Hello There! Greetings from Pennsylvania!

[DougM]

Hello!

My name is Doug and I'm from South Central Pennsylvania. I'm just about to turn 29 and am really finding out what is important to me in life.

I am an aspiring hobby paleontologist! I spend way too many hours researching and digesting fossil related content then I'd care to admit, but I'm sure that's why were all here! I'm often joined by my girlfriend Lauren who shares the same love for treasure and exploration. We just got back from our first ever day trip to Big Brook Preserve in New Jersey for some Cretaceous hunting goodness. See the attachments for the good stuff! The trip maker for me was a shark tooth still preserved in the matrix and an unidentified bone (going to make an ID post! Or if anyone knows please let me know in here or private message (: ). Found my first shark vert as well!

 

My professional career is a Senior GIS Analyst (Geographic Information Systems). Basically, I make computer maps and analyze data. Recently i realized that i could combine my love for both and create some very cool resources to track my history and findings. I use this knowledge and software to log all of my findings, hunting sites, and research. Besides Fossil hunting and GIS, i am also a professional cosplayer. I have a wide variety of interests it seems!

 

I am ecstatic to be a part of such a cool and knowledgeable community. I can't wait to hear from ya'll and learn as much as i can! 

 

- Doug

[Shellseeker]

Welcome to the forum.  Looks like you may grow to love this hobby..

May not be 80 mya

 

Looks like you have some Sand Tigers teeth and Belemnites

[DougM]

5 minutes ago, Shellseeker said:

Welcome to the forum.  Looks like you may grow to love this hobby..

May not be 80 mya

 

Looks like you have some Sand Tigers teeth and Belemnites

Awesome! What was your methodology to figure out that bone, I had no clue where to go besides here haha! I'm assuming just experience?
Those Belemnites were so common we only kept the big ones, but we loved them! Going to see if they can be polished up.

Thanks Shellseeker!

Edited February 5 by DougM

[Lone Hunter]

Welcome to the club from Texas! 

[Shellseeker]

12 minutes ago, DougM said:

Awesome! What was your methodology to figure out that bone, I had no clue where to go besides here haha! I'm assuming just experience?

Yes, 15 years hunting the Peace River in South Florida.  You just have to have a memory and this Ulna is an example.. Lots of mammals including humans have Ulnas... Just learn to recognize the "hook" at the proximal end.  You continue and you are likely to see a lots of these , all sizes.

[DougM]

2 minutes ago, Shellseeker said:

Yes, 15 years hunting the Peace River in South Florida.  You just have to have a memory and this Ulna is an example.. Lots of mammals including humans have Ulnas... Just learn to recognize the "hook" at the proximal end.  You continue and you are likely to see a lots of these , all sizes.

The Peace River is on my mapping notes to visit sometime! Some fantastic finds come out of there from what I've seen. Thanks again.

[Jeffrey P]

Welcome to TFF from New York City's northern burbs. I collect fossils in New Jersey  and PA as well as a number of other places. Your shark tooth in matrix might be a sawfish rostral spine, Ischyrhiza mira. I would need better photos to be sure. A sawfish spine in that condition is a remarkable find for Big Brook. Oh, and by the way, the actual age of Wenonah and Navesink Formation fossils from Big Brook is Upper Cretaceous in 72 to 70 million year old range. Good luck!

[DougM]

4 minutes ago, Jeffrey P said:

Welcome to TFF from New York City's northern burbs. I collect fossils in New Jersey  and PA as well as a number of other places. Your shark tooth in matrix might be a sawfish rostral spine, Ischyrhiza mira. I would need better photos to be sure. A sawfish spine in that condition is a remarkable find for Big Brook. Oh, and by the way, the actual age of Wenonah and Navesink Formation fossils from Big Brook is Upper Cretaceous in 72 to 70 million year old range. Good luck!

Thank you! Learning the age of the formations is one of my priorities, so thank you for the insight. See below some more detailed photos of the matrix. I also found what i believe is another Ischyrhiza mira? Please correct me if im wrong  I was very happy with the variety that i found.

[Al Dente]

4 minutes ago, DougM said:

Thank you! Learning the age of the formations is one of my priorities, so thank you for the insight. See below some more detailed photos of the matrix. I also found what i believe is another Ischyrhiza mira? Please correct me if im wrong  I was very happy with the variety that i found.

 

I'm pretty sure the tooth in matrix is Scapanorhynchus. The other one is I. mira.

[DougM]

17 minutes ago, Al Dente said:

 

I'm pretty sure the tooth in matrix is Scapanorhynchus. The other one is I. mira.

Sweet! Thank you!

[RuMert]

Very nice teeth and belemnites which are by the looks of it not so abundant in the US.

