A weekend of rarity

[LSCHNELLE]

Hey Jared C - P. martini is still a rarity - so no real change there. 

[LSCHNELLE]

By the way, amazing vert finds! 

 

I found a few Coniasaur verts in the Eagle Ford but nothing associated.

[erose]

Cool Beans! Finding stuff you are not absolutely sure of is always cooler. A good head-scratcher.  And be ever so careful under that overhang....don't become a fossil yourself.

[Jared C]

Update:

 

I type this with dirt under my nails and a keen soreness in muscles I didn't know existed 

 

The original plan was to drive up with James ( @Rat Muncher ), a rock climbing friend who is getting interested into paleo lately, and my step brother Christian, who historically is always good luck. From there we were to meet with Joe, who originally found the fish bones to the right of the vert(s). Unfortunately Christian couldn't make it so it was James and I taking on the overhang all of Saturday, while Joe came and helped us today:

 

We moved an enormous quantity of materiel. I can't really quantify it in weight, but it's like someone piled the back of their pick up high and then dumped it all in the creek. Some photos:

 

How the site looked on arrival - I'm crouched in there for context:

 

The first vert's original positioning (the one removed last weekend)

 

 

The current vert, which lay  directly behind the one above. 

The first vert was touching it at the bottom of the face, where you can see a break in the photo. As you can see- almost articulated. Look to the upper left of my finger: That's more delicate bone that's associated. This made things much more difficult - though the preservation of smaller skeletal elements hopefully suggests good preservation of the rest of the specimen. But now, instead of moving verts out one at a time, this was a game of getting the largest bone blocks out as slabs as possible, to preserve the orientation of these other bones. 

 

This is the practically the most difficult possible scenario for an excavation. As excited as I am, I have to admit I'm a little frustrated. The overburden here is ridiculous. We successfully made it safer, but it's not safe yet - and this animal is going straight into the bank. All three of the possible options (pliosaur, croc, or floated dinosaur) are lengthy animals. 

 

James and I slammed away with pick axes all of Saturday, and Sunday was more picking followed by the more concentrated work trying to remove the rock directly above the would-be bone block away, so that we can have room to pry up the bone block from the bottom. We thankfully accomplished this. Yet, we left the bone until next time - I don't want to fall victim to impatience and damage the bone with hand tools. The next time I come out again (hopefully soon), we'll remove the bone block we revealed with a chainsaw. 

 

Joe came in clutch here today - James and I were cloudy headed and sweating pure Red Bull by this point, and Joe pointed out some tricks to make our dig a little easier, some of which were obvious in retrospect - we made some goofy mistakes in that heat 

 

Once the bone block is removed, I have to admit I don't know what I'll do to get the rest of the bone out that may be behind it. I suspect it's going to be a story of getting little blocks removed at a time as we tediously tunnel in over the coming weeks, if the bone continues. If the bone getting revealed is exciting enough to convince them, I think I'll ask a paleontologist interested in this fauna to send some manpower and tools to continue. I would like to do research on this specimen if it gets there, so that would be great if it happens that way. 

 

 

Edited July 25, 2022 by Jared C

[fossilhunter21]

Awesome trip report! You found some pretty good stuff! How do find so many awesome specimens? 

 

Thanks you for sharing, and I can't wait for the next update.

 

-Micah

[Ptychodus04]

Boy @Jared C some gratitude for showing you my honey hole… I don’t even get a call to come out and watch you sweat?  I would have been happy to sit in a chair and drink tea while you guys slaved away in the heat. On second thought, the AC in my prep lab was more comfortable.

 

If your slab is stable, you don’t even need to jacket it with this matrix. That makes removal a lot easier. Now that you have it exposed, don’t wait too long before you come get it. One good thunderstorm and the creek will claim your prize.

 

Joe is a wealth of digging advice and has helped me recover many specimens over the last 2 decades (close enough to round up). His chainsaw idea was a game changer when we excavated the Pentanogmius.

[Jared C]

5 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

Boy @Jared C some gratitude for showing you my honey hole… I don’t even get a call to come out and watch you sweat?  I would have been happy to sit in a chair and drink tea while you guys slaved away in the heat. On second thought, the AC in my prep lab was more comfortable.

 

 

I figured! Glad to know you're keen to sweat with us in that little cavern, I'll be sure to call you up on this next run! Didn't mean to leave you out, I'll take all the help I could get . 

 

Hopefully I can return the favor if you ever run down to central texas, we'll see if I can get you hooked on a Turonian mosasaur 

[Ptychodus04]

8 hours ago, Jared C said:

I figured! Glad to know you're keen to sweat with us in that little cavern, I'll be sure to call you up on this next run! Didn't mean to leave you out, I'll take all the help I could get . 

 

Hopefully I can return the favor if you ever run down to central texas, we'll see if I can get you hooked on a Turonian mosasaur 

I was just busting your chops. If you take me out, you’ll just find something cool while I stumble around blindly. 

[Jared C]

Update:

This is a delayed update...but I found more of the animal 

 

Joe came out with the chainsaw and it was a game changer - one entire day was spent removing overburden and chainsawing the sides of the bone block - we had trouble freeing the back end of the block so that's what I spent the next day doing when I was on my own. The block didn't break perfectly, but nonetheless a huge section came off, revealing one of the most beautiful sights I've personally laid eyes on:

 

 

 

three associated verts, with their fallen (unfused) neural arches, from right behind where the fourth vert was removed.... I lost my head, as this preservation means we may have much more of the animal waiting. There is more bone still in the bank- another process from another vert hiding away. 

 

Now, the folks at SMU have a hunch about what plesiosaur this is, as well as a few other exciting details (like how, for example, this animal seems to be facing into the bank) but I can't give y'all anymore hints - don't want to spoil any surprises!

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

Unbelievable, the way you've got a knack for finding associated marine reptile remains, Jared! As far as I'm concerned, you're living the dream...! 

[Jared C]

38 minutes ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

Unbelievable, the way you've got a knack for finding associated marine reptile remains, Jared! As far as I'm concerned, you're living the dream...! 

Now if only I had your knowledge!

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

11 minutes ago, Jared C said:

Now if only I had your knowledge!

 

Knowledge is easy to acquire: it just takes exposure and time - and I'm sure you'll acquire much more of it than I have But in palaeontology luck like yours is incomparable

 

You just keep doing you, as I'm excited to see what lies around the next corner for you!

Edited August 10, 2022 by pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon