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[Shellseeker]

When I am about to make a post about finds, I am always conflicted on choosing "Hunting Trips", where I share lots of known fossils or "Fossil ID"... where I really want identification assistance. Usually works out If I put them together.  

It feels like I have been struggling to get out.  With the Holidays , I managed to get out 4 times in December , 5  times in January , and yesterday was my 1st day in February.  I used to be able to get out 10 times a month... those are my really happy days...  I went yesterday and will go to the Peace river tomorrow..  YES !!!

Started slow, but yesterday was a very successful hunt... Here are the ones I think I know.

The Highlight of the day are 3 fossils from Hemiauchenia macrocephala.  Two carpals in the same sieve and in fantastic shape.

This was a favorite location and thus I had hunted frequently. Usually that depletes an area.  In my 1st 8 sieves, I had found small shark, ray teeth plus lots of turtle and many broken bones. In the 9th sieve , BOTH of these carpals showed up and I put away any thoughts of moving on.

 

Very rare,  This is my 2nd or 3rd of these. A camel_llama lower premolar in great shape,  with a little damage on the chewing surface. 

In the screen with the Llama tooth,  a good sized Hemipistis upper tooth

 

In previous threads,  I have been discussing half fossilized vines,  I found 2 fully fossilized Liana vines.  Learn about liana vines, thick, woody vines that grow in the rainforest and compete with other plant forms for light and space.

I found a number of Horse teeth, but I really worked on photos and trying to Identify this fragment of a tooth I thought might be cat... it is not. Staring at the broken enamel,  I realized that I had Hunter _ Schreger bands... and cats do not have HSBs

 

Found a nice Equus Lower tooth.  Horses have one sets of teeth that they chew down over a lifetime.  The length would say this was a young adult at death. 

Not everything is perfect and I do love Tridactyl horse teeth..

Almost there,  chipped a little on the right side.

 

Now for a few unknowns...Alligator ???

I did not realize that these "holes" existed any where else than as part of an Alligator osteoderm and thought that's the strangest osteoderm I have ever seen.. Additional pictures...  Jaw ?? Please confirm what part of the Alligator this bone comes from....

Here is another find that kept me from filling the sieve... My first thought was Bone,  but it was fossilized and heavy like rock, so I started rolling it in my hand to form an opinion.

 

 

Saw some shiny stuff on 2nd view

 

This 3rd view stopped me.  Straight lines in Bones are unusual... It usually implies petrified wood ( go see the vine above)

 

Let me look at the 2nd view more closely.. It looks like layers... maybe tusk...

 

Enhance that a little, layers that get into compacted layers,  and I can almost see the Schreger bands going horizontally and then crossing with bands going  upwards at a 45 degree angle.  Can this be ivory???

 

You can see the delusions that may happen when my focus should be to fill the sieve and find more fossils... 

I did find more,  but you have seen the good ones....  Enjoy... 

 

[sixgill pete]

Beautiful hemi Jack. Almost 1 3/4 inches, nice!!

[Tidgy's Dad]

Really nice pieces!

[old bones]

Lovely finds, Jack!

[rocket]

fantastic finds! 

[Shellseeker]

1 hour ago, sixgill pete said:

Beautiful hemi Jack. Almost 1 3/4 inches, nice!!

Agree.. Big upper Hemi's  are hard to find in my hunting area.  I have only found 1 upper Hemi just a tad over 2 inches. and probably no more than 10 over 1 1/2 inches.  Scarcer than hen's teeth.

[Bjohn170]

2 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

Agree.. Big upper Hemi's  are hard to find in my hunting area.  I have only found 1 upper Hemi just a tad over 2 inches. and probably no more than 10 over 1 1/2 inches.  Scarcer than hen's teeth.

I have a handful around 1 1/2 inches but none pushing that 2 inch mark, total bucket list find. What a great tooth!

[Rock Hound]

Nice group of finds.

[hemipristis]

What a haul!

[MarcoSr]

13 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

In previous threads,  I have been discussing half fossilized vines,  I found 2 fully fossilized Liana vines.  Learn about liana vines, thick, woody vines that grow in the rainforest and compete with other plant forms for light and space.

 

Now for a few unknowns...Alligator ???

I did not realize that these "holes" existed any where else than as part of an Alligator osteoderm and thought that's the strangest osteoderm I have ever seen.. Additional pictures...  Jaw ?? Please confirm what part of the Alligator this bone comes from....

 

 

Jack

 

Thank you for posting that fossilized vine.  I hadn't seen one of those before.

 

Crocodilian skulls and jaws can have lots of holes and ornamentation.  Below are pictures of a few extant skulls as examples.

 

Alligator Skull:

 

 

 

 

Nile Crocodile Skull:

 

 

 

 

Caiman Skull:

 

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

[Balance]

Textbook day on the river with Jack. 
 

Thanks for the full report! I know that’s a lot of time and effort versus just picking the unknowns. 
 

Speaking of unknowns… what’s this? I found one few trips ago. At least it seems like I might have. 

you

 

me

 

Jp

[sixgill pete]

19 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

Agree.. Big upper Hemi's  are hard to find in my hunting area.  I have only found 1 upper Hemi just a tad over 2 inches. and probably no more than 10 over 1 1/2 inches.  Scarcer than hen's teeth.

Absolutely scarcer than hens' teeth, Jack. In all of the thousands of Hemispristis I have found over the years I have found one over 2 inches. Maybe 10 or 12 over 1/1/2. 

[Shellseeker]

17 hours ago, MarcoSr said:

 

Jack

 

Thank you for posting that fossilized vine.  I hadn't seen one of those before.

 

Crocodilian skulls and jaws can have lots of holes and ornamentation.  Below are pictures of a few extant skulls as examples.

 

Alligator Skull:

 

 

 

 

Nile Crocodile Skull:

 

 

 

 

Caiman Skull:

 

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

Thank you for the excellent photos .  I can see where my new Alligator bone might have come from a number of places including above and between the eye sockets.

 

The Liana vines hang from trees and in narrow Florida streams,  I have frequently come close to garroting myself trying to paddle a kayak thru some modern ones laying just above fast currents.

[jpc]

That is definitely a piece of crocodilian skull/jaw bone.  There's not enough for me to ID which bone from photos, and likely not enough for me to ID in real life.  Good find, though.  

[Shellseeker]

On 2/11/2024 at 9:42 AM, Balance said:

Speaking of unknowns… what’s this? I found one few trips ago. At least it seems like I might have.

Jp, When I first see these shapes in my sieve, I think tortoise osteoderms/spurs.. sometimes with additional encrustations... what does the other side look like ?

[Balance]

Thanks, Jack. 
 

Here’s some pictures. 
 

Because it looked like sand and not bone I thought this was half of a clam or something that had filled in. After looking this morning it doesn’t have the same makeup as the osteoderms or spurs I’ve found. So might be sand fill after all. 
 

Jp

 

[Shellseeker]

13 hours ago, Balance said:

Thanks, Jack. 
 

Here’s some pictures. 
 

Because it looked like sand and not bone I thought this was half of a clam or something that had filled in. After looking this morning it doesn’t have the same makeup as the osteoderms or spurs I’ve found. So might be sand fill after all. 
 

Jp

 

Jp, 

I was scanning @Harry Pristis Gallery and came across this ...You should look at it.

 

[AK hiker]

Jack,

Nice haul. I’m lucky to get out in the mountains 4 to 3 times a summer fossil hunting as totally dependent on perfect weather for access and leaving an aircraft unattended at 5,000 foot elevation while hiking. Totally agree the happiest times are in solitude doing what you enjoy. I’m in Georgia now, see you soon.

Bob