Cris Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Earlier in the year when we had the "2012 Goals" thread going, I stated that I was going to tear up the fossils this year....I've had a very, very slow start so far, but today it finally started looking up a bit. I didn't plan on looking for fossils today until about 11AM when my dive buddy called and asked if we were going. I'm never the person to back out of anything like fossil hunting, not even if there's ice in the boat, approaching thunderstorms, etc. Anyways, we met at the dive shop, filled tanks and were out on the water by about 12:30. We had absolutely no idea where we were going to hunt when we got there...Unfortunately, a lot of our reliable spots have been getting a little spotty with the finds lately...So, we just picked a decent looking spot, got on our gear and jumped in. 10 minutes into the dive, I find a decent looking pile of gravel and out pops this: A light blue colored upper wolf molar with roots. Any time I get a nice carnivore tooth, I feel like it was worth my time to go out, so I already felt like anything else found today is just icing on the cake. About five minutes after the dire wolf molar in almost the exact same spot, I find a small black jaw of some kind of animal. The silt was so thick that I had a hard time making out what it was, so I put it in my bag to look at later. I move around a bit looking for a new pile of gravel and find another jaw....This one I can tell is a river otter, Lutra canadensis and it has the carnassial, premolar and partial canine. Turns out the black jaw from earlier was also Lutra canadensis, just a smaller specimen. Lutra canadensis jaws. At this point, I realize I'm only about 1000PSI through with my first tank and I've already uncovered a few good fossils. In the back of my head, I kept thinking I was going to find something very nice, but I try not to get myself too psyched up because that doesn't usually happen. So I drop downstream a bit and find a little crack in the limestone. Usually I don't mess in the little cracks since it's a lot of hard work for a small amount of badly damaged fossils, but I just figured since every other place in the area seemed pretty good, I'd check it. A few minutes into it, I catch the shimmer of enamel out of the corner of my eye caught by the strong river current. I look back and see this sitting against the pure white limestone: A nice dire wolf upper carnassial! It was really starting to look like taking the boat and going way in the middle of nowhere on the river was paying off. It was obvious this place wasn't hunted nearly as hard as some of the other sites I've worked. By this point I'm down to under 1000 PSI in my tank and my dive buddy comes up....He had some very nice finds also that I didn't manage to photograph. A large mastodon vertebra and skull section as well as a few common deer jaws. Unfortunately, he had only brought one tank and was down to about 1000PSI also, so I wouldn't get the chance to use both of my tanks on this place...But I was perfectly fine with that....Two otter jaws and two wolf teeth were enough to make me happy....so I descend again down to the bottom and start working a new hole that's capped off by a thick layer of peat. As soon as I get to the fossil layer, I realize there is a LOT of pieces of mammoth teeth all mixed in....I collect them for 10 minutes or so and then move on to a new hole. Mammoth tooth fragments. Next I move up to the last place I'd be able to hit....300 PSI in my tank means I probably should have turned around and went for a boat a while ago....But I didn't feel in danger (clear water and not very deep), so I continued on. I tried a new method in this last hole since it had a lot of smaller fossils in it. Scooping gravel out, laying it against the white limestone and then softly brushing it behind me, scanning as I did so. 5 minutes into it, I see yet another carnivore tooth: A wolf premolar! Talk about the day for wolf teeth. Down to 100 PSI and I take one finial wave at fanning the sand/peat before I come up to the boat. I notice an odd looking log sticking out of the peat and ignore it for a second as I fan around it....It's then that I notice tons of small pieces of mastodon enamel all around the log. I begin to collect them since they're an attractive white color.....Then I realize the log I was working around is no log at all, it's is a massive root to an absolutely huge tooth. I knew instantly it was the root to a mastodon tooth, but any experienced collector knows....If you see just the root of a fossil tooth sticking out of the sand, don't get your hopes up because 9/10 times, it's broken. I begin to fan around this giant root, knowing I only have a few moments before I start running out of air.. I try to wiggle the root and it doesn't budge....That's always a good sign, it means there must be a lot more buried. After a few moments, it finally budges and I can instantly see that one half of the tooth is very damaged, but the other half still looks very nice. White 5 humper mastodon tooth with roots, anyone? Bummer about the other side, but a person cannot complain about something as huge and beautiful as this, despite some damage. It turns out that a lot of my enamel pieces I found around the "log" actually fit the tooth. I have to do some work to it to see how much enamel is there, but I doubt it'll be enough to completely repair it. Mastodon enamel. Some pieces fit the tooth above, but most pieces are probably to an associated molar that was just demolished. Group shot of the otter jaws and wolf teeth. -Cris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Life 42 Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 wow! Awesome mastodon tooth, great report! ...I'd rather be digging...Life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnake Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Awesome stuff! Glad to see your goals being fulfilled. Congratulations Cris! Well deserved for all the hard work you do for us on the forum. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 You actually started with three tanks. Just sayin'.... What a great day in the river!!! "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...
Gizmo Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Great trip and great report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taffie Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I'd say you are making up for lost time! Nice finds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 And just like that, a mastodon tooth.... Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megalodon_hunter Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Hope you fill up those tanks with air.asap. water seepage at low PSI but awesome finds. "One of these day's I'm going to find a tooth over 3inches." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petrified Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Wow sweet finds! Definition of a fossil= Love at first site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Heck of a trip, Cris. Very nice. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarheel59 Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 (edited) Just WoW cris, love the mastodon and Dire wolf. Great report and great finds, wishing I had access to such cool fossils too. Thanks for sharing. Jeff/Tarheel Edited March 21, 2012 by Tarheel59 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosmoceras Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 That was amazing! :D How long do you have down there on a full tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickNC Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Amazing report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 now that's my kinda trip...impressive! Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martijn Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Very nice finds, Cris! Qua patet orbis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeDOTB Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Wow, great trip report and finds! DO, or do not. There is no try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edd Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Nice stuff dude! " 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 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 Thanks everyone. Very much looking forward to getting back there. Images of mastodon jaws are starting to haunt my dreams again! That was amazing! :D How long do you have down there on a full tank? It depends on your depth, whether or not you're cold and how hard you're working. I think I was in for about 3 hours for this trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lloyd Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 What a great day. I guess this is a new favorite spot... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hokiehunter Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Congratulations! Awesome report. Thank you for taking the time to write that up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Very nice fossils :Drool: I have feet wet due to drooling of envy ! Coco ---------------------- OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici Un Greg... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawnwashere Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Wow! That's awesome. From now on I'll be following your boat. All I usually find is beer cans and cheap dive masks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now