Help! Live/Current Atco Reptile Excavation

[PFOOLEY]

Nice job on the documentation...

 

...I like your style.

[Heteromorph]

19 minutes ago, PFOOLEY said:

Nice job on the documentation...

 

...I like your style.

Thanks! I hope I have improved in that regard since I joined TFF. I am always striving for a clear presentation. 

[Uncle Siphuncle]

Well done, young squire.  FYI Vertman took about 5 years away from collecting to prioritize family, but with kids grown up now he’s back in the field full tilt.  

[JohnJ]

The mini vertebrae and echinoid spine are uncommon finds to say the least.  It will be great to get more feedback from Mr. Polcyn.  I have little doubt that additional rare discoveries are in your future due to your attention to detail.  Stay safe out there.

[Heteromorph]

In my mosasaur world, much has happened since June. Here is the basic rundown:

 

August 11 - I met Polcyn for the first time. He took a look at the site with me, and he got to see the 15 loose caudals from the June 15-16 excavation, not including the articulated verts in the block at home. I also brought 3 additional verts from another excursion to the site in July, from picking though what I had originally missed in the talus piles. He identified all the verts I brought as being from an individual in the subfamily Plioplatecarpinea, likely Plesioplatecarpus planifrons. However, he said that they're too tiny to be from an adult specimen of P. planifrons, so it would be a juvenile. He said a juvenile mosasaur is a bit of a rarity! We agreed to meet up at the site again soon to do some real exploratory digging around the hole, since he believed the rest could possibly still be in the ground, or at least more of it.

 

August 16 - We met at the site about two hours after sunrise, trying to avoid the simmering Texas sun. He also brought another expert excavator, Wayne Furstenwerth. The three of us got digging around 8:30. After about two hours of careful (towards the end a bit robust) digging with awls and picks, the trail was cold. No new sign of verts in the ground. However, while us three were working in the hole, my mother was walking the perimeter of it and found four more tiny caudals from the specimen in the talus! They would have been more posteriorly located in the tail than what I had found so far.

 

The hole was not a complete bust for us though. We found a few shark teeth, mainly tiny Squalicorax (falcatus?) teeth that he said were probably from them losing teeth while feeding on the specimen. I was hoping to find a Ptychodus, but no luck so far. We also found fish scales, and some odd discoloration of the marl that he said could be due to taphonomic processes surrounding the decomposition of the mosasaur's flesh. We called it a day around 11:00. 

 

He invited my mother and me to come to the SMU paleo lab and bring the specimen for donation, since he would still like to study it if I was willing to do so. Donation was on my mind from day one, so I gladly agreed!

 

August 25 - After finally getting the block in a proper plaster jacket the night before, and carefully stowing all the associated material and fauna (including the cidarid spine) into tubs, we headed for the SMU prep lab. It was an enlightening experience, getting to see volunteers and professionals working on amazing mosasaur specimens from all over the Texas Cretaceous. After bringing the tubs and jacketed block in on their special fossil donation cart, I got to spend about 2 ½ hours doing some prep work on a small Ozan block from the NSR with a few mosasaur dorsal vertebrae sticking out, getting much needed direction and assistance from Polcyn and others since this was my first time using powered prep tools. I took a few breaks to look around the lab, since I was surrounded by some of Texas' best mosasaurs, including one giant and superbly preserved Austin group specimen from South Texas that is about the same age as mine (lower Coniacian). 

 

After giving the reins back to those who actually know what they're doing, we visited Polcyn's office. I got to see in person the famous Dallasaurus turneri recreation sitting on one of his cabinets, as well as all of his mosasaur comparative anatomy material sitting everywhere (neatly, of course). We were able to talk for quite a while about his studies, my future studies, how to prep things, and where to go from there concerning my mosasaur. He also showed me another lower Coniacian specimen from Süd-Texas, this one a juvenile about the same size as mine. He said he would still like to do more exploratory digging at the site, so I left knowing that the story might not be completely over. 

 

Here are some pictures of the block in the lab, showing the 6 caudals that I had originally uncovered on June 15:

 

FIG. 30.

 

Fig. 31.

 

FIG. 32.

[Heteromorph]

October 16 - I get this email from Polcyn:

 

"I wanted to update you on developments.  I had one of the Preparator’s start on your block and we found an additional string of 8 vertebrae, offset from the ones that were showing, and sloping down into the block ( pics attached).  They appear to be dorsal ( trunk) vertebrae.   There may be more in the block once he resumes preparation.  I think given the displacement I want to explore the site a bit more. Maybe we can get down there in the next couple weeks.  I hope all is well.  

All the best,

Mike"

 

This brings the vert total to 35. I will post updates on what (if anything) we find on our next excavation. 

 

FIG. 33.

 

FIG. 34.

 

FIG. 35.

[Fossildude19]

Awesome!

Glad you got to have the behind the scenes experience. 

Congratulations.

[JohnJ]

Take advantage of the opportunities with Mike while you can.    Your success with this find is a better than average outcome.  Awesome work.

[Monica]

Amazing story!!!  Congrats on the out-of-this-world find!!! 

[Ludwigia]

Very cool! They really unearthed a nice surprise for you.

[jpc]

This is a very cool story.  I missed it back in June but glad I came upon it this morning.  

[Heteromorph]

18 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

Awesome!

Glad you got to have the behind the scenes experience. 

Congratulations.

Thanks! 

