Yep, I've heard people talk about it, seen picture posts of the finds that came out of the site and yes, longed for some day to make a trip down there. Well, I got my chance this past weekend. Several hunting buddies and I headed down to South Alabama again. This time it was a two and half hour drive from our homes. Some of those buddies wanted to primitive camp staying an extra day, I just wanted to make it a day trip, so I had to do a solo drive down. I actually enjoy the drive, but not when it hits the pocket book pretty hard in gasoline cost, especially this trip. I usually don't give out locations of hunting sites, but this is public access and well known throughout the Southeast. I had to get up early on a Saturday morning to see the sun rise, it sure was beautiful! I hit the road sometime after 7ish and made one stop in Prattville to get the traditional field trip breakfast of two sausage and egg biscuits from Jack's! I got to the designated meeting site with no time to spare at 10:00 am! We had a guide who led the caravan to the site on the Conecuh River. The parking area was down in the woods, so there was a tad bit of walking to get to the site. It was a gorgeous day to sift for marine fossils.
When we arrived on site, it was pick your spot and so I did at first. I found a wash out with running water and within 10 minutes found my first shark tooth! Woohoo!
Found another and decided I'd find another spot that would net me more teeth than the spot I was currently in? I moved around the corner joining one of my buddies in the area and picked another spot and got to digging through sand and rocks... shale like rocks that had all sorts of stuff in it but didn't take the time to look at them closely... maybe I should've??? The spot is in the lower left hand corner of this picture where the tree is.
Anyhoo, after five minutes I started finding shark teeth as well as broken sting ray teeth. I worked this spot for over 4 hours and netted some teeth! Each shovel full produced at least 2-5 teeth! Of course I didn't find enough teeth to suit my taste, but was happy with what I found. There are larger teeth, bigger than the quarter on site, but didn't have quite the luck finding them today... perhaps maybe next time? The one thing I will note is that the waters were a bit murky. You can believe I was totally aware of where I was and was looking in and around me during the time I was there. I may have been worried about nothing, but this area is known for gators in every waterway and I wasn't going to take the chance of being ones meal that day! In the picture above there are at least 4-7 species of fish represented, including a partial sting ray spine, something I didn't expect? I thought maybe one or two, but I was told the Eocene Period was a pretty diverse time period approximately 40 million years ago. These teeth are definitely a lot younger than what I'm accustomed in finding.
Toward the end of the day I was getting tired. Sifting for shark teeth is a lot of work! I was in the process of gathering my micro gravel to take home to sift later. When all of a sudden the dam warning siren sounded telling us that the gates will open up letting more water flow down into the area where we were. Within 45 minutes the waters begin to rise higher and it prevented me from gathering additional gravel because this gravel was a tad bit harder to sift! It had to be sifted twice with two different containers before I could bucketed it. Needless to say I only netted a solo cup full before the waters made it less manageable. In the picture above was what the dam looked like when we arrived. See the rock piles in the center? The waters rose and covered all of them that was on the surface.
In the picture above you see my buddies near a wall made up of sand and a chalky like substance. Here is where all those marine fossils are. When flood waters wash in and around the wall it loosens all the fossils to be caught up in sand bars and rocks. You find the right spot you find lots of teeth. My hunting buddy in the foreground moved to several spots before she wound up where she is. Evidently she found a hot spot because she didn't move until we left!
The solo cup size, full of gravel I brought back netted these teeth! I was astonished, and even more when I got an ID on most of them! I will try to list them: Sphyraena, barracuda- (2 far left bottom); Nebrius obliquus, nurse shark- (far right bottom); Galeocerdo alabamaensis, tiger shark- (2nd from bottom right), Abdounia reticona or Pseudoabdounia claibornensis, Requiem shark- (Third & fifth from left on top & third and fifth on bottom: Abdounia reticona or Pseudoabdounia claibornensis depending on who you ask): Striatolamia macrota, Sand shark- (Top left & right), Physogaleus secundus, Sharp Nose shark... related to reqieum sharks- (4th from left on top & 4th from left on bottom) Myliobatis, Eagle ray- (in the large grouping of teeth picture near the quarter)
It was a great, productive and gorgeous day to be out on the river! Now for the long trek back to the vehicles and then the ride home. Several of us went into the town of Andalusia for dinner for good food, fellowship and conversation about the productive day we had for those of us who have never been to the Point A Dam. I hit the road around 5ish, stopped to get gas and listened to the Bama/Tennesee game on the radio until I got to Montgomery. Yeah, I turned the radio off after the outcome to listen to the sound of the vehicle and traffic around me till I got home. Can't wait to go back to Point A!
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