Fossildude19 Posted July 22, 2010 Share Posted July 22, 2010 (edited) In the midst of getting together some fossils to give away this past weekend, I came across a piece I found over a year ago. Not terribly exciting, but a decent representative of a piece of fossil fish: So,... I'm holding this in my right hand, and pick up another piece in my left hand, from a different box: Yeah,... so,... I'm thinking, "Hey,... that angle looks kinda familiar... I wonder..." And yup.... they go together! So , I know that similar things have happened to me,... in the past,... maybe 3 times. Has this ever happened to you? Show us your pics! I'd love to hear the stories! PS... Fish is a Semionotid from Early Jurassic Shuttle Meadow fm, CT. Found in the same location, 14 months apart! Edited July 22, 2010 by Fossildude19 1 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted July 22, 2010 Share Posted July 22, 2010 i've only had that happen with forams... whut? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted July 22, 2010 Author Share Posted July 22, 2010 (edited) i've only had that happen with forams... whut? Nice! Funny,.... very funny! Edited July 22, 2010 by Fossildude19 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted July 22, 2010 Share Posted July 22, 2010 And yup.... they go together!... ...Found in the same location, 14 months apart! NO WAY! Hearing this tale is my happy point for the day "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted July 22, 2010 Author Share Posted July 22, 2010 Thanks, Auspex. I was pretty amazed. The area I collect in, the underground shale has been broken by tree roots, and the shale breaks where weakest - usually at the fossil! I guess it isn't too far out to think I would find the other half, sooner or later. Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted July 22, 2010 Share Posted July 22, 2010 I just read about a partial fossil porpoise skeleton, parts of which were found in Mexico in August of 1965. More fossils were found in 1992 near the same spot and it turned out that a pathologically-fused right humerus and ulna had been separated over roughly the past six million years. Someone noticed the similarity in size and preservation of the various bones and the ulna was test-fitted against the humerus. It wasn't just a close fit...it was a perfect fit - two abnormally-fused bones that broke apart and were found 27 years apart. Thomas, H.W, L.G. Barnes, J.E Klein, and S.A. McLeod. 2008. Examples of paleopathologies in some fossil Cetacea from the North Pacific realm. In Wang, X. and L.G. Barnes (eds.). Geology and Paleontology of Western and Southern North America: Contributions in Honor of David P. Whistler. Science Series 41. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted July 22, 2010 Author Share Posted July 22, 2010 Thanks, Siteseer - 27 years! That is amazing!!!! Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Bowen Posted July 22, 2010 Share Posted July 22, 2010 I had a similar experience when I was a teenager in New Mexico. We had 25 acres of desert full of native American artifacts. I used to hunt jackrabbits on our property because there were billions of them. One day I shot a rabbit, and it fell about a foot from a perfectly preserved matate. (large stone for grinding corn for the non artifact people) I don't know how long it was after, but at least a year or so later, I shot another rabbit which fell ON a mano. (the hand held portion of the stone grinder) They were made from the same rock, and were a perfect match. The rock they were made from is not common where I was. It had to have been THE mano from this matate. I also found a stone tomahawk the same day. Dave Bowen Collin County, Texas. Paleontology: The next best thing to time travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bear-dog Posted July 22, 2010 Share Posted July 22, 2010 Never had that happen to me yet.At one of our shows though a dealer had 8 boxes of large slabs from the Green River,each piece was 10 dollars.An 8 year child went through one box andin 3 pieces put together one of the real expensive fish in now a large slab.It was broken so clean when held together you could not tell it had been broken. The father forked over the 30 dollars for the childs find.Not bad. Bear-dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruitbat Posted July 22, 2010 Share Posted July 22, 2010 I had a similar experience with a mastodon tooth. I picked up a fragment of a tooth during a trip to a gravel pit in the Dallas area. The only reason I kept it was because mastodon teeth are much less common than mammoth teeth in the Pleistocene layers in this area. Three weeks later I visited the same area and picked up a much larger piece of mastodon tooth. When I got it home I was cleaning it up and noticed that one end had a fairly fresh break. Just for the heck of it I pulled out the first piece...you guessed it...they fit! While not a complete tooth...it's still the best mastodon tooth I've got from the Dallas area. Here's the tooth. You can see the crack between the cusps that marks the two pieces. -Joe 1 Illigitimati non carborundum Fruitbat's PDF Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted July 22, 2010 Share Posted July 22, 2010 Great stories guys! I love happy endings. In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted July 23, 2010 Author Share Posted July 23, 2010 I agree with Bare Foot Girl! Great stories!! Thank you all for sharing them. The first fossil I ever found was a Mucrospirifer cast in matrix. Found it in a lakebed - water was really low. About 15 feet away, (thirty minutes later),... I found the negative mold of it. Same type of thing happened a few years later, at the same lake! My sone found a piece of stone covered with shells. I found the other half later the same weekend, in the same general vicinity. Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 Never had that happen to me yet.At one of our shows though a dealer had 8 boxes of large slabs from the Green River,each piece was 10 dollars.An 8 year child went through one box andin 3 pieces put together one of the real expensive fish in now a large slab.It was broken so clean when held together you could not tell it had been broken. The father forked over the 30 dollars for the childs find.Not bad. Years ago, I learned from a friend that whenever you end up with a box of fossils from the same site, always look for pieces that go together. He once bought a horse jaw section among other fossils of a Florida site from a dealer and then bought more fossils from the same site a few years later. A horse jaw section was especially interesting to him in that second lot. He did a test-fit on that first jaw section and it was a perfect connection. Now he had a 5-tooth Parahippus jaw. A few years ago, I was given three boxes of marine vertebrate fossils (shoebox to filebox size) to sort on behalf of a friend. There were a lot of small pieces like fish vertebrae, some shark teeth but also partial/nearly-complete whale and pinniped and bones. I went through the boxes sorting them into their groups and looking for fits. Three whale rib sections went together as did a whale tympanic but what had been three pieces in two separate boxes came together to form one complete sea lion humerus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 Maybe ten years ago I was out at a new Morrison Fm site (Jurassic dinos) and found a beautiful half of a tail vertebra about an inch and half long. I remember that day well; it was about 0 degrees out and the wind was a mild Wyoming gale. I was super bundled up. I had alreday gottne the truck stuck in a deeper-than-it-looks snowdrift on the way out (one hour delay). The plan was to dig a bit at the outcrop. Turned out the soil was all too frozen to dig, and the frozen rock was not separating from the frozen bone at all, like it would in warmer weather. So I collected a few surface finds including this little half bone and went home rather quickly. The next summer I returned and found a similar half of a tail vert. I knew at first glance that the break was the exact match to the one I had found last winer. I got home and sure enough... a perfect fit. The Happy Fossil Dance ensued. It is now one of my cutest dino bones. For those who don't know me, I can't recognize a person's face two weeks later if they change their clothes... but a broken rock six months later... no sweat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted July 25, 2010 Author Share Posted July 25, 2010 Siteseer: Sage advice! Thanks for sharing! JPC: Great story - thanks for posting it! Love happy fossil dance endings! Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
32fordboy Posted July 25, 2010 Share Posted July 25, 2010 (edited) Fruitbat Joe, that is an amazing tooth! BEAUTIFUL! Edited July 25, 2010 by 32fordboy www.nicksfossils.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted July 31, 2010 Author Share Posted July 31, 2010 (edited) Fruitbat, It is a great tooth! And a great story to go along with it, as well! Thanks for posting! Regards, Edited July 31, 2010 by Fossildude19 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 I love reading these older threads. Nice stories here. 1 Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sjfriend Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 On 5/7/2024 at 3:53 PM, Tidgy's Dad said: I love reading these older threads. Nice stories here. Me too. I wasn't here way back then and I have a story that fits! I ALWAYS keep "wierd" looking pieces that I can't ID just incase. A long time ago I hunted a talus slope and found an odd blob that I kept. I had no idea what it was. 2 years later I hit the same slope. Found another little odd thingy and a large pectoral fish fin among other things. Many months later I was playing with the stuff from that site. I noticed an odd looking tiny feature on the big piece that reminded me of the odd thingy. After finding it in the box I compared them just to see if they could be examples of the same thing. Then I noticed the break was maybe the same shape so I grabbed them both and it fit! Still no idea what it was but cool to put together. After a bit I picked up the fin and noticed a mark on the edge that looked a bit familiar. I dug out the blob again and couldn't believe my eyes, the fin fit perfectly!! Now I have a partial ID of the blob, it is a large section of crushed fish skull and gill plate. This is my strangest puzzle find. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Mud Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 2 hours ago, Sjfriend said: This is my strangest puzzle find. Love to see a photo! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 8 hours ago, Sjfriend said: Now I have a partial ID of the blob, 5 hours ago, Doctor Mud said: Love to see a photo! Yeah, pictures or it didn't happen! Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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