tracer Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 i still think that's just so cool. you need to go find the entire rest of the beast, tho. gotta be there somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cris Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 i still think that's just so cool. you need to go find the entire rest of the beast, tho. gotta be there somewhere. Apparently only one skull to this species has ever been found in FL and it was a badly damaged partial. There's so much sand in this site, if the skull is there....its likely in good shape. Expect a trip report tomorrow...hopefully with a picture of a giant skull in it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Apparently only one skull to this species has ever been found in FL and it was a badly damaged partial. There's so much sand in this site, if the skull is there....its likely in good shape. Expect a trip report tomorrow...hopefully with a picture of a giant skull in it That would be awesome! But, I still really like your puzzle. Good hunting. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Good luck can't wait to see that skull your gonna find! 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...
Xiphactinus Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Sitting on pins and needles!!! Good luck. Love what you've done so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 get a corporate sponsor to build you a giant cofferdam there so you can dig in comfort. tell them they can advertise on the side of it and that if you find the whole critter, you'll sell them naming rights to it. anybody can have a stadium named after them, but how many companies have a critter like that named after them? i mean there's probably permits and stuff needed, but that's a small price to pay for say....an insurance company that might be willing to replace a gecko with a glyptodont? those osteoderms are humongous - and so pretty! i'm wondering if maybe the shell sorta came off and washed downstream a bit from where the rest of the skeleton might be... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cris Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 those osteoderms are humongous - and so pretty! The scutes are so much larger than the other kinds because this is Glyptotherium arizonae rather than the Glyptotherium floridanum you see found in the Peace River and other locations further south. i'm wondering if maybe the shell sorta came off and washed downstream a bit from where the rest of the skeleton might be... *ding, ding, ding*, we have a winner! I've thought the same thing. It's strange because we found two osteoderms 100 - 200ft UPstream of the location where all of the 300+ were found. Glyptodont stuff is very uncommon here, so its pretty safe to assume those osteoderms were to the same individual also. The only thing I can figure is the thing was slowly decomposing and dropping a scute here and there as it made its way down the river until it finally rested in this one spot we found so many in. How else would parts of it get upstream in a fairly swift place? I also find it odd that I have nearly 1/4 of the carapace, but not one bone has shown up anywhere. Sure, glyptodonts didn't have a lot of vertebrae like other mammals, but it had tons of phalanges and other bones all in the legs...as well as quite a few caudal verts. It's definitely a confusing little situation. The only thing that will bring more answers is a lot more digging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 I would not assume that the river was in the same place when the creature died... "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...
bear-dog Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Are we there yet? :lol: Bear-dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cris Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 I would not assume that the river was in the same place when the creature died... That assumption is somewhat educated I suppose Associated in the same layer with the glyptodont is a ton of alligator fossils and occasionally giant beaver stuff. Also, rivers and streams incised into limestone tend to follow the same course for a lot longer than meandering ones that simply flow over sand and mud. With that said, the alligator and giant beaver fossils could be late Pleistocene and the glyptodont is most likely Early Pleistocene. The two million years or so of difference probably could make a big difference even in an incised stream/river. Either way, I'll track this thing down eventually if the rest of it is still around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 well i kinda figured some sort of fluvial or alluvial vicissitude was necessary for the critter to get buried to wait for cris. otherwise it would have been gnawed away by paleosquirrels or something like millions of years ago. p.s. - i just find it hard sometimes to believe the things my fingers end up typin'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cris Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 Well, I went back to this spot today and found some more pieces of the puzzle. As soon as I got back, I brought them to the rest of the scutes and started seeing if I had any matches. Surprisingly, there were four that fit other scutes I had, including one that added to a small plate I have going. I now have a piece with five associated scutes! Check out the photos below: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 I think these are so cool on so many levels. They almost look like Mayan glyphs. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 This is getting really interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundancer73 Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 That is just awesome Cris! OMG .. we have sooo much work ahead of us to get the rest of it. With the river conditions yesterday, I burnt through 2800 psi in about 4o minutes. That'll get expensive quickly so I'm gonna join you on the hookah next trip. I LOVE the freedom that SCUBA affords, but it's not needed with this project. ~Mike All your fossils are belong to us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason longboard Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Im hoping that the one scute I bought will be the one your missing, then I will offer it for 20Gs or so lol. Amazing project you got. Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable is my mentor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cris Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 Here's a little update for you guys. I put this little plate together with some spare time I had a couple days ago. The project is getting very fun, but I fear getting the whole thing together may be nearly impossible. The goal right now is to see how large of a plate I can make....but I'm still very hopeful for a 40 to 60% complete shell. I'll keep you guys updated since you've all been seeing this one unfold since day 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xonenine Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 can't wait to see more "Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun; so is your crocodile." Lepidus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Starting to remind me of a soccer ball; "Glyptodont United"... "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...
bear-dog Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 :eat popcorn: Good job so far,keep it coming. Bear-dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest N.AL.hunter Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 How to speed up your project: Buy a sander. Sand all the sides of each scute flat and the same length. Now they all will fit together easily!! Don't hesitate to ask for more handy suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edd Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Nice!!! I wish I was there to dive in that spot and get the skull " We're all puppets, I'm just a puppet who can see the strings. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cris Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 Nice!!! I wish I was there to dive in that spot and get the skull I'm really starting to get the feeling that the carapace is the only thing in there...I should have found at least one bone or vert by now if the entire skeleton was there. We'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 to me these things are really cool, and like many other fossils, they get me to thinking about the animal who owned them. in my errant youth, any encounters with living armadillos mandated an attempt to catch them, which was pretty much always funny, except for that one time when i miscalculated during teh chase and gouged my back on a tree limb. so of course the thought of messing with a glyptodont seemed like a bigger, better source of amusement, until i read that at least some of them apparently had big, spikey knobs on the ends of their tails with which they could cancel your christmas. so very many animals seem like nice people til you grab them. what's up with that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cris Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 to me these things are really cool, and like many other fossils, they get me to thinking about the animal who owned them. in my errant youth, any encounters with living armadillos mandated an attempt to catch them, which was pretty much always funny, except for that one time when i miscalculated during teh chase and gouged my back on a tree limb. so of course the thought of messing with a glyptodont seemed like a bigger, better source of amusement, until i read that at least some of them apparently had big, spikey knobs on the ends of their tails with which they could cancel your christmas. so very many animals seem like nice people til you grab them. what's up with that? Man do I wish this particular species of glyptodont had one of those large club like tails! Apparently, they find the clubs still completely intact in South America sometimes. Talk about the ultimate trophy after a day's worth of fossil collecting, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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