Lee Cone

Hi Alex,

I, too, would recommend the Montbrook site in the winter months.  It involves collecting for the U. of Florida, but it is well run, welcoming to all levels of amateur and professional paleontologists, and prolific in fossils of all types.  Large complete turtles are common.  When I was there my favorite find was a juvenile gomphothere tusk.  The Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, FL is a must, if you go to Montbroook to fossil hunt.

In NC traveling to the far eastern point of the Aurora Fossil Museum in Aurora, NC offers collecting that you can keep from their “pit of pungo” by sifting the gravel reject material.  That fossiliferous material is mine reject donated to the museum by the phosphate mine in Aurora.  Occasionally large mako teeth (1-2 inches) and megs ( up to 2 inches) can be found, but more commonly the teeth are smaller (<1 inch).  The museum also offers great displays of shark, whale, and other miocene-pliocene marine fossil material.

Mine access for collecting purposes in both North and South Carolina is either non-existent or extremely difficult to access, due to liability issues.  In the low country area of South Carolina I collect by diving the rivers, but you must have a Hobby Divers License and December is not exactly ideal for scuba diving. LOL.  Now summer- that’s a different story!  If you go to Charleston, SC, I would highly recommend the Mace Brown Museum.

Hope this helps

I am not an expert on inverts, but I am somewhat familiar with the James City Formation from my collecting time in the PCS Mine in Aurora.  <i>Mercenaria</i> is quite common along with a lot of other shelly material and a few great whites.  It was not the prized hunting material for those of us interested in mammal and pliocene sharks, so I did not spend a lot of time there.  Linda McCall is the one that you need to contact, though, since she is very knowledgable about invertebrates.  I am sure that she could help you.  I’ll be interested to read what she posts.

Preservation of teeth depends on the environment for fossilization, but density of the material is an important factor.  Over my collecting life I have noticed that somewhere around 50% of all my Great White fossils lack a root.  This one is no exception.  Megalodon teeth roots seem to fossilize at a much higher rate.  The roots are generally thicker and possibly structurally more prone to fossilization.  Victor certainly is very observant to notice the possible bourlette and if that is the case, it would be definitive.  I tend to think that this is definitely a Great White, though, as the serrations in the picture look to be a little courser and irregular than the finer megalodon serrations would be.

@llundgren, @matthew-croxton, @egardner, @jeanette-pirlo I thoroughly enjoyed the first of the fall season’s webinar series, and thought that the presenters were terrific!  Brenda’s introduction and moderator’s explanations were scientific, yet clearly presented so that amateur audiences could follow her enlightening remarks.  Jack, Matthew, Tom, and John gave us great looks at specimens from the Cincinnati Arch and beyond, and their knowledge supported the expertise of the moderator.  I also felt like the format allowed for instruction and education, as well as timely input from the viewing public.  By opening up Q/A throughout the session, there was contiguity and focus on the topics and specimens.  This worked much better than waiting until the end of the session  for questions.  I am so looking forward to the next topics, and want to commend the myFossil team on such an outstanding job.

Thanks,

Lee