Kurt Komoda Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 (edited) Hi, everyone! Got back to New Jersey on Tuesday, after a weekend at Ernst Quarries. This was my second trip to the site, the first was back in 2018. The weather was perfect- not too hot and cool towards the late afternoon. All three days were pretty well booked, as far as I could tell, but most everyone seems to leave by 1 or 2:00. Met a bunch of great people, and I think I had a really good dig. In the first photo, the top section shows everything I found on Friday and Saturday- all but 2 or 3 from the same hole in the "main" area, including a section of leatherback turtle shell (left side, halfway down) and a sea lion tooth (top row, just right of center). The grid is my cutting board with 1" squares. At the end of the Sunday dig, I was checking out a previously started hole out away from the main site, across the road just before it makes a right turn to wind around to the parking lot, and pretty quickly found a nice Hooked White that, at the time, had a nice blue-grey tint to it. Rob told me that it's probably going to be a pretty good spot and let me park right next to it on the following morning. It was pretty darn good. The bottom section of the photo shows what I found on Monday, all from the same spot and without using a sifter. I stopped using the sifter halfway into Sunday- I just used the fan method with the shovel. I stand above the hole and cut away a section so it falls into the pit and then, one shovel at a time, scoop that up and fan it in my discard pile so I can see what's in it. Not as thorough, but you get through a lot more material, and anything big enough you WILL see. Also, my back was killing me from using the hand held sifters on the previous days. I made a previous post showing that teeth from Ernst don't just glow under long wave uv light (365 nm), but they phosphoresce (glow for a bit after removing the light). None of the teeth from the second site glow at all, except for a couple of the more orange-colored smaller ones in the lower right. Some of the teeth have a nice satiny, slightly pearlescent finish. Can't wait to go back! Edited November 27, 2021 by Kurt Komoda clarity 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darktooth Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 That's a great haul Kurt! Congratulations on a productive hunt. 1 I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members ShanLambert Posted November 27, 2021 New Members Share Posted November 27, 2021 Nice! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praefectus Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 Great finds! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sjfriend Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Great finds! All my years I lived in Sacramento and I never made it down there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Komoda Posted November 28, 2021 Author Share Posted November 28, 2021 1 hour ago, Sjfriend said: Great finds! All my years I lived in Sacramento and I never made it down there You should go! It's the perfect time (though you have to schedule your visit ahead of time on the website). The days aren't too hot and it cools off towards the late afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sjfriend Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 6 minutes ago, Kurt Komoda said: You should go! It's the perfect time (though you have to schedule your visit ahead of time on the website). The days aren't too hot and it cools off towards the late afternoon. Thanks for info. Little harder now as I live a few thousand miles away. Someday when I back in area on vacation I'll have to look into it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members Bach Posted November 29, 2021 New Members Share Posted November 29, 2021 Hey Kurt, It was nice to cross paths with you there! I was the guy there on Sunday, but was pretty wiped out after only six hours of digging. Your final haul looks great, and the leatherback turtle shell is cool. Modern leatherbacks are big and leathery, maybe they are even a soft shelled turtle. I am curious about how turtle shells fossilize? The shell fragment is thick compared to its width, so maybe scutes get broken up into the hex puzzle pieces? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Komoda Posted November 30, 2021 Author Share Posted November 30, 2021 Hey @Bach! It was great to meet you, too! That absolutely was a great spot. I was also wondering if this was just a section of scute, since it’s so thick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted November 30, 2021 Share Posted November 30, 2021 9 hours ago, Bach said: Modern leatherbacks are big and leathery, maybe they are even a soft shelled turtle. I am curious about how turtle shells fossilize? The shell fragment is thick compared to its width, so maybe scutes get broken up into the hex puzzle pieces? Leatherbacks have a shell made of many irregularly shaped osteoderms. You can see them in these photos from here-https://www2.lbl.gov/ritchie/Library/PDF/2013_Yang_AdvMat_DermalArmor.pdf and here-https://comicvine.gamespot.com/forums/off-topic-5/impurests-guide-to-animals-179-leatherback-turtle-1883849/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members Bach Posted November 30, 2021 New Members Share Posted November 30, 2021 Wow! Osteoderms...thanks for posting this, it's going to be good reading. I've already read that scutes on hard shelled turtles are modified osteoderms. The photo speaks a thousand words, and looks just like your leatherback fossil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Komoda Posted November 30, 2021 Author Share Posted November 30, 2021 Thanks, @Al Dente! That cleared everything up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted December 1, 2021 Share Posted December 1, 2021 Those osteoderms are the most common remains of sea turtles found in the Sharktooth Hill Bonebed though you tend not to find a lot of them. It's a good find to represent the group. You can find occasional bones as well. I think Rob's dad, Bob, found two skulls and a partial skeleton. You can find pieces of shell from a hard-shelled sea turtle as well but those are rarer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clint08 Posted December 6, 2021 Share Posted December 6, 2021 Great finds and thank you for the informative post. I am headed out there in March and can't wait! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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