousin and I were cutting through on the way home. With the teeth intact even! The feeling I got turning over those rocks to uncover it set off a love of discovery and my hobby. I look forward to delving into all kinds of strata of conversation and discussion here with you all. Thanks for having me!

A few hours relaxing and finding teeth.

I found this small tooth or bone fragment at Bayfront Park on Tuesday. Any help with the ID would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Spent a few hours at Flag Pond today. The weather was great.

My two best finds from last weekend

Hi! I like to collect rocks and have visited Calvert Cliffs Beach several times to look for fun rocks and shells. The last two times I was there, I found these teeth-looking fossils. Can anyone help ID them? Thanks! Rachel

Hi everyone Not much new to report this summer, so that is why I haven't posted in awhile, but I found something interesting while fishing last weekend on the Potomac River near the mouth of the Port Tobacco River. It is about 6 cm wide at it's widest point. Any help with an ID would be greatly appreciated.

Nice day for hunting. I took a co-worker with on this short search. These are his finds.

My wife and I took a trip fown to Maryland late last week for a little calvert formation hunting at Bayfront park. As i mentioned on another post we got to the beach at quarter to 7am and had the place to ourselves for a while. Nobody was there to collect our access fee so we walked down to the beach just after low tide. One set of footprints were just above the surf line but i never did see who made them as nobody passed us either direction all day. We both found a couple of small teeth on our walk from the enterance to the corner that juts ou. My wife decided to stay in yhe corner and screen while i walked further south. For me it was a very slow pick of small shark teeth and a small cetacean tooth by the time I returned. My wife found a small cetacean vert where she set up to screen. More smalls than i remember from my last trip, or maybe we were just better at spotting them. She found her first Squatina subserrata tooth. Here's our finds, scale on the right is in inches: Close up of some of the smalls, these are under a quarter of an inch and we were lucky they stayed in our screens (and that we saw them): Makes me think I should try a multi layered sifter stack just to see how much micro material is falling through.

A 6mm tooth from purse park, MD. Galeorhinus Ypresiensis? Maybe too small or too worn to know?

Hello everyone, Ward from, well, originally from Arizona, but now living in Maryland. I like to collect it all, Meteorites, fossils, antiquities, WWII relics. Most of the fossils I have in my collection come from the Tucson Gem and Mineral show. A few weeks ago I made a trip to Brownies Beach and came home with a nice little collection of sharks teeth. I had a great time hunting for them and can’t wait to do it again. Love, love, love hunting for stuff.

I had around 50 similar small teeth lumped together from flag pond in Maryland. After zooming in on them, half were serrated and the other half were not. Now I have two piles of small teeth. I’m learning a little more each day. The first tooth had no serrations, the second had worn serrations, and the third had obvious serrations.

Hi there, Newbie here. Just started fossil hunting in late April. Got hooked at the beach in North Carolina. Live about an hour and fifteen minutes away from Chesapeake/Calvert Cliffs so have hunted about five or six times so far. Apparently, summer is not the hunting season there. Hasn’t stopped me though. Look forward to learning and sharing. Kerry

Pic 1/2 = purse park, MD. Small tiger? Pic 3 = flag pond, MD. Serrated tooth? Pic 4/5 = flag pond, MD. Spinal bones? Pic 6 = flag pond, MD. Spinal bone?

What would you classify this tooth as? I have a bunch of these curved teeth? Flag Pond, Maryland.

This past weekend we stopped in for a few hours at Matoaka cabins on the way home from St. Mary's City (a cool non-fossil historical destination). We found several readily identifiable small teeth and ray plates as well as a few drum teeth and a handful of shells. My guess with this tooth is a posterior cow shark tooth or Carcharhinus? Measuring tape is inches on top and metric on bottom. Thanks, Adam

I’m not sure what type of tooth this is. Maybe Notorynchus/Cow?

Hey guys, I'm going to be in Maryland on Monday and will hopefully visit the Calvert Cliffs. I am unfamiliar with the area and would like to know what the best M.O. for the site is. Thanks, -Shoe