Speaking of that bone, I found a similar one on the Volga river and I'm sure it's Pleistocene (also found mammoth tooth, etc). Do you think it's also a raccoon? Nowadays raccoons live in Americas, but I read they were in Europe during the Ice Age,. Another candidate is the European badger (which is a different genus from the American one), which I thought it belonged to initially. The 3d one is a cat. So the bone is not that simple, there's quite a detective story around it. @Shellseeker @Harry PristisThe red line is there parts could be missing

[Jeffrey P]

From a different angle, the tooth in matrix is clearly a Scapanorhyncus (goblin shark) which certainly validates the presentation of fossils from different angles when we are unsure of the ID. I agree with Al Dente, that your other fossil IS an Ischyrhiza mira. Despite the feedback of others, I am pretty sure your mammal bone is recent in age. Though Pleistocene fossils are found in Big Brook from time to time, they are pretty rare. Congrats on all of your finds. 

[DougM]

2 minutes ago, Jeffrey P said:

From a different angle, the tooth in matrix is clearly a Scapanorhyncus (goblin shark) which certainly validates the presentation of fossils from different angles when we are unsure of the ID. I agree with Al Dente, that your other fossil IS an Ischyrhiza mira. Despite the feedback of others, I am pretty sure your mammal bone is recent in age. Though Pleistocene fossils are found in Big Brook from time to time, they are pretty rare. Congrats on all of your finds. 

Goblin was what I was thinking as well. Very happy to find an I. mira too! I wouldn't be surprised on the mammal bone, we were finding modern deer bones everywhere. Thank you for the feedback! I can't wait to go back to that site.

[Mark Kmiecik]

Welcome from Illinois.

[Fin Lover]

Welcome from South Carolina!

[Brandy Cole]

Welcome from Texas!

 

 

17 hours ago, DougM said:

I can't wait to go back to that site.

 

I hope you find much more!  In the future if you'd like to post more items to identify, they go in the Fossil ID section. That will ensure that more members see them to help with your ID's.  

 

Thanks for sharing your finds!

[Gizmo]

Welcome aboard! 

[DougM]

1 hour ago, Brandy Cole said:

Welcome from Texas!

 

 

 

I hope you find much more!  In the future if you'd like to post more items to identify, they go in the Fossil ID section. That will ensure that more members see them to help with your ID's.  

 

Thanks for sharing your finds!

Thanks!

Yeah that was my plan to put the bone in the ID section, I figured id mention it when i made my first post. The bone was the only item i needed IDd. It got answered so quickly i didn't need to make the ID post

[Danielb]

Welcome to TFF from Colorado!

[Fossildude19]

Welcome.

[DougM]

25 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

Welcome.

Thank you! You have an intimidating amount of experience

Extremely happy i found this forum. It has been incredibly useful already. Everyone is so kind and welcoming too!

Edited February 6 by DougM

[Masonk]

Welcome to the forum from SE Pennsylvania. I'm relatively new to fossil hunting, and Big Brook was my first outing last May. Have been hooked since, and try to go to Monmouth Co. once a week if I can.

 

You have a nice variety of finds. Looks like a shark vert mixed in and a couple Brachiopods as well.

 

Do some Googling, as there are a few other good hunting spots in the area. Good luck!

 

 

[Masonk]

This site is a bit outdated (double check some of the species names), but a good reference for basic ID's. 

 

https://njfossils.net/

 

And another good NJ site. 

 

https://www.fossilsofnj.com/

[DougM]

3 minutes ago, Masonk said:

Welcome to the forum from SE Pennsylvania. I'm relatively new to fossil hunting, and Big Brook was my first outing last May. Have been hooked since, and try to go to Monmouth Co. once a week if I can.

 

You have a nice variety of finds. Looks like a shark vert mixed in and a couple Brachiopods as well.

 

Do some Googling, as there are a few other good hunting spots in the area. Good luck!

 

 

Thank you Mason! Im going to give you a follow on instagram shortly.

I cant wait to share my finds, i will do an official site post this week with better photos. That was my first shark vert fossil, ive always wanted one. Big Brook was fantastic and i already found some other places that i have mapped out like: Ramanessin Brook, NJ. Im actually creating a huge database of research and locations using my mapping software and have those links you mentioned below tagged onto the NJ sites.
thanks!

[Masonk]

9 minutes ago, DougM said:

Thank you Mason! Im going to give you a follow on instagram shortly.

I cant wait to share my finds, i will do an official site post this week with better photos. That was my first shark vert fossil, ive always wanted one. Big Brook was fantastic and i already found some other places that i have mapped out like: Ramanessin Brook, NJ. Im actually creating a huge database of research and locations using my mapping software and have those links you mentioned below tagged onto the NJ sites.
thanks!

 

Nice! Ram is one of my favorite spots to hunt. The majority of my Cretaceous finds are from there. You won't be disappointed.