Arjen Lans Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Luckily I’m not superstitious otherwise I wouldn’t have hit gold during one of my best fossil hunts so far. Friday the 13th, June 2008. It’s the weeks of the European soccer championships and NL has just beaten France with 4:1. After the match at 23.00hrs I stepped in my car and headed for Belgium. After an hour and 15 minutes I arrived at the spot. The area where we hunt is in the proximity of Antwerp. A new harbour is under construction. Mud, gravel and fossils are sucked up and transported by a 6 mile pipeline to an area where all is spread out to dry. Unfortunately 90% of the fossils and almost 100% of the larger ones are damaged during this pipe transportation. It’s a pity to find a 5” meg like I did last Friday for instance with a damaged crown and root. Anyway, back to the story. 2 Weeks before this Friday I’d been there too and found about 1000 teeth. Arriving in the middle of the night, I had to walk almost a mile because the gates were closed, only to find out that where I found the bulk the last time, 3 meter of sand and gravel was moved on top of it. After an hour of looking for a new interesting spot, I walked past this wall that has been dug in order to create a ramp for the trucks and bulldozers that move the sands. Thin layers of gravel are exposed, but suddenly a line with material that holds the fossils thickens to 30 cm, to 60 cm, to more than a meter. We call it a lens, but in reality this is the spot where the pipe has blown the material onto the area. A pot of gold. In the light of my head torch I see about 20 teeth that have fallen out already. I fill my screen with material, start sifting and there are about 30 teeth on my screen. Most broken and damaged, but still amazing. The rest of the night I fill my bucket with teeth. At a sudden point I even stop picking up the broken teeth. It’s awesome. I even find the very rare Squalodon teeth and a molar. Benedeni and Carcharocles sp. are also very rare in Europe, so when you find 7 benedeni, 15 pieces of Carcharocles (meg/ angustidens/ auri…) you feel like you are on top of the world. If I would have picked up all broken teeth, it would have been more than 3000 teeth. It’s not about the numbers since most were broken and it’s the experience that counts, but it tells the reader something how special it was. The pics show some of the findings of that night. The night of Friday the 13th was one that I won’t forget so easily anymore. Arjen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martijn Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Hee Arjen that's what I call a great hunt. My fingers are itching and my sieve is rusting away, time to visit Belgium again soon, hahaha. Greetings from Norway! Martijn Qua patet orbis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 A night hunter, pretty cool story. Getting the idea of how fossils are found there. What a haul, well worth your effort. So, which tooth is the molar? The one with the very long root? Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bmorefossil Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 nice job, you could make a case just with the cow sharks you found Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 How exciting; alone at night, with a head lamp, all those teeth! Interesting how the fragile pectin shell survived the pipe; it should have been ground to bits. "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...
FossilMick Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Trips like that make the drive home very dangerous..... keep looking at your finds while driving. Congrats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isurus90064 Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 That's impressive! and how much must that have been ... Fossil shark teeth from all over: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/2380-extraordinary-common-teeth/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest N.AL.hunter Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Boy that is some haul you got there!! It sure had to be fun finding all those beauties!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arjen Lans Posted July 7, 2008 Author Share Posted July 7, 2008 @ Roz, The Squlalodon molar is the triangular shaped tooth in the middle of the 11 Squalodon teeth. The tooth with long root is an ancestor of the modern dolphin, Delphinodon dividum @Bmorefossil, Cows are always nice to find, out of the ones on this pic I kept only 4, the rest is in my "give away" bucket. @Auspex, To put it in perspective. Out of a million shells that come through the pipe, only a handful is still 100%, the rest is damaged (this one is too) In case anybody is interested in trading some of these teeth, just send me message. Regards, Arjen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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