Sara: The World Traveling Ceratopsian

[Ludwigia]

2 hours ago, Dimitris said:

I hope you enjoy the pictures that will follow the next three weeks and through this opportunity let me show you some sceneries of SE Europe.

Cheers from Bulgaria!

Looking forward to learning about your adventures!

[Coco]

Coco

[Dimitris]

22 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Thank goodness!

Sara has been causing me nightmares over the past few months, through no fault of her own! 

I look forward to seeing her upcoming adventures with you, Dimitris! 

 

Yeap, that was a relief! I was anxious since I joined as a host of Sara.

I was thinking "What if my sender is from US/UK or other non EU country? How I would convince the customs? They may even open the box, loose things and so on".

I would feel really bad if something happened "on my shift".

 

21 hours ago, Bobby Rico said:

That’s brilliant. @Dimitris you have some beautiful ammonites. Enjoy your your time with Sara you have waited long enough. It been 24 years since I was in Sofia, I am looking forward to seeing your pictures.

 

Thanks a lot!! A ton of things must have changed since then! 

 

21 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

Looking forward to learning about your adventures!

I am also eager for some adventures Roger! Been quite a lazy year.

[fifbrindacier]

I'm glad she made it to your home, please, tell her that the horse friend she met in my home lives hard times with my grandaughter whom shakes him a lot.

[Ludwigia]

@Dimitris So what are you guys up to?

[Dimitris]

Sorry guys, the weather was rather bad the past two weeks. Daily raining kept me away from excursions, so no field work
We made it last Monday to the Natural History Museum.

On our way, some local landmarks:

i) Monument to the Soviet army, a rather controversial statue.

ii) Monument of Tsar Osvoboditel, the Russian emperor who helped the Bulgarian liberation during the Russian-Turkish war, opposite the National Assembly

iii) Alexander Nevsky church. Must be the second biggest Orthodox church, after the construction of Saint Savva in Beograd, Serbia. Built somewhere between late 1800s.

Soon museum pictures to follow!

[Dimitris]

Some words about the museum. Its exhibition with mumified animals and minerals is spectacular, however not my best thing.

The fossil chamber is quite small but beautifully organized as per geological ages. Most of the samples are Bulgarian but there are some gifted from other regions.

Ok, starting with a Parapuzosia sp with an overal diameter 144cm. Sara for scale 

 

 

Some pics with Sara at her "age". BTW, these are some of the very few dinosaur material found in Bulgaria.

Labirinta cave, Pleven.

 

On the museum presentation now. The exhibition starts with some Precambrian material  and some generic information about life forms of that time.

 

The first actual interesting part are the graptolites extracted from the area of Svoge. The trilobites at the bottom are all donated from Russian collections. Since the museum is quite old, Russia is still mentioned as Soviet Union. Czechia and Slovakia was Czechoslovakia back then (right top trilobite plate). There is one confirmed finding of Trilobite in Bulgaria, yet the sample is missing, the exact locality is not mentioned and the founder of course is dead, since this happened before the 1st World War. Trilobite in Bulgaria is an accomplishment many amateur and professional paleontologists are trying to achive.

 

 

Next chamber is one of my favorites. Carboniferous material collected near Sofia, at a river cutting near the Gorge of Iskur.

This will be the field trip I will be taking Sara this weekend, regardless the weather.

What I hope to find!

 

Next one has some Triassic material. To my knowledge, the Triassic of Bulgaria is not very rich and the samples are usually poorly preserved.

Partial bones, teeth and clams are the most common finds.

 

Jurassic Period must be the most studied and explored here.

 

Guess what? More Jurassic! This is the section with Bathonian and Callovian and are my first leads to my Bulgarian finds.

I am sure @Ludwigia will find some interest on these!

Not all finds are of museum quality, but the way they present them is very nice.

 

Some close-ups of Jurassic finds

 

Bulgaria has a rich Cretaceous as well. The K/T boundary is observed in more than 3 places, the most important being in the coastal area of Byala and in NW Bulgaria  in the city of Mezdra.

 

And here is a unique find, a tooth of Mosasaurus with a piece of its lower jaw. Ok, I know you have seen a lot from Morocco, USA  and so on, but here is rare!

Next one, Paleogene. I love this period mostly for its echinoids..

There was a special section about the paleoflora/fauna of Satovcha Graben, a location close to the border with Greece.

