Stonebreaker Posted May 26, 2010 Share Posted May 26, 2010 Sorry to always ask question and not being able to give answers. You can ask me about woodworking,diving or traveling the caribbean and i will be glad to answer. OK is there any old threads about what fossils look like before theyre dug,split or prepped? Because I would walk over half (probably more) of what you guys see as being a fossil or possible fossil. Thanks for any responses ~Stone~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted May 26, 2010 Share Posted May 26, 2010 Stonebreaker, Nah - we all have to/had to start somewhere! Personally, I learned by myself what to look for. I was told ( for my area - CT) "look for black shale or red shale." That's it! Not helpful. What is helpful is looking at fossils. Get familiar with what's in your area. Learn to see what shouldn't be there. Look for regularity where there shouldn't be any. I had to learn to split the shales,... and focus on cleaning the rock first, then splitting where you could see the fossil sticking out - if they were. Your eyes need to get trained as to what to look for. It's kinda amazing once you know what to look for, how often things will jump out at you! Time and experience are you best guides, and if you see something unusual - pick it up, take a picture, and post it here - someone will let you know what it is! This is why we are all here. To learn. Sorry if this isn't as helpful. The answers are many to such a question. Hang in there! Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 IPFOTM -- MAY - 2024 _________________________________________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TourmalineGuy Posted May 26, 2010 Share Posted May 26, 2010 To add to Fossildudes great advice: be meticulous, especially at first. If you're searching a place you know has fossils but haven't found them yet, look REALLY slowly. Once you see one, you will start noticing them quicker and noticing what to look for before noticing them. It is amazing what the human brain can do if you feed it with a little excitement and allow it to develop familiarity with the surroundings. Roddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted May 26, 2010 Share Posted May 26, 2010 there's two things you just gotta do. you gotta do all kinds of reading and looking and searching online for info and pictures to study, and then you gotta get out in the field and see a million things and let your eyes learn what to ignore and what to pick up. there's quite a learning curve. you could shorten it if you can find a friend in your area who really knows what they're doing and will teach you. or at least someone with a great collection of stuff you can look at that came from the areas you want to hunt. which reminds me. i gotta go to the i.d. forum and clarify my mystery fossil that i had for a long time and just found out what it was... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted May 26, 2010 Share Posted May 26, 2010 Varies by location and formation but in general look for order amongst the disorder....look for symmetry....get familiar with the appearance of cortical (outer) and cancellous (inner) bone structures....look for the gleam of shark teeth in the sun....get familiar with the shapes and sizes of the more common fossils in your target areas then look for them to be only partially exposed. Subtleties in surface texture can give them away, even if only barely exposed. Invest in some good kneepads and gloves and give the ground a close look until you get the hang of it. Take your time. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jager Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 Just to add a little of what I've noticed about myself (being a newby): I had walked areas many times before and not found a thing, but since have walked the areas again and found numerous marine fossils, especially ammonites. I think a lot of it involves training your brain to recognize a familiar pattern and once that occurs it becomes natural and you will automatically home in on various features in your field of vision, sort of like recognizing a friend in a crowd of strangers. Anyway, just my two cents worth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 In the beginning, it's all about the search image. You may remember the study where researchers had volunteers watch a video of a group of players passing a basketball around; the study subjects were told to count the number of times the ball was passed. 50% of the subjects did not notice when a person in a gorilla suit walked through the scene! They were too focused on what they thought they were looking for. Once you see a few <fill-in-the-blank> fossils in-situ, their image will replace whatever reference your brain was using. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Menser Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 The most basic advice I can give is to familiarise yourself with the site. Then look for what is different. For example; in South Florida where the rock is mostly white, you look for the darker colored things. often it's just black or brown nodules but frequently it can be a tooth rooth or bone. Also look for shapes that don't look natural. That's how I find a lot of fossils. This Ammonite was found in red soil. These Mosasaur teeth in grey surface dirt. Note the rock this Equus vert is in Shark teeth collected in South Florida (white) 'Sugar' sand. Be true to the reality you create. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amour 25 Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 As you live in Montana one of the Best for some good stuff. Join a club if you want to. Or use Goggle and hit your state and fossils and see what comes up best way most will have pics. But it does take time to find something that might be one. We all started this way. Except Podope he just dives and walks away with a lifetime of bones in a month. Gosh that has to be something up there I thought Siberia was loaded but hey I think he has them beat. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stonebreaker Posted June 4, 2010 Author Share Posted June 4, 2010 Yes I'm trying to find a club but only thing I have found was a "website" from 2006. Billings rock and mineral club from what I understand. I found a lady who used to be in it before she got sick. Owner of the nearest gem/rock shop is on vacation for another 3 weeks...I will find them eventually!!!! YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM ME FOREVER!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 (edited) Stonebreaker- Get out and keep looking. Yes, we all started form scratch at some point. I hope you learned a little form coming to our conference for a field day. There is a rock and fossil show up in Billings every now and then. Go to that, talk to folks and yeah, befriend the rock shop dude. Those guys are getting to be an extinct species and are often very knowledgeable. I went out with an old guy in Hot Springs, SoDak for one of my first outings. I came home with a bagful of Cretacous clams. He picked up only one fossil all afternoon... one nice ammonite. I learned a lot from the old man. He was nice enough to take this dirty young hippy dude out for a few hours. He was skipping over all my clams and going for the good stuff he knew was there. I was pretty excited about the clams. Still have them in box in the garage in the Cretacoeus section. If you're ever coming to Casper, let me know. I don't guarantee any free time, but it won't hurt to ask. Keep it up stonebreaker. Go Cubbies, but only after the Red Sox do their good stuff. Edited June 14, 2010 by jpc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts