Johan Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 (edited) Hi everyone, Last year I went on a one day fossil hunting trip to the Champagne region in France with a fossil hunting buddy of mine. We went to the well known locality of Fleury-la-Riviere, where Lutetian (Eocene) rocks are outcropping on the hillsides above the vineyards. We had a really good day, with lots of cool finds, among others a small but very nice Campanile giganteum. It was a lot of work to extract this gastropod in one piece, but it worked out nicely. Edited March 29, 2018 by Johan 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johan Posted March 29, 2018 Author Share Posted March 29, 2018 after a few hours of hard work: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johan Posted March 29, 2018 Author Share Posted March 29, 2018 And finally the prepping and result: 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thair Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 That is really nice. Worth the work I say Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 Nice! Always wanted one of these, I have an uncle whose last name is Campanile. “...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 Beautiful specimen! Well done all round from excavation to preparation! Do you think you could slow down that photo series? I get dizzy just looking at it. 1 Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 Excellent work. Well worth all the effort, it is beautiful. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey P Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 That looks like it was quite the job to excavate that specimen and prep it, but the end result is just stunning- absolutely gorgeous! Congratulations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnBrewer Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 Stunning! John Map of UK fossil sites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Wonderful find! Well worth the effort to extract! Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peat Burns Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Magnificent. Well done! I like how you prepped-out the other shells in the matrix, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Just a couple of questions. I've heard of such artificially created sand caverns suddenly collapsing. How stable was this one? Did you take any safety measures? 1 Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johan Posted March 30, 2018 Author Share Posted March 30, 2018 10 hours ago, Ludwigia said: Do you think you could slow down that photo series? I get dizzy just looking at it. Thanks for the compliments! Here is a slowed down version of the preparation gif. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johan Posted March 30, 2018 Author Share Posted March 30, 2018 40 minutes ago, Ludwigia said: Just a couple of questions. I've heard of such artificially created sand caverns suddenly collapsing. How stable was this one? Did you take any safety measures? That's right, some of these caverns can be dangerous to work in. We choose a cavern that was already dug previously, that had rather stable walls, and predominantly dug down (so vertically instead of horizontally), to avoid the danger of creating a tunnel that can collapse. I never work in the really deep caverns that go down >1 meter into the wall horizontally. I actually collect all fossils in these deposits, not just the big ones, so for me it is OK to go home without any Campaniles. The people that dig the really deep (and dangerous) caverns are just going for those Campaniles. Since they mostly occur in 2 levels, these two levels are then excavated far into the wall, but this not my strategy at this site. Cheers, Johan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 26 minutes ago, Johan said: Thanks for the compliments! Here is a slowed down version of the preparation gif. Thanks. That's much better. 19 minutes ago, Johan said: That's right, some of these caverns can be dangerous to work in. We choose a cavern that was already dug previously, that had rather stable walls, and predominantly dug down (so vertically instead of horizontally), to avoid the danger of creating a tunnel that can collapse. I never work in the really deep caverns that go down >1 meter into the wall horizontally. I actually collect all fossils in these deposits, not just the big ones, so for me it is OK to go home without any Campaniles. The people that dig the really deep (and dangerous) caverns are just going for those Campaniles. Since they mostly occur in 2 levels, these two levels are then excavated far into the wall, but this not my strategy at this site. Cheers, Johan Wise of you. I was just a little concerned for your safety. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Love all the pictures. Love this gastropod too. Even have one of those. Nice job. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 Hi, On 30/03/2018 at 11:06 AM, Ludwigia said: Wise of you. I was just a little concerned for your safety. All right with that. To dig at the bottom of a cliff is badly seen, in any case in France. It is very dangerous and numerous places were closed to the search people for reasons of acccident. I would have liked not seeing this hole under the cliff... 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...
LordTrilobite Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 That is one beautiful snail. Great job on the prep too! Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sagebrush Steve Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 On 3/30/2018 at 1:46 AM, Johan said: That's right, some of these caverns can be dangerous to work in. We choose a cavern that was already dug previously, that had rather stable walls, and predominantly dug down (so vertically instead of horizontally), to avoid the danger of creating a tunnel that can collapse. I never work in the really deep caverns that go down >1 meter into the wall horizontally. I actually collect all fossils in these deposits, not just the big ones, so for me it is OK to go home without any Campaniles. The people that dig the really deep (and dangerous) caverns are just going for those Campaniles. Since they mostly occur in 2 levels, these two levels are then excavated far into the wall, but this not my strategy at this site. Cheers, Johan Yes, like @Ludwigia, the first thing I thought was, “that looks dangerous.” Glad to see you were being careful, and it was well worth the effort. Nice job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 tres jolie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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