 

16 hours ago, JohnJ said:

Take advantage of the opportunities with Mike while you can.    Your success with this find is a better than average outcome.  Awesome work.

Thank you. I am definitely trying too. He is a wealth of information and wisdom, and a nice fellow!

 

8 hours ago, Monica said:

Amazing story!!!  Congrats on the out-of-this-world find!!! 

Thanks! 

 

5 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

Very cool! They really unearthed a nice surprise for you.

I was quite surprised myself that there was that much yet to be found in the block!

 

1 hour ago, jpc said:

This is a very cool story.  I missed it back in June but glad I came upon it this morning.  

Glad you enjoyed the read.

[Ash]

 

 

”Bump... for an update!”

 

 

[Heteromorph]

I should have updated this awhile back, but I haven't really been sure what to say. 

 

So, of course COVID happened. I've stayed healthy, but all the stuff has made fossil activities a bit difficult. 

 

I haven't heard from Polcyn since November 2019, so I have no news about the mosasaur. As for the site itself, it's still basically the same that it was in 2019. I haven't had the time to go digging there, but I really wouldn't be surprised if there was more of the mosasaur (including its skull) somewhere still in the ground. Since Polcyn doesn't seem interested in doing more digging around there, and I don't really have the time these days, I've thought about just handing the site location info over to someone who could enjoy it, and maybe find more of the mosasaur. But then again I don't know how Polcyn would feel about that. I emailed him about other stuff awhile back but never got a response, so I don't know how busy he is. I'll try for a response again. If he's fine with it, or if I don't get a response within a few weeks, I'll share the site with whoever seems like a trustworthy person who would enjoy it. Probably Dan Woehr, if he wants it.

Edited September 29, 2021 by Heteromorph

[Uncle Siphuncle]

4 hours ago, Heteromorph said:

I should have updated this awhile back, but I haven't really been sure what to say. 

 

So, of course COVID happened. I've stayed healthy, but all the stuff has made fossil activities a bit difficult. 

 

I haven't heard from Polcyn since November 2019, so I have no news about the mosasaur. As for the site itself, it's still basically the same that it was in 2019. I haven't had the time to go digging there, but I really wouldn't be surprised if there was more of the mosasaur (including its skull) somewhere still in the ground. Since Polcyn doesn't seem interested in doing more digging around there, and I don't really have the time these days, I've thought about just handing the site location info over to someone who could enjoy it, and maybe find more of the mosasaur. But then again I don't know how Polcyn would feel about that. I emailed him about other stuff awhile back but never got a response, so I don't know how busy he is. I'll try for a response again. If he's fine with it, or if I don't get a response within a few weeks, I'll share the site with whoever seems like a trustworthy person who would enjoy it. Probably Dan Woehr, if he wants it.

Well, how about that!  Science through Polcyn should remain priority.  But if that proves to be a dead end, I’d be happy to exercise a little stewardship of your site, keep the specifics on lockdown from the general public, and donate anything of true significance.  I’m in NTX with frequency chasing various formations anyway.  No pressure to execute the magnanimous locality bequest, but thank you for thinking of me.  

[JohnJ]

Given that Polcyn has some of the bones in the lab, I would strongly recommend that you reach a clear understanding with him regarding future excavations.  Yes, it has been a while since all this started, but the wheels of academic paleontology turn slow...and Covid has shuffled many priorities.

[Heteromorph]

I stopped by the site for about 5 minutes tonight and found 3 more vertebrae weathering out of the marl, though two of them are pretty incomplete. One of them is definitely caudal (the one on top in the pictures). The other two were found articulated together about a foot and a half anterior from the caudal. One of the two is nearly nonexistent, but the other is pretty intact. It looks more like a pygal or lumbar vertebra to me. Which gives me a bit more hope that the head is still around somewhere.

 

Perhaps Polcyn might be willing to give the site a second chance once I tell him about these. I’d be willing to dig around there more if he was there, since I just don’t feel as comfortable doing it myself. I don’t want to mess anything up. Having a professional around makes things a lot easier. 
 

Though I don’t really know if this mosasaur is particularly interesting. Since it’s early Coniacian I thought it could be, but it might not be worth Polcyn’s time. If it isn’t, I understand. I do remember him saying that juvenile specimens such as this are a bit rare.  

Ruler in cm 

Edited September 30, 2021 by Heteromorph

[Ludwigia]

2 hours ago, Heteromorph said:

Perhaps Polcyn might be willing to give the site a second chance once I tell him about these.

...if he responds to you this time. Otherwise I'd ask Dan to be of help. It would really be a pity to lose this for posterity.

[Pemphix]

5 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

...if he responds to you this time. Otherwise I'd ask Dan to be of help. It would really be a pity to lose this for posterity.

Indeed !

[Jared C]

On 9/30/2021 at 1:47 AM, Heteromorph said:

Though I don’t really know if this mosasaur is particularly interesting. Since it’s early Coniacian I thought it could be, but it might not be worth Polcyn’s time. If it isn’t, I understand. I do remember him saying that juvenile specimens such as this are a bit rare.

Don't be discouraged - his interest is early mosasaurs, and it's an early mosasaur you have. He and I have been coordinating on an early mosasaur as well, and despite the potential significance of the find, work still moves very slowly. As we speak, he's juggling five active projects like yours and mine with others. Try again with Mike, and make sure you still have the right email. If you PM me I can send you the email that he and I use to communicate. 

Edited April 18, 2022 by Jared C

[Heteromorph]