Logging Or Recording Your Finds

[The_Piper]

I'm new to hunting and collecting. I just started this spring. I am often finding more than a dozen marine fossil rocks in one day. Comfortable hunting conditions are short-lived here, so I'm doing as much looking as I can.

I was logging my finds by numbering the rocks with a letter for the place found and number for the rock. Then writing a brief description in a notebook.

That worked when finds were more limited.

Now I am so far behind record keeping that I lost track of what days I found what. I have still been keeping the rocks from different places separate.

What do collectors who have large amounts of fossils do to keep them in order?

[Boesse]

Here's the easiest method, called the Grinnell system. Each time you make a collection (one bone, tooth, or many, as long as they're from the same layer/small area, i.e. locality) you write in your initials; i.e. for myself, RWB-001. Then write a short description of the site, include the date, and the stratigraphic position of the collection. In the field, I write "RWB-001" on the plastic bag for the specimen, and then when it gets prepared, I paint a white rectangle on the fossil where I write the "RWB-001" field number. Bobby

[siteseer]

I'm new to hunting and collecting. I just started this spring. I am often finding more than a dozen marine fossil rocks in one day. Comfortable hunting conditions are short-lived here, so I'm doing as much looking as I can.

I was logging my finds by numbering the rocks with a letter for the place found and number for the rock. Then writing a brief description in a notebook.

That worked when finds were more limited.

Now I am so far behind record keeping that I lost track of what days I found what. I have still been keeping the rocks from different places separate.

What do collectors who have large amounts of fossils do to keep them in order?

It is less important to keep track of the day of the finds. Years from now, it might be good enough for your records that you note that they were found in early April 2010. It is more important to keep track of what rock layer the fossils came from. If they were found as float, you want precise notes on where they were collected to figure out later where they could have fallen or washed in from. You are off to a good start taking notes and keeping specimens from the same site together and keeping them separate from fossils of other sites. If you haven't already, you should look for publications that describe the geology of the area (ask at your local bookstore).

You want to think about suitable storage for your specimens too.

[siteseer]

Here's the easiest method, called the Grinnell system. Each time you make a collection (one bone, tooth, or many, as long as they're from the same layer/small area, i.e. locality) you write in your initials; i.e. for myself, RWB-001. Then write a short description of the site, include the date, and the stratigraphic position of the collection. In the field, I write "RWB-001" on the plastic bag for the specimen, and then when it gets prepared, I paint a white rectangle on the fossil where I write the "RWB-001" field number. Bobby

Bobby,

You're too quick for me. I was still composing a reply when you got in a good one.

[Auspex]

We have enjoyed several discussions on this important topic in the past. Here is a link to one of the more recent ones:

FOSSIL CATALOGING

[Auspex]

And here is another: ANOTHER LINK There are many methods; as with any endeavor to organize, it is far better to do it as you go than to try to play catch-up later. Your resulting data archive is, in some ways, more important than the specimens.

[The_Piper]

Thanks a lot for the responses and the links. I tried searching the words in my title, but not the word catalog.

I suppose I was doing a decent job, I just have to catch back up. I can add my initials to my numbering system in case I find anything important. It's possible. The information available online for my area seems pretty scant. (North central/northeastern maine)

There a 500-page illustrated book titled "Maine Fossils" I'll buy. It's $40!

[Wakaritai]

anyone use GPS coordinates?

I've thought about it, but it is sometimes hard to find signals in the valleys where I like to hunt. I often get different readings of elevation and location at different times for the same place. Sometimes as much as a few hundred feet, which would make any information gained from the data invalid and unreliable. I was wondering if there were any techniques to deal with this.

I'd really like to find some way to get coordinates for my finds and map them somehow in 2D or maybe 3D with topo map data. Then I'd take some statistical software to analyze the data for patterns, and then go from there. I'm confident I could find some new hot spots applying my knowledge from my field to fossils. But the GPS issue has ground that to a hat for the time being.

Edited April 14, 2010 by Wakaritai

[erose]

By combining GPS and 7.5 minute topographic maps you can probably cover most collecting locations. I'm sure there is software that can be used with digital maps as well. Lately I have been tagging all my sites on Google Maps.

As mentioned there are lots of ways to label or catalog fossils. I've never found one definitive method. Even the major museums all have somewhat different methods. But as mentioned the most important piece of info is Location and stratagraphic info. You don't even need to know the formation names (they can change or shift) just make sure you "describe" it well enough. Try and stay away from descriptions that say things like "next to the dead tree down the street from the Shell station." The tree will rot and disappear and the gas station will be replaced by a vet's office. Now that GPS and Google maps are available we can get seriously accurate and the info is good even if they build a whole freaking subdivision over it.

I have little paper labels I carry with me to tag specimens as I collect them. On it I write a brief description of the site and maybe the particulars of where it was found at the site (upper section, lower section, talus, etc.) Then I have a field book into which I write a more detailed description. Later I might go back to the field book and add info as I learn more about the site. Eventually I will do what others have done and number all my sites.

Finally the fossils are sorted, cleaned, identified and fully cataloged with a number and all the associated info. I have a code that starts with the geologic period and state initials followed by a number. By example" KTX=Cretaceous of Texas and OOH=Ordovician of Ohio. I try and write the number on the specimens in ink whenever possible but sometimes not. I don't put a number on everything immediately since I often discard specimens after cleaning and sorting. They go into the "handouts" buckets which are sorted by larger catagory.

Edited April 15, 2010 by erose

[Boesse]

I use GPS sometimes- usually, however, I am revisiting localities I've been to many times. In the santa cruz area, the localities are all along linear coastal cliffs, so it's very simple: I record the geographic (X/Y) coords by basically describing my location relative to the nearest street intersection, and then the fossil-bearing stratum (Z) - it just happens to be very easy for me. Then, I record it with a location on google maps. At some point, when these all get donated, I'll end up (as I have already) with multiple (sometimes dozens) of field numbers for the same locality, so I'll have to "lump" some of my field numbers into each locality, etc.

Bobby

[The_Piper]

I don't have GPS. I am writing descriptions like "end of path at brook beach, left side" hehe. Most of my fossils are found on my property within a few acre radius so far. I take a camera and photograph it in the spot (sometimes), and now I have a pocket notebook for taking notes at the spot. Some of my stuff might just belong in a rock pile, but I'm really enjoying finding and looking at them.

Here's a rock before I picked it up

Edited April 17, 2010 by The_Piper

[cousin it]

As others have conveyed, locality datum is of primary importance!!! The rest is meaningless...

With one-one has a concise locality of fact; with the other... a bunch of brick a brac!

[MikeD]

I save my locations on GPS, but also print out an aerial photo to go with it and mark the spot.

[John]

Some of the newest digital cameras have the ability to record GPS data as each picture is shot. Soon enough you can take a picture of a fossil in situ and you will have locality data without even having to think about it.

[Boesse]

Well, the rest isn't meaningless - oftentimes, the date is important, if it allows you to differentiate between certain specimens, especially if you can remember (or wrote down) specific things from said day, i.e. "ran into nudists on beach", "nearly attacked by sea lion", "ravens opened my backpack and stole all my food - had to drive 10 miles for more food", "fell and broke tailbone", or "got soaked from waist down by wave and did fieldwork in underwear until pants dried" (believe it or not, the last two happened on the same day). I can remember 1) exactly what I found immediately after breaking my tailbone (partial walrus jaw) and after getting soaked (huge great white tooth).

Bobby

As others have conveyed, locality datum is of primary importance!!! The rest is meaningless...

With one-one has a concise locality of fact; with the other... a bunch of brick a brac!

[John]

Well, the rest isn't meaningless - oftentimes, the date is important, if it allows you to differentiate between certain specimens, especially if you can remember (or wrote down) specific things from said day, i.e. "ran into nudists on beach", "nearly attacked by sea lion", "ravens opened my backpack and stole all my food - had to drive 10 miles for more food", "fell and broke tailbone", or "got soaked from waist down by wave and did fieldwork in underwear until pants dried" (believe it or not, the last two happened on the same day). I can remember 1) exactly what I found immediately after breaking my tailbone (partial walrus jaw) and after getting soaked (huge great white tooth).

Bobby

I agree that calling specimens with no locality info "meaningless" is a bit extreme. I can guarantee that if you walked into any museum in the world with a T-rex skull and offered to donate it, they might grit their teeth, but "Montana" would suffice as a collecting locality if that was all you knew.

[Rover]

My records in the past were quite lax - frankly, I don't even know what year I got some stuff in. Now, though, I'm working a bit better at contemporaneous record-keeping; when a find is made, I log it rather simply; I give it a simple location descriptor (i.e, EoNCAur, for Eocene of North Carolina @ Aurora), give it a tentative species descriptor (i.e, Cmeg, for Carcharocles megalodon), and a numerical code - the date on which it was found, and the binary IDing it in order of my finds that day, meaning the first find of, say, June 16th, 2010 would be 06161010000000. While I never expect to reach, say, 256, I'm a big fan of binary, which is why I use it.

[Vankor]

Here's the easiest method, called the Grinnell system. Each time you make a collection (one bone, tooth, or many, as long as they're from the same layer/small area, i.e. locality) you write in your initials; i.e. for myself, RWB-001. Then write a short description of the site, include the date, and the stratigraphic position of the collection. In the field, I write "RWB-001" on the plastic bag for the specimen, and then when it gets prepared, I paint a white rectangle on the fossil where I write the "RWB-001" field number. Bobby

So... if I ever start to find my own fossils, will the fact that my initials are NEW become a cataloging problem?