Great finds of leaves and dragonflies dated between 14-12My. I must visit it sometime.

This is the Miocene exhibition

Followed up by Pliocene and Oligocene

Lastly, some Quaternary findings

 

When I went downstairs, at the mineral section, I saw this big rock. There was no label, but I think it was opalised wood. Big chunk, since each tile is around 35cm

 

Hope you liked the virtual tour. The pictures are not of the best quality but if you want a specific one, I can upload the original.

Just found out the best Paleontology museum of Bulgaria, however I am unable to visit it this month since its Monday to Friday until 16.00

https://gpff.gea.uni-sofia.bg/facilities/museum/gallery-museum-of-paleontology-and-historical-geology/

I guess next month without Sara.

 

This one is for my friend @Tidgy's Dad

 

 

 

[Ludwigia]

@Dimitris Thanks for the heads up, although some of those "Jurassic" ammos you have photographed are actually Cretaceous ones. Looks like you're showing Sara a good time anyway. And I'm already looking forward to your hunting trip report.

[Dimitris]

1 hour ago, Ludwigia said:

@Dimitris Thanks for the heads up, although some of those "Jurassic" ammos you have photographed are actually Cretaceous ones. Looks like you're showing Sara a good time anyway. And I'm already looking forward to your hunting trip report.

Yes I know, for example these Heteromorphs which are mostly Aptian-Baremian. I mixed the pictures' sequence. Light blue/turquoise marks the beginning of Upper Cret.

Sorry for that, too many pics!

[Tidgy's Dad]

Thanks for these photos, Dimitris, lovely fossils and some interesting information about Bulgaria. 

I don't think I'll show Tidgy the pickled tortoise, though, especially as it's her species. 

The weather looks horrible, but good luck with the fossil hunting. 

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

2 hours ago, Dimitris said:

And here is a unique find, a tooth of Mosasaurus with a piece of its lower jaw. Ok, I know you have seen a lot from Morocco, USA  and so on, but here is rare!

 

Very nice museum tour! It's always wonderful to learn about the geological and palaeontological past of different places

I'm most excited about the mosasaur tooth, though! For, mosasaur finds in Europe are far and few between, and I keep being surprised about where mosasaur material keeps popping up. Awesome to now have seen (albeit only digitally) one from Bulgaria!

[Dimitris]

On 10/13/2021 at 2:53 PM, Tidgy's Dad said:

Thanks for these photos, Dimitris, lovely fossils and some interesting information about Bulgaria. 

I don't think I'll show Tidgy the pickled tortoise, though, especially as it's her species. 

The weather looks horrible, but good luck with the fossil hunting. 

 

Hey Adam, I also had a couple of T. graeca and one marginata.

The first reproduced a lot in the garden, the second one was found dead. She was trapped by a vine during its dormant period and never came out of her hidding place.

The weather is indeed horrible, first snow already in the outskirts. 

Sunday's forecast looks bearable though!

 

On 10/13/2021 at 3:09 PM, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

 

Very nice museum tour! It's always wonderful to learn about the geological and palaeontological past of different places

I'm most excited about the mosasaur tooth, though! For, mosasaur finds in Europe are far and few between, and I keep being surprised about where mosasaur material keeps popping up. Awesome to now have seen (albeit only digitally) one from Bulgaria!

Yes, indeed its quite a find. For Bulgaria, dinosaur material is quite on legendary level, as it is for trilos!

Most scientific publications though, are in cyrillic, which makes their search quite difficult.

I am glad you like it!

[Dimitris]

Hello everyone!

Luckily weather did me a favour and did not rain at all. It was quite warm and pleasant so I took Sara and went to the promised land of herbivores!

A nice but small Carboniferous outcrop, some 50kms north of Sofia.

 

Sara waiting for her lunch

 

Sara eating some dessert. Calamites of course!

 

 

I found a couple of interesting fossils, no seeds though. Will post in a few days the finds.

[Dimitris]

I am starting soon for the second fossil hunting trip with Sara, this time North Eastern Bulgaria. Must be Berriasian through Barremian, L. Cretaceous.

My schedule is quite tight as next week I am leaving Bulgaria for one month off work.

I kindly request the next person who will host Sara to send me a personal message with shipping details. 

