Sharktooth Hill - A Hunt To Remember!

[Texas Fossil Hound]

Well I am back from California and am expecting my new COMCO suite including Dual Tank Microblaster and Air Cleaner to arrive here in Texas next week. I got a great deal on the equipment and am looking forward to getting the lab set up! While I was in Los Angeles,My wife and I took a day to join the Buena Vista Museum of Natural History for a hunt at Sharktooth Hill. I have heard about this place for years and was very excited to have this opportunity.

We went out in the morning with small shovels and screens. The staff and volunteers at the museum were very nice and knowledgeable and the museum in Bakersfield is definitely worth visiting. They have some wonderful examples of the Miocene creatures that can be found in the area.

You could either dig in the wall or surface hunt. I was a little concerned that I was looking at a site that had hundreds of holes dug all next to each other and had brittle Miocene boneshards strewn all over the place by careless hunters. But As I got into the hunt, I understand why there were so many pieces. The bones are 10-15 Million years old and most are not very well mineralized. The creatures here are mostly whales, dolphins, sea lions, various fish, sharks, turtles and rays. Their bones are not hard to find, there is a wide bone bed where the crumbly bones are mostly disarticulated and jumbled together. Still not a good excuse to carelessly dig, but most people come there for the shark teeth and are not interested in the bones. Sad.

On the other hand, I poked around for a few minutes looking for the right spot and located a place that looked promisingand began to probe the soft ground and screen through the dirt. Immediately I found my first shark tooth - a curved Mako. Then another and another. soom I was locating all sorts of bones and teeth. It was an incredible day. I found Teeth from Sea Lions, 15 types of Sharks, 2 types of rays, 3 types of dolphin, 2 possible whales. I also found vertebra and various identifiable bones from whales, dolphins, fish, sea lions and a large sea turtle.

It took a while to clean up everything, but I have a count of just the teeth I found. 179 teeth (many were not complete) and a pile of keeper bones and verts in 8 hours .... and amazingly, I never left a 6 foot circle for 90% of the day. It was truly and awesome hunt.

The Haul

Dolphin (Squalodon) and sea lion (Allodesmus) teeth

Close-up of a primitive dolphin (Squalodon) tooth

Sea lion (Allodesmus) heel bone - Calcaneous

Dolphin earbones - other unidentified (possibly juvinile) earbones

Turtle upper beak tip

Large Miocene Fish jaw

Jon

[Texas Fossil Hound]

Oh yes, I also found some shark and ray teeth!

Some of the Large, Narrow and Curved Mako teeth as well as a few requiem and Hammerheads

The next 2 pics show Squalus Occidentalis (Dogfish), Curved Mako, Cow Shark (both broken), Basking Shark (1 tooth), Tiger (2 types), and one Cetacea Dolphin tooth ( the narrow one at the bottom). There are also a couple pieces of Ray spine on the left. The pointy small tooth at top left is an Angel Shark tooth. There are also a few dermal denticles.

Some of the tiny teeth and denticles. The top row includes a few unidentified items (still working on ID), but the last one is a Basking shark tooth.

On the second row is 2 ray teeth and an unidentified fish tooth. 3rd row has 4 Dasyatis Ray teeth (female, because each has two prongs) and the pointy tooth at far right is a nice Angel Shark tooth. The 4th row is 3 Squalus Occidentalis (Dogfish) teeth.

One more. This is a really cool deformed Curved Mako tooth.

Can you tell I had a great time?

Have a Great Holiday Season!

Jon and the Kimmer

Edited December 14, 2012 by Texas Fossil Hound

[RickNC]

Very nice! I'd like to get out there someday.

[Taffie]

What a wonderful time you must have had. Congratulations, beautiful finds.

[hokiehunter]

Great stuff. The fact that most of that came from a 6 foot circle is amazing. It would take me 2 miles plus of beach surface hunting to come anywhere close to that in terms of volume. Love the dolphin and sea lion teeth and that deformed mako is straight up awesome. Congrats on a great trip.

[jpc]

Nice report. I was there last year and also had the same sad impression of everyone blasting through all the bones to get to the teeth. I'm glad you collected a bunch of bones in addition to your teeth.

[sward]

Looks like an amazing adventure. Congratulations!

Could you show a close-up of the circled item below? Do you have any idea what it may be? From this pic, it looks very similar to a piece of bone I've found in the past, but never been able to positively identify.

[CreekCrawler]

Great haul Jon, can't wait to see your new prep equiptment..

[fossiladdict]

Love the dolphin tooth and that mako...sweet finds. Can't wait till your equipment is set up !

[Bullsnake]

Wonderful report and finds! The pathological tooth is really cool.

[JeepDigger]

Those teeth are awesome! I am planning a trip to Yosemite this summer, now I'm going to have to check that out too! Did you have to bring your own equipment when you volunteer or does the museum have some loaners? TSA frowns on shovels and pick axes anymore.

[MikeDOTB]

Great trip report, you found a lot of awesome stuff! I especially like the whale material!

