jpc Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 I haven't done too much non-work fossiling this summer. But the girlfriend and I did get out for a three day weekend last weekend. I spent the first day mosasaur hunting. Got skunked. I did find some baculites and one cute little ammonite, but in the Pierre Shale, if you have baculites and ammonites, you are generally not in the mosasaur beds. In the actual mos beds, I saw a few random lousy pieces of bone. Nothing to write home about... or to write on the forum about. That was one day. Day two: We went to my friend Bob's ranch where I have been collecting for years (Nando and Diana have met Bob), but a new area that I have never been to. We started with a reporter from Wyoming Public Radio who is doing a story on ranchers who allow fossilers out onto their place. That part was fun. She interviewed me and Rancher Bob and then we headed out, leaving Bob to do ranch things. Showed her a few sites where I knew she could find some bones pieces and smaller bones. And she did.. but she also found an arrowhead. Its been years since I have found an arrowhead in the wilds. Darn newbies. After lunch she left and Becky and I went to a new area. It was hot hot hot out there with no wind. Hot hot hot with wind is fine, but no wind sucketh. It was a five minute walk from parking to outcrops. Within two minutes of being at the outcrop I found a potentailly rich bonebed. Yay. There was a layer in the sandstone that was just dripping with bones... dinosaurs and others. Problem was it is at the base of a cliff... bad place to excavate stuff. Here is a photo. The bone-bed stretches from one arrow to the next. And here is a bit of a close up. The circles are around bone pieces sticking into the rock. There are a bunch more weathered out. In one area the bonebed is not under the cliff, but in a much more collectable area. Here is that area. The circle on the left is a large dinosaur leg bone. One end is gone, but a good chunk of it goes into the hill. The middle circle is a complete turtle... correction: was a copmplete turtle until a few years ago when it became exposed. Might be able to salvage the plastron. The right circle is a chunkosaur. I dug there and found a few decent turtle pieces. Collected them. Here is the turtle. The four bones lined up above it are four connecting pieces of a large croc jaw... pretty cool. I could not tell of the rest of the jaw is in the hill or had weathered away. My pix have filled up the post.. I'll continue in a reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgrilusHunter Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 "They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Jackpot, even if it is a tough site to work. Is that stratum exposed anywhere else that might be easier? "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...
jpc Posted July 25, 2013 Author Share Posted July 25, 2013 (edited) auspex- Yeah, the part in the third picture will be diggable. In photo one, it is right at the left arrow. The bonebed does disappear in both directions. But still, it is pretty extensive. I'm pretty tickled about this one. Anyway, Here is the big dino bone mentioned above. Here are few bones that had weathered out that I was able to collect. To the left of the paintbrush is an occipital condyle. This is the piece of the skull that articulates with the first neck vertebra. Right of the paintbrush is a hadrosaur tailbone. Both of these are only half there, bisected down the middle. I need to talk to Rancher Bob before actually starting to dig on this, but I think he'll be ammenable. One Day Three we went to a new ranch with White River Fm. We found a few places where someone esle had beat up a turtle, and a few mammal bones. The find of the day was a mammalian brain cast that Becky found. Edited July 25, 2013 by jpc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lissa318 Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Very cool and exciting finds! Can't wait to see what you recover! The brain cast is rather intriguing to me also... Don't think I have ever seen one before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 That place will keep you busy for a while! Nice brain, BTW! "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...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 wow! i should have tacked a few more days onto my trip! Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Looks promising! Good luck with future digs there! Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Excellent finds, JP! Now comes the hard work. I have to say I love Becky's brain cast!! I had not seen one from a mammal before that I remember.. Very, very cool! Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diego Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Looks like à whole lot of collecting is to do in THE coming future !Wish you some great finds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgrilusHunter Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Congrats JP! That brain cast is amazing! "They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Congrats JP! That brain cast is amazing! What he said! The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xonenine Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 congrats, hope you get to spend lots more time there, any ideas what the brain cast might be from? "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...
JimB88 Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 thats too cool! The brain cast reminds me of an oreodont skull I had bought that has part of the back of the skull exposed with a brain cast..neat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeDOTB Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 Very cool! So do you think the croc died because it was choking on the turtle? Kind of like a last act of defiance by the turtle? Ha ha. Anyways that leg bone is sweet!! DO, or do not. There is no try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakoMeCrazy Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 Wow. Looks like an amazing place to hunt! Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 cool brain endocast. i found one similar last year in an exploded oreodeont skull. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trilobiteruss Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 Cool and awesome bone bed. Looks like a fun and interesting site. Thanks for sharing a bit of the excitement with all of us! Look forward to hearing more about this site as you work it in the future. russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranha Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trilobiteruss Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 BRAINS!!!.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Fossil Hound Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 The braincast is pretty darn cool. I found what appears to be a rabbit brain cast in the Nebraska Brule near Crawford that still has part of the skull attached. I luv me some organ molds! Jon "Silence is Golden, but duct tape is Silver." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRK Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Hey JPC, Nice. I'm happy to see someone "in the know" has first crack at those wonderful fossils. Way to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 What a gorgeous place! Have fun with your turtle puzzle. Please show your future trips. "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crinoid1 Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 Nice finds! That brain cast is especially awesome. Congrats on a nice trip! Gabe I like crinoids...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrocodileJen Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 My 8yo son and I LOVE that brain cast! How fascinating! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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