For some reason, the weather patterns of lately have gotten some days all screwed up! It is now raining on Saturday and its one of my days off! There is a 90% chance of rain in the forecast on this day... what a bummer man! Although, this particular week I was fortunate to have Friday off too, so my hunting buddies and I decided to go to the creek with very little chance of rain predicted that day? When I got up Friday morning it was going to be an overcast day, but unseasonably warm, and so foggy it was like driving through pea soup en route to our meeting spot!
As we headed south to our location the fog broke, I was fine with that as long as there is no rain! When we get to the site out in the country the vegetation had died away making it easier to walk through the woods to the creek although briers were quite annoying! The water levels were a lil' higher than expected but sift able. I was equipped with knee-high boots and made sure I stayed in the shallows with water levels that didn't go over and into my boots, the water was a tad bit chilly. I walked along the creek bank to find a suitable gravel bar and when I did find one I had to slide down the 7-foot embankment of sand to get to the spot. Once, I did I began to sift to my hearts content finding lots of fossilized shark teeth. Oh, my gosh, the serenity of the countryside and just being out in woods with nature makes you forget the daily adulting responsibilities for a moment in time!
I remained at the spot for the entirety of the time we were there finding lots of fossilized marine fossils including a bottom half of an arrowhead! I had hoped a whole arrowhead would turn up but this time it was just a heart breaker as most collectors call them. At the end of the day I brought home a bucket of gravel to micro sift later?
Finds that have been identified. The first picture I believe is fish poop (Coprolite) with a shell impression on it... in paleo collector circles, the shells or any other foreign objects in fossilized poop are called inclusions. The second picture shows a Baculite piece and a Ammonite piece called a Heteromorph. The object in the lower left is a 3D Clam burrow, and the object below my thumb I will explain later?
Here are some other interesting finds from the bucket of micro gravel. I've been able to identify several of them thanks to the Paleo experts. #1- tooth belongs to a Protolamna borodini shark, #2- is a Chephalic Clasper of a Hybodont shark, one part of a sex organ or piece of it... the other half of the same is pictured in the second picture right below my thumb... somehow both of these fit together? #3- a tooth from a Squatina shark. #4- has yet to be identified? #5- Ptychodus anonymous symphseal #6- a Cretaceous fish called a Pachyrhizodus. #7- an assortment of unidentifiables? These fossils are first of its kind to make it into my collection. I look forward to micro sifting more material from this creek soon!
Also, with the new discoveries I find the unusual fossils too, all still exciting finds when they show up in my plate at home or screen while sifting on the creek. The first picture contains fish vertebrates. The second is teeth from the Hybodont shark. In the third picture are Pseudocorax shark teeth and the last picture contains Enchodus fish teeth. I'm totally hooked on the micro sifting and that is pretty much evident... heck, getting out and enjoying the outdoors with my hunting buddies is a must these days!
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