[sixgill pete]

Amazing finds. Thanks for sharing these with us. The mako's from there are awesome.

[siteseer]

I think that is the proximal end of an Allodesmus metacarpal but a close-up would help.

Looks like an amazing adventure. Congratulations!

Could you show a close-up of the circled item below? Do you have any idea what it may be? From this pic, it looks very similar to a piece of bone I've found in the past, but never been able to positively identify.

[siteseer]

Jon and the Kimmer,

That first tooth on the top row looks like a Heterodontus anterior tooth. I would need at least another angle on the second specimen. The third specimen is a dermal denticle - maybe from Dasyatis.

Jess

Some of the tiny teeth and denticles. The top row includes a few unidentified items (still working on ID), but the last one is a Basking shark tooth.

On the second row is 2 ray teeth and an unidentified fish tooth. 3rd row has 4 Dasyatis Ray teeth (female, because each has two prongs) and the pointy tooth at far right is a nice Angel Shark tooth. The 4th row is 3 Squalus Occidentalis (Dogfish) teeth.

Have a Great Holiday Season!

Jon and the Kimmer

[espeton]

Awsome teeth!!! I am planing the same trip for next month. Any tip that you can give in advance? What tools do you recomend? Sifters and shovel are enough?

Thanks

[Vordigern]

wow, thats a huge haul!!! great finds!

[fossil26]

Great finds!!! I love digging slowly through the bonebed...so many fossils to find that way.

In the pictures with the earbones I believe the unidentified one on the top is a dolphin tympanic bulla. The larger earbone on the right might be from a sperm whale. Also the turtle beak tip might really be a Mola fish (sun fish) jaw. I found several of these and thought they were turtle as well. A paleonotologist/ turtle specialist identified them as a beak or jaw of the Mola fish.

Lisa

[PaleoRon]

I agree that it looks like a Mola jaw.

[Texas Fossil Hound]

Those teeth are awesome! I am planning a trip to Yosemite this summer, now I'm going to have to check that out too! Did you have to bring your own equipment when you volunteer or does the museum have some loaners? TSA frowns on shovels and pick axes anymore.

I brough a small shovel and my regular dig equipment (that I could squeeze into my check luggage, but all I really needed there, since I did not plan to dig in the wall, is a probing tool (I use a K-Bar Knife), water soluable glue solution and a screen with between a 1/8 and 1/4 hole. I also STRONGLY encourage the practice of bagging some soil for micro fossil searching. There is rich abundance of fossils there. Please encourage others to not detroy the bone finds there. Even though they are somtimes crumbly. a little time and effort will yield beautiful results.,

Jon

[Texas Fossil Hound]

Jon and the Kimmer,

That first tooth on the top row looks like a Heterodontus anterior tooth. I would need at least another angle on the second specimen. The third specimen is a dermal denticle - maybe from Dasyatis.

Jess

I was thinking it may be Heterodontus. It does appear to have cusplets on either side, but I really need to get a closeup on it to be sure. My reading glasses alone are not cutting it. I will try to get some better pics.

Jon

[Just Bob]

Great report and so many great finds. Shark Tooth Hill has always been on my bucket list, as well as Aurora.

[Texas Fossil Hound]

Looks like an amazing adventure. Congratulations!

Could you show a close-up of the circled item below? Do you have any idea what it may be? From this pic, it looks very similar to a piece of bone I've found in the past, but never been able to positively identify.

Here are a couple pics of the bone you circled. the middle bone is definitely an Allodesmus phylange (finger). I have not identified the other two bones, but I am thinking they are sea lion flipper bones because they were all found near each other. It would be awesome to find a picture reference for Allodesmus osteology. Anyone have a pointer?

[Texas Fossil Hound]

Great finds!!! I love digging slowly through the bonebed...so many fossils to find that way.

In the pictures with the earbones I believe the unidentified one on the top is a dolphin tympanic bulla. The larger earbone on the right might be from a sperm whale. Also the turtle beak tip might really be a Mola fish (sun fish) jaw. I found several of these and thought they were turtle as well. A paleonotologist/ turtle specialist identified them as a beak or jaw of the Mola fish.

Lisa

Oooo! That is interesting. I had not thought of that. Do you have some contact info for your specialist friend? it would be nice to have a professional opinion.

Thanks!!! I would love to get out there again and spend a little more time. The material is so different from TX.

[siteseer]

You will find figures of Allodesmus bones in various publications that review fossil marine mammals but the best one for that is:

Mitchell, E. 1966.

The Miocene Pinniped Allodesmus. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences. Volume 61.

It reviews a nearly complete skeleton with photos of all the bones. The skeleton was collected in the STH bonebed in 1960. One of my friends helped dig it out.

Here are a couple pics of the bone you circled. the middle bone is definitely an Allodesmus phylange (finger). I have not identified the other two bones, but I am thinking they are sea lion flipper bones because they were all found near each other. It would be awesome to find a picture reference for Allodesmus osteology. Anyone have a pointer?