Interpaleo Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Hi! Just thought I'd post three days worth of fossil hunting in Bakersfield, California. Found 250 perfect teeth, including 4 makos over 2", another 500 broken or fragments. There are also two 5 gallons filled with teeth and bone stuck in matrix. Those piece will take me a while longer to clean up, but I'll probably end up posting them too. Anyways, here's some teeth and other assorted fossils. The total haul, a nice stingray barb, and an Isurus planus at 2 1/16". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interpaleo Posted March 3, 2012 Author Share Posted March 3, 2012 Assorted microteeth Assorted larger teeth and marine mammals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interpaleo Posted March 3, 2012 Author Share Posted March 3, 2012 And some poop! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Govinn Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Those are some great finds! Thanks for the report! I was hoping to hear how that trip went. History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. ~Sir Winston Churchill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taffie Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 (edited) So many beautiful teeth and in such good condition. Congratulations! Edited March 3, 2012 by Taffie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megalodon1 Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Phenomenal haul, congrats! Did you dig the 3 full days? Part 2 of the fun is gonna come when you start cleaning up those matrix pieces and find more new teeth, can't wait to see those matrix pieces when you're done. It's been a while since I've been out there, anxious to go again so I could dig that new quarry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lloyd Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Nice finds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarry411 Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Were you on West Quarry East or West (or Snake Pit)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interpaleo Posted March 4, 2012 Author Share Posted March 4, 2012 Hi Rob! This is Joe Caruso if you hadn't guessed. I was there for all three days, all spent at the East Quarry. The first day I worked the wall and sort of wasted my time since I didn't find jack. The next two days I set up my rocker box and screened like 4000 gallons of dirt the loader scraped off back in the Bob Ernst days. Screening the preworked was way more productive because as I went along, I found a patch of formation that was still insitu. The overburden had been scraped off and the formation was left to weather away! Found nearly all my larger teeth when I hit that awesome spot on the third day. Seriously, if anyone out there likes fossil shark teeth and has not been on a Bakersfield Museum dig, your really missing out. I've collected in Bone Valley phosphate mines, at Calvert Cliffs, in the North Sulfur River, and lots and lots of other less famous sites throughout the United States and elsewhere. Nothing, ever, has come close to being as ridiculously productive as the shark tooth hill area in Kern County. Stop hesitating and go if you have contemplated a trip at all! This site is truly epic and will not be available forever! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vertman Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 You have convinced me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarry411 Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 Joey spent three days (and Night's, camping in his vehicle) up on the hill. I think he was frozen solid when I found him on the morn. of the third day. But he had a look of enjoyment, so I canceled the airlift out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Govinn Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 This is a trip that I've wanted to do for a few years, but it seems that everytime I hear of a dig taking place I have to work... When will the next big dig like this take place? Do we have to go with the museum or can we schedule a trip on our own? Also on a selfish note... I would really love some micro material (1/4" < 1/8") from this location. If anyone has any and would like to trade please PM me. History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. ~Sir Winston Churchill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarry411 Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 This is a trip that I've wanted to do for a few years, but it seems that everytime I hear of a dig taking place I have to work... When will the next big dig like this take place? Do we have to go with the museum or can we schedule a trip on our own? Also on a selfish note... I would really love some micro material (1/4" < 1/8") from this location. If anyone has any and would like to trade please PM me. We are running monthly digs with the museum through May. For the time being you can organize private digs in groups of 10 or more, on any other set of days beside the days set aside for the museum. Just contact me through the website www.sharktoothhillproperty.com If you want a couple of pounds of tailing's with micro fossils, contact me through that website and I can probably send it to you - if you'll pay the shipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkbyte Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 Hello Joe, Great finds. I'm glad the weather has been cooperating with you lately. Bobby "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." - Confucius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 (edited) Yeah, the wall is made up of sediments younger than STH but still in the Round Mountain Silt (I think it's just Holocene soil on top of the RMS in that area depending on the hill). You can find teeth in that but they are rare. Decades ago, a friend tried his luck in that stuff for a day and found one tooth - a rather large lemon shark tooth which is a highly unusual find for that latitude (better known from sites in Baja California or Florida). You can teeth lower in the Round Mountain Silt as well but you have to find the right layer, and even then, the stuff is not common. Farther down you can find shark teeth in at least one shellbed within the upper part of the Olcese Sand. There are spots to dig into the Olcese on the Ernst property (down in some of the gullies - probably overgrown now). Again, however, you might find less than one-fourth as many teeth as in the STH Bonebed though it is a different mix of species and more productive than above or below the bonebed in the RMS. Hi Rob! This is Joe Caruso if you hadn't guessed. I was there for all three days, all spent at the East Quarry. The first day I worked the wall and sort of wasted my time since I didn't find jack. The next two days I set up my rocker box and screened like 4000 gallons of dirt the loader scraped off back in the Bob Ernst days. Screening the preworked was way more productive because as I went along, I found a patch of formation that was still insitu. The overburden had been scraped off and the formation was left to weather away! Found nearly all my larger teeth when I hit that awesome spot on the third day. Stop hesitating and go if you have contemplated a trip at all! This site is truly epic and will not be available forever! Edited March 5, 2012 by siteseer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lloyd Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 Great report and an extremely convincing call to hit this site. It's pretty far away for me but... one never knows what the future might bring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossil Foilist Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 nice finds Fossil Foilist -----)---------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 Hi Rob! This is Joe Caruso if you hadn't guessed. I was there for all three days, all spent at the East Quarry. The first day I worked the wall and sort of wasted my time since I didn't find jack. The next two days I set up my rocker box and screened like 4000 gallons of dirt the loader scraped off back in the Bob Ernst days. Screening the preworked was way more productive because as I went along, I found a patch of formation that was still insitu. The overburden had been scraped off and the formation was left to weather away! Found nearly all my larger teeth when I hit that awesome spot on the third day. Seriously, if anyone out there likes fossil shark teeth and has not been on a Bakersfield Museum dig, your really missing out. I've collected in Bone Valley phosphate mines, at Calvert Cliffs, in the North Sulfur River, and lots and lots of other less famous sites throughout the United States and elsewhere. Nothing, ever, has come close to being as ridiculously productive as the shark tooth hill area in Kern County. Stop hesitating and go if you have contemplated a trip at all! This site is truly epic and will not be available forever! Hi Joe... This is JP from Wyoming...I came by to visit your little quarry once or twice while scoping out the waste piles that weekend. Nice report... great collection of teeth. I did not get nearly as many as you did. I have been cleaning some of the whale bones I collected and sorting for really puny little teeth. Good stuff. Yes, the Bakersfield Shark tooth hill digs are really fun and rewarding. jpc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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