 

• If it is within European Union, I will use DPD, therefore I will need email and phone number.
• For Canada, Mexico, South America, Oceania, Africa, SE Asia I will use DHL Express so again mail and phone.
• Whichever country is not any of the above(Eg Russia, Norway), will be served with Deutsche Post so no phone or mail will be required.

 

I must have the info by Thursday 28th of October, otherwise I will ship after 6th of December.

Delivery times:

First case: ~7 working days  max

Second case: 3-7 working days excluding remote locations.

Third case may vary a lot.

 

If, for some reason, the next host is unable to receive during this period of time, please again let me know to delay shipping, take Sara with me to Greece (and maybe somewhere else) and arrange shipping upon my return.

[Ludwigia]

@Dimitris Here is a link to the list of participants, which can also be found on the first page of this thread. As you can see, there are still 2 members before you on the list, which got a bit out of order recently. I would suggest that you first contact @Scylla directly.

[Dimitris]

Hey there! Last chapter of  Sara's journey in Bulgaria.

Location setting is NE of the country in the areas of Razgrad and Shumen.

All localities were Early Cretaceous and if I remember correctly, Berriasian through Aptian.

 

Here I am consulting Sara if I should pick it or no. She said no!

 

Playing with some cephalopods in Shumen. There were so many belemnites that after some point, I was ##### finding them.

 

Last day, I forgot her at the car. It was an Upper Barremian cliff full of tiny urchins. 

So here are my trophies:

 

(The coin is very close in size with a US 1c)

 

Some not yet identified brachiopods, some tiny crinoid stems and a shark tooth without root. As per the local friends, the shark tooth is supposed to be very rare there.

Can't doubt about that. 10 eyes searching for fossils more than 3 hours and just a single tooth. By the way my first tooth ever!!

 

Some nice belemnites. Only 4 of them where almost complete. One of them has some strange patern. 

Ammonites at this locality are poorly preserved. You could usually find ones whose organic material was replaced by Manganese, thus they looked like a bit of rust.

This one is replaced probably by Limonite. It is not preserved in perfect shape, but for this locality is definately a "keeper".

 

 

Some Hautrivian crinoid stems from Razgrad. 3 on top were given to my by a friend, the one below was personal find.

This locality had some nice and small ammonites, but quite rare. At least, I did not find one.

 

 

This one I believe is Cretirynchia sp. 

I have one from Sophie, so the moment I saw it, I recognized it.

Though, everyone knows to whom the crown of brachiopods belongs to, right?

@Tidgy's Dad 

 

I will send you some material after the NY. Want to include some Triassic cephalopods, which I have to find first 

 

Some tiny echinoids with 3 partial spines found the last day. The spines must belong to different echinoid species, judging by their size.

 

I cleaned a little this one and a local echino-expert identified it as
Hemidiadema neocomiense

 

 

Some other hot finds and worth of noting details, of the 2 day journey: 

• Many belemnites in the Shumen field had some pathology in terms of shape. Or we have found not described species. Will be discussed in the fossil trip section later.
• A friend from the group found a fragmented piece of tusk from Mammuthus. Apparently, above our formation, there is a Pleistocene and rain water and landslides broght down material. Very cool find.
• A closed crab pincer was found at the the urchin deposit.
• A group hunting is always more funny than going alone.

Thanks to Sara, I had a really good time, found my luck again and my appetite to hunt more!

@Scylla is expecting her, probably middle November. I wish you happy hunting!!

 

 

[Ludwigia]

3 hours ago, Dimitris said:

@Scylla is expecting her, probably middle November.

 

Very good!

[Tidgy's Dad]

Nice report and some super photos. 

Love the finds too, some interesting specimens. 

I think Cretirhynchia sp. is most probably correct. 

Sara had fun too, it seems.

Bon voyage! 

 

[Sjfriend]

Great to see her travels. I had a great time when she visited me too!

 

She does seem to be a good luck charm for fossils!

[Bobby Rico]

On 10/29/2021 at 10:45 AM, Dimitris said:

Hey there! Last chapter of  Sara's journey in Bulgaria.

Thank for sharing, Sara had a lot of fun I think. Love them Echinoids, beautiful .  All the best Bobby 

[fifbrindacier]

On 10/29/2021 at 11:45 AM, Dimitris said:

Hey there! Last chapter of  Sara's journey in Bulgaria.

Location setting is NE of the country in the areas of Razgrad and Shumen.

All localities were Early Cretaceous and if I remember correctly, Berriasian through Aptian.

