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Hi everyone! I've been collecting for almost 3 years now. After 3 years, I finally really know what my interest is. General dinosaur teeth + Marine reptiles up to the Cretaceous. I am bit at a halt however. For some dinosaur subspecies i have many teeth of. Which is starting to feel boring in my opinion. My thoughts want to collect as many dinosaur species as possible. Which require a lot of better contacts & patience. Do i sell of most of my teeth from one species or do I keep them? So many questions in my head. I'd love some tips, and how you other paleo fans collect your dinosaur teeth/fossils.

I'm planning a trip to Washington, D.C. soon. And will have plenty of time for stops. And I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for places to look for fossils and minerals. I'll be driving along Florida's east coast, coastal Georgia, semi-coastal South Carolina, the middle of North Carolina, semi-coastal Virginia, and Maryland. Anyone have any recommendations for good places to stop in these areas?

Hi everyone! I'm a newer member to the fossil hunting community. I first started as a little kid, but have only really gotten into it over the pandemic as a hobby. I've done some hunting up around Dallas where I'm originally from, visiting famous spots like NSR and POC. For college, I'm currently living in Austin and have checked out a few nearby spots. These past few months I've been frequenting a local creek that runs through the Ozan layer and have been finding some cool fossils/artifacts. The items I am showing you today are collected from two places. The first assortment (lots 1 and 2) are from the NSR and contain Cretaceous/Pleistocene fossils. The second group (lots 3 and 4) was collected in Austin and contains Cretaceous fossils as well as some artifacts. For some objects, I am fairly certain of their identity, but for others I have no clue. Some fossils/artifacts have additional closeup shots for greater detail. Any comments or tidbits of wisdom concerning their identities or fossils in general would be greatly appreciated! Lot 1: NSR fossils I am fairly certain of 1A: Vertebra I believe to come from a mosasaur. 1B: My favorite piece from the NSR: A mosasaur tooth with a sizeable chunk of seems to be bone/root(?). It's a bit weathered, but there's still enough to get the imagination running! 1D: A nice little red bivalve from the red layer. 1E: A fragment of Pleistocene tooth I would love to know more about! From looking at the folds on it and doing some researching, I feel that it could be from a horse. 1G: The nicest piece of baculite I found that day. 1H: I'm not sure if this is a piece of coprolite or just a random cluster of two fossils. There is an identifiable baculite fragment and gastropod. Moving on to the second lot from the NSR, these are the things that I have very little notion concerning the identity of: 2A: Could just be an oddly shaped piece of sandstone (as it has that texture), but it does make me think of a scute. I would love to hear what y'all think! 2B: I truly have no idea what I am looking at. It feels like a fossilized "something", but that is all could really say. Here are some closer pics: 2C: Petrified wood? 2D: Very strange texture. My initial thoughts were some type of bone or petrified wood. 2E: Rock with fossilized bits of something that is difficult to identify. Maybe fish parts? 2F: A piece of cylindrical bone I believe. 2G: Piece of turtle? 2H: No clue. 2I: Petrified wood? Lot 3: Fossils from Austin Creek that cuts through Ozan layer 3A: Fairly certain this is an ammonite valve. Found quite a few in this creek for some reason. They never want to be whole. 3B: Good size vertebra likely from a mosasaur 3C: Really don't know what this is. My best guess is some really weathered down ammonite. It has symmetry and an overall spiral shape. It kind of reminds me of a curled up shrimp. Would love to know more about it! Here are some closeups: 3D: Nice little heart urchin. 3E: Nice urchin. I had only ever found heart urchins until this one, so it was an exciting find. 3F: Gastropod. 3G: Have yet to find a complete shark tooth from this spot, but here is a fragment. Might not be enough to secure an ID, but it's worth a try. 3H: Strange little fossil. Seems like some bryozoans grew on it at one point. When I look at it I get thoughts of echinoids and crinoids. Would be interested in hearing y'alls thoughts. Lot 4: Artifacts from the Austin creek (I know this isn't an arrowhead forum, but I figure there's a lot of overlap in hobbyists so there could be some insights): 4A: I believe this is a part of a larger tool like 4B. Not sure if these are knives, scrapers, or something else. 4B: Knife, scraper, or something else? 4C: My favorite artifact. Super pretty and thin. My guess is an atlatl dart point? 4E: another point, though not as visually appealing as 4D. The base looks a lot different too. Could this be an atlatl point? 4H: The base of some point. Would love to know more about the names or dates of any of these! If anyone would like more closeups of a specific item, feel free to let me know!

