My Covid Hobby (Fossil Hunting)

Variety of Cretaceous sharks’ teeth, fossilized coral, fossilized fish vertebrae, other vertbrate teeth, bits of glass & possibly a mosasaur tooth fragment all found in one creek (on one day) in North Texas. Hanging out for the day along in the creek, sifting the matrix (pebbles and sand) searching for these finds was 1000% what kept me sane during the 2020 lockdown.

Larger view of same tray.

My *very first* Texan shark tooth find. Old hunter who taught me the hunting technique went green with envy when I unearthed this beauty. Forgot the banana for scale, but it’s about the size of a 50-cent piece (the cpin, not the rapper).

These fossilized shells are everywhere in the creek, the kids call them “mermaid dollars.” I’m hoping to try some jewelry making techniques on them, like cutting discs from them to make “beads” in a Native American style perhaps. So common, I won’t cry if I destroy one at least.

Here’s one in situ — creek in fall, water about 3-4 inches deep.

Gorgeous piece of fossilized palm, wetted but otherwise untreated— shown right as it came from the creek. Really keen to try tumble polishing some of this stuff, it’s really pretty!

Assorted shiny pebbles. Stuff I picked up but didn’t examine till I got home (it was summer & about a 1000 degrees out)....

Ditto. I think these were mostly the “reject pile,” i.e., not fossils, though I think there’s a few pieces of petrified palm in there too. Some gypsum, some pretty cherts & flints, some red shale pieces that had faint or partial ammonite traces in them too (as in next pix).

Red shale with ammonite trace in it. Sometimes these can show really cool fractal-like patterns.

Ahhhh ... my happy place! Can can sit here on these banks alone for hours, happily picking through the sand and mud for interesting bits and bobs while the wayer babbles beside me, the tree frogs & toad chorus serenade me from the banks and overhead blue jays, cardinals and other feathered observers twitter & comment on my every move. Sheer bliss! Better than any booze or pill Man can make!!!

And, mudlark/magpie that I am, I also can never resist the occasional piece of pretty “creek glass” that turns up as well. The aquas, blues and greens are my favs, but I also like anything with lettering too!

Obligatory cat tax: Loki just woken & ready for mischief (I must go! My Glorious Purpose awaits!)

EDIT TL;DR: Fossils are cool, be safe, go to TheFossilForum.com to learn more!

VIRAL EDIT: You guuuuys! Daft nuts!!! Imgurians are such a funny lot... I only posted this to facilitate a fossil trade with another Imgurian and, of course, in true quirky nerdy Imgurian fashion (“One of us! One of us!”), it blew up.

OK, SO: Couple general comments to everyone first— I found my fossil hunting sites in Texas (& elsewhere) on the AWESOME WEBSITE: TheFossilForum.com
Signup & join in, it’s an AMAZINGLY wonderful site for all things fossil related, and even find suggestions for fossil hunting locales for all around the world!! You can also find great pix of drool-worthy finds and the inevitable board for posting “can anybody tell me what this is?” pix. (Also quite fun!!)

Second, try and find if your region has a local PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY. (Just google it!) If so, they’ll often have informative monthly meetings and then group fossil hunting trips (typically in spring). I was super stoked to join the well-renowned Dallas Paleontological Society (DPS), but just as I was about to, covid hit & life ground to a screeching halt! (But, my “work from home” became “work from creek” & I got to hunt sometimes 2-3 times A WEEK, completely alone in areas that are normally pretty well-trafficed typical (non-pandemic) weekends. It was BLISS! Even if I found but ONE fossil the whole day (which I didn’t), still worth it!!! I’d been SUPER depressed working a hot-desked office job & hadn’t even realized how badly I was suffering till the pandemic “broke me free”!! So, yay?)

LASTLY, I talk alot about the glories of hunting alone BUT DON’T START THAT WAY! It’s A STUPID RISK!!! I have 30+ years experience as a field biologist (& 20+ as a Girl Scout hiking & doing Primitive Encampments in deserts before that too! ...All in days before cellphones and even GPS!) Also, I take a TON of precautions when I go out alone, like: Parking at house where I know the people & they call Troopers if my car’s still there at sundown; I wear an orange blaze vest in woods & during (deer, etc) hunting season; I carry a knife, pepper spray & air horn, etc, plus, cellphone in waterproof case; I started off in creeks that are well-known, popular, & well-populated hunting areas so that I WASN’T alone out there the first few months I was out there first learning the areas. I literally douse myself in DEET before dressing & then wear long heavy trousers & long sleeves (old men’s dress shirts over tank tops are great in warm weather!) I stay out of woods & brush during height of snake season & use a walking stick to poke my way thru brush when unavoidable. And so on ....

Oh, and regarding collectors & trades and stuff: I’m happy to trade for shark’s teeth or even just mail you a couple if you ask. I also taught middle school STEM briefly & am a sucker for kids who are into fossils (or any natural sciences for that matter!) I *think* I can probably tape a small tooth or 2 into an Xmas card & just mail it with more or less the regular postage (in U.S. at least). So, if you’re interested, DM me & I’ll see about sending you one. (I’m open to internationals too, just can’t make any promises up front cuz I don’t know what shipping costs are like nowadays! My one and only attempt at Imgur SS years ago ended up with me paying $60 just to ship the gift to Australia! Eeek! But this will be way smaller.) Hey, I guess consider this my Imgurian “Not-So-Secret Santa”! For Science! hehe =)

P.S. While I’m happy to share these, because I have lots of these small fossilized shark teeth with no particular plans for them (the thrill of the hunt is the main goal really & they’re mostly too small to make good jewelry, etc.), PLEASE don’t be ajerk about asking for some. Like, you have four nephews? Fine. Wonderful! But, you want 20? Nah, probably not gonna happen. Unless we full-on trade, then ... maybe? But, even then, it’d depend on what you specifically wanted too, because I haven’t sorted the teeth by group & worry about accidentally giving away something (scientifically) important. THAT IS, NORMALLY (non-pandemic times) we bring out stuff to Paleo Society meetings & let professional paleos (professors & such) look over our collections. Often IF there’s a scientifically valuable piece (a never before unidentified species being kinda the Holy Grail of finds), one might donate it to the university’s or museum’s collection for their further study. I haven’t done that yet so am a little stingy with some of my stuff (especially & mainly my Ptychotus teeth, which I pretty much won’t trade at all right now ... they’re also my favs.)

OK, well, I definitely got to monologung there, sorry! Hah! Go outside now, you! xo