 

Here I am consulting Sara if I should pick it or no. She said no!

 

Playing with some cephalopods in Shumen. There were so many belemnites that after some point, I was ##### finding them.

 

Last day, I forgot her at the car. It was an Upper Barremian cliff full of tiny urchins. 

So here are my trophies:

 

(The coin is very close in size with a US 1c)

 

Some not yet identified brachiopods, some tiny crinoid stems and a shark tooth without root. As per the local friends, the shark tooth is supposed to be very rare there.

Can't doubt about that. 10 eyes searching for fossils more than 3 hours and just a single tooth. By the way my first tooth ever!!

 

Some nice belemnites. Only 4 of them where almost complete. One of them has some strange patern. 

Ammonites at this locality are poorly preserved. You could usually find ones whose organic material was replaced by Manganese, thus they looked like a bit of rust.

This one is replaced probably by Limonite. It is not preserved in perfect shape, but for this locality is definately a "keeper".

 

 

Some Hautrivian crinoid stems from Razgrad. 3 on top were given to my by a friend, the one below was personal find.

This locality had some nice and small ammonites, but quite rare. At least, I did not find one.

 

 

This one I believe is Cretirynchia sp. 

I have one from Sophie, so the moment I saw it, I recognized it.

Though, everyone knows to whom the crown of brachiopods belongs to, right?

@Tidgy's Dad 

 

I will send you some material after the NY. Want to include some Triassic cephalopods, which I have to find first 

 

Some tiny echinoids with 3 partial spines found the last day. The spines must belong to different echinoid species, judging by their size.

 

I cleaned a little this one and a local echino-expert identified it as
Hemidiadema neocomiense

 

 

Some other hot finds and worth of noting details, of the 2 day journey: 

• Many belemnites in the Shumen field had some pathology in terms of shape. Or we have found not described species. Will be discussed in the fossil trip section later.
• A friend from the group found a fragmented piece of tusk from Mammuthus. Apparently, above our formation, there is a Pleistocene and rain water and landslides broght down material. Very cool find.
• A closed crab pincer was found at the the urchin deposit.
• A group hunting is always more funny than going alone.

Thanks to Sara, I had a really good time, found my luck again and my appetite to hunt more!

@Scylla is expecting her, probably middle November. I wish you happy hunting!!

 

 

 

On 10/13/2021 at 11:28 AM, Dimitris said:

Some words about the museum. Its exhibition with mumified animals and minerals is spectacular, however not my best thing.

The fossil chamber is quite small but beautifully organized as per geological ages. Most of the samples are Bulgarian but there are some gifted from other regions.

Ok, starting with a Parapuzosia sp with an overal diameter 144cm. Sara for scale 

 

 

Some pics with Sara at her "age". BTW, these are some of the very few dinosaur material found in Bulgaria.

Labirinta cave, Pleven.

 

On the museum presentation now. The exhibition starts with some Precambrian material  and some generic information about life forms of that time.

 

The first actual interesting part are the graptolites extracted from the area of Svoge. The trilobites at the bottom are all donated from Russian collections. Since the museum is quite old, Russia is still mentioned as Soviet Union. Czechia and Slovakia was Czechoslovakia back then (right top trilobite plate). There is one confirmed finding of Trilobite in Bulgaria, yet the sample is missing, the exact locality is not mentioned and the founder of course is dead, since this happened before the 1st World War. Trilobite in Bulgaria is an accomplishment many amateur and professional paleontologists are trying to achive.

 

 

Next chamber is one of my favorites. Carboniferous material collected near Sofia, at a river cutting near the Gorge of Iskur.

This will be the field trip I will be taking Sara this weekend, regardless the weather.

What I hope to find!

 

Next one has some Triassic material. To my knowledge, the Triassic of Bulgaria is not very rich and the samples are usually poorly preserved.

Partial bones, teeth and clams are the most common finds.

 

Jurassic Period must be the most studied and explored here.

 

Guess what? More Jurassic! This is the section with Bathonian and Callovian and are my first leads to my Bulgarian finds.

I am sure @Ludwigia will find some interest on these!

Not all finds are of museum quality, but the way they present them is very nice.

 

Some close-ups of Jurassic finds

 

Bulgaria has a rich Cretaceous as well. The K/T boundary is observed in more than 3 places, the most important being in the coastal area of Byala and in NW Bulgaria  in the city of Mezdra.