Hello wonderful fossil-people! If you and you're gang enjoy solving a groovy mystery, I have a post for you! This rock was found in an area of Northern Arizona that is very well know for producing lots and lots of bryozoan, brachiopod, and crinoid fossils, as well as crystals and geodes. The bit of rock in question was found in the side of what appears to be a broken geode. There is a triangular fragment of stone that does not match the material surrounding it. There is also a white discoloration encompassing the triangle that I've highlighted in green on one of the photos below. The colors in the 3rd photo are a little more true to what it looks like in real life. The geode is kind of a pink-ish color and the triangle "fossil" is a dark brown/reddish color. Given the abundance of marine fossils found in the same location, I wonder if this is also fossil. It just seems so out of place in this rock. I have oodles of bryozoan, brachiopod, & crinoids that I've found in the same location and I can share pictures of these, if it somehow helps So what do you think, fossil or random bit of stone? If it is a fossil give me your best guess as to what it might be... or even give me your worst guess. I'm not picky lol.

Hi everybody, I’m by no means a fossil head but I have a question that pertains to my research for my artist practice. Is it possible for a fossil to be preserved in a metal? I know it sounds like a dumb question but I am curious if the science makes sense. Is there an example of this phenomenon? If so let me know, again thank y’all so much!

Ok so I was thinking of using resin to coat a skull I have in my collection. Its rather pricey so I wanted to make sure I could protect it from any further damage. The skull appears to be coated with something already since I see a shiny texture in some areas, so should i bother using a resin on it as well ??

As the title states, why do crinoids often show up alone as the sole type of fossil in an area? There's a quarry near my house I've been to a few times that has crinoid bearing marble. I've found a few crinoid stem pieces in rocks, but I don't really understand why they're the only type of fossil (unless you count chert.) The area is Permian-Devonian, so if crinoids fossilized shouldn't plenty of other common marine animals have fossilized too? Or am I thinking too narrowly and there's a good chance they DID fossilize and I simply have to look a little deeper? I'm not too knowledgable on the paleozoic so I appreciate any answers.

Hello I present an interesting question that I'm not to confident to answer myself and am seeking help from the more knowledgeable. Since it seems like (from what I had seen) iron concretions can at rare times preserve certain fossils or traces in one way or another such as molluscs, brachopods, and such. Due to this would it be possible for material such as turtle shell scutes or maybe even croc scutes to turn up in such concretions in one way or another? (the pics are just snipets of general info that I came across online)

Hey everyone, I recently purchased vinac beads to help preserve my fossils and when I got it, the directions tell me to mix the beads with pure acetone. As we know, pure acetone is flammable and dangerous to breath in and so my question is, when you mix the Vinac beads with acetone, is the resulting Vinac still flammable and dangerous to breath in or does the Vinac neutralize it? When the Vinac dries onto the fossil after applied, is it still dangerous to breath in and flammable? Also, what type of filter or mask should I use when using acetone to prevent damage to lungs? Any info is appreciated! Thanks!

Hi everyone! I retook some photos with the tips I was given (Thankyou) found in a riverbed, Alberta, Canada

Hello everybody. My girlfriend and I are making one last trip to Brownies tomorrow before it costs 40 dollars for us to get in (barf). But I've had some questions about it. We have gone one time before, and were unable to get past the one little point/corner, but still found over 200 teeth, which was awesome, however most of the teeth were small, tiny even. Are there any tips or places to find some bigger teeth in the area? I've heard the farther south you go, AKA past the point we couldn't get past last time, the teeth tend to get bigger. And is sifting a viable option to finding bigger teeth? I'm not looking for Meg sized teeth, more or less looking for decent sized teeth, and maybe a bigger Hemi or two any tips for the recovery of larger teeth at Brownie's Beach/Bayfront Park is appreciated! Thanks so much! -Snag

I'm doing a research project and one of the requirements is that I have to have an interview, I was referred to here by a friend and was hoping to see if someone would be willing to answer a few simple questions on prehistoric camels in North America for me What was the environment they lived in like then? Where did they live? Why did they leave North America? How did they differ from modern camels? What was their diet like?

A few questions on smokejacks quarry, sulley: is it public or private? What is the possibility of finding dinosaurian fossils (percentage)? And could people who have been their show me their finds? Thanks in advance.

Does the Oldman Formation reach North USA?

Hello everyone. Recently, my my friend told me that abelisaurids aren’t determinable by their teeth. Is this true? Also, recently is saw some majungasaurus crenatissimus 3/4” teeth for sale. Does anyone know the rarity of these? And also, is magungotholus the same as majungasaurus? Thank you.