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Showing results for tags 'legality of collecting fossils'.
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I have a secret place in Texas in which I've found many excellent fossils of sea creatures, such as clams or mollusks and other shellfish. I may also have found bones of some kind, and saw impressions that may have been dinosaur tracks. I am no paleontologist and would not know what made the impressions, but I know that dinosaur tracks were found in other nearby areas. In particular, I found large, intact, fossilized shells there that match some of the photos of "bivalves" I've seen online. I found many smaller cone shaped shell fossils, and oddly shaped rocks that may have been bones. Plus other things, such as rocks that seemed to contain tiny plant or animal fossils. The fossils were plentiful and easy to find, with little or no digging needed, so I may be the only one who knew of this place, which is in a washed out gulley in a remote part of a public city or county park (NOT a state park). My question -- can people legally gather fossils from such a place? Would paleontologists be interested in knowing about such a place? I no longer live near there and worry that one of Texas' new toll roads may have destroyed the site by now. Should I have said something, to prevent that? Unless somebody else has discovered the place, there are probably still some fossils around the site, even if a toll road was put in, but they may no longer lay atop the ground like they once did. I accidentally forgot to pack my fossil collection when moved, so I have no samples or photos to show anybody.
- 6 replies
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- bivalves
- cone shaped shells
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