 

And here is a unique find, a tooth of Mosasaurus with a piece of its lower jaw. Ok, I know you have seen a lot from Morocco, USA  and so on, but here is rare!

Next one, Paleogene. I love this period mostly for its echinoids..

There was a special section about the paleoflora/fauna of Satovcha Graben, a location close to the border with Greece.

Great finds of leaves and dragonflies dated between 14-12My. I must visit it sometime.

This is the Miocene exhibition

Followed up by Pliocene and Oligocene

Lastly, some Quaternary findings

 

When I went downstairs, at the mineral section, I saw this big rock. There was no label, but I think it was opalised wood. Big chunk, since each tile is around 35cm

 

Hope you liked the virtual tour. The pictures are not of the best quality but if you want a specific one, I can upload the original.

Just found out the best Paleontology museum of Bulgaria, however I am unable to visit it this month since its Monday to Friday until 16.00

https://gpff.gea.uni-sofia.bg/facilities/museum/gallery-museum-of-paleontology-and-historical-geology/

I guess next month without Sara.

 

This one is for my friend @Tidgy's Dad

 

 

 

 

On 10/29/2021 at 11:45 AM, Dimitris said:

Hey there! Last chapter of  Sara's journey in Bulgaria.

Location setting is NE of the country in the areas of Razgrad and Shumen.

All localities were Early Cretaceous and if I remember correctly, Berriasian through Aptian.

 

Here I am consulting Sara if I should pick it or no. She said no!

 

Playing with some cephalopods in Shumen. There were so many belemnites that after some point, I was ##### finding them.

 

Last day, I forgot her at the car. It was an Upper Barremian cliff full of tiny urchins. 

So here are my trophies:

 

(The coin is very close in size with a US 1c)

 

Some not yet identified brachiopods, some tiny crinoid stems and a shark tooth without root. As per the local friends, the shark tooth is supposed to be very rare there.

Can't doubt about that. 10 eyes searching for fossils more than 3 hours and just a single tooth. By the way my first tooth ever!!

 

Some nice belemnites. Only 4 of them where almost complete. One of them has some strange patern. 

Ammonites at this locality are poorly preserved. You could usually find ones whose organic material was replaced by Manganese, thus they looked like a bit of rust.

This one is replaced probably by Limonite. It is not preserved in perfect shape, but for this locality is definately a "keeper".

 

 

Some Hautrivian crinoid stems from Razgrad. 3 on top were given to my by a friend, the one below was personal find.

This locality had some nice and small ammonites, but quite rare. At least, I did not find one.

 

 

This one I believe is Cretirynchia sp. 

I have one from Sophie, so the moment I saw it, I recognized it.

Though, everyone knows to whom the crown of brachiopods belongs to, right?

@Tidgy's Dad 

 

I will send you some material after the NY. Want to include some Triassic cephalopods, which I have to find first 

 

Some tiny echinoids with 3 partial spines found the last day. The spines must belong to different echinoid species, judging by their size.

 

I cleaned a little this one and a local echino-expert identified it as
Hemidiadema neocomiense

 

 

Some other hot finds and worth of noting details, of the 2 day journey: 

• Many belemnites in the Shumen field had some pathology in terms of shape. Or we have found not described species. Will be discussed in the fossil trip section later.
• A friend from the group found a fragmented piece of tusk from Mammuthus. Apparently, above our formation, there is a Pleistocene and rain water and landslides broght down material. Very cool find.
• A closed crab pincer was found at the the urchin deposit.
• A group hunting is always more funny than going alone.

Thanks to Sara, I had a really good time, found my luck again and my appetite to hunt more!

@Scylla is expecting her, probably middle November. I wish you happy hunting!!

 

 

Thanks for sharing man, i dream to have such a museum nearby.

[Ludwigia]

@Scylla @Dimitris Hey guys! Any news on Sara's whereabouts?

[Tidgy's Dad]

1 hour ago, Ludwigia said:

@Scylla @Dimitris Hey guys! Any news on Sara's whereabouts?

I understand that Sara arrived safely to Gus a couple of days back. 

[Dimitris]

All good, Sara is already there!

 

 

Delivered

on 20.11.2021 12:01

[Scylla]

Yes, Sara and I have mostly just been drinking wine since she arrived as it has been too cold to go out and fossil hunt. She is helping me put together my secret Santa package as well.