Thursday, May 16, 2019

5/16/19 Report - One Way To Accelerate Your Learning Curve. Beaches Where You Can Find Fossils. Finds. Trash and Treasure.


Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Fossil Finds by DJ
Photo by DJ.

I received these photos and message from DJ about his first fossil hunt.  The photo above shows the finds of DJ's first fossil hunting trip.

I had read some past blogs on fossil hunting and Peace River. Saw some finds you posted from Bill and Dan.

I went with a guide since I believe if time is limited, that may be a good way to find things until you learn the ropes.

Our guide was very sharp and explained a lot of things, in the picture you can see many shark teeth, part of a broken mammoth tooth, several DuoGong rib bones, fossilized shell ‘molds’, stingray teeth plates and a claw from a giant tortoise.

Others found parts of Megladon teeth, horse teeth.

I like to hear the explanations and hunting techniques.

Like you have said, the story behind the find is fascinating, there is always something to find and most importantly (for me) don’t throw anything away until you get an ID.

And the places to look have to be learned, gravel holds the smaller stuff and deeper gravel holds larger better finds. Some people use a golf club with the head cut off as a probe to see how deep the gravel is. And the gravel moves and builds up over time like sand on the beach!

Learning where not to hunt is important as well, people have to throw out the stuff from their screens and it is easy to find yourself digging in someones spoil pile.

Here are a couple closer views of some of his finds.


Photos by DJ



Can anyone identify the unidentified bone?

I went with a paid fossil hunting guide on my first trip to the Peace River too.  It does save time on the learning curve.  They put you on some good spots so you don't waste hours trying to figure out where to hunt.  If you go with a guide, you will definitely find some fossils.  In my opinion, it is definitely worth the money if you are interested in fossils.

You'll do some sifting.  That might be a good introduction to a technique that can be used for other things.

Guides for some other types of treasure hunting and other locations may not be such a good idea, but for Peace River fossil hunting, I think you'll find it worth the money.

It is a lot like metal detecting.  It helps to know where to look and how to identify the good spots.  Find identification adds to the fun.

Nice finds DJ.  Thanks for sharing about your trip.

You can sometimes find fossils on Treasure Coast beaches, but it depends upon beach conditions.  There was a time a few years ago when they were plentiful.  One area was very rich with fossils, but they can be found form time to time all along the coast.  I've seen them at Ambersands, Wabasso, Seagrape Trail, Turtle Trail and along South Hutchinson Island down as far as Jensen Beach, and probably farther.  I also have seen some found at Rio Mar.  Some of the Indian River spoil islands also have fossils on them.

After some very high rough seas there were some large fossil bones, from mammoths, whales, etc. on the beaches.  Fossils have been scarce on the beaches for the last few years.

Native American artifacts can also be found on the beaches at times too.  They are more common when the fossils can be found, and I've seen them at some of the same beaches.

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As part of RR Auction's The Fine Autographs and Artifacts Featuring JFK’ collection, the rosary beads used by Father James Thompson on the fateful day of President Kennedy's death were sold for $13,401.25...

https://spiritdaily.org/blog/news/rosary-beads-used-in-jfks-last-rites-auctioned-for-over-13k

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On the deepest dive ever executed into the Mariana Trench, an American investor-turned-explorer discovered what appeared to be plastic bag and other litter nearly seven miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

Victor Vescovo, a retired naval officer from Texas, broke the record for the deepest dive into a part of the Mariana Trench known as Challenger Deep, the deepest known point in the Earth’s seabed. His dive went 52 feet lower than a 1960 dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench completed by U.S. Navy lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss engineer Jacques Piccard in a vessel called the bathyscaphe Trieste...


https://www.foxnews.com/science/plastic-litter-discovered-deepest-dive-pacifics-mariana-trench

We all know how much junk there is out there.  We can all remove a little of it.

Removing junk metal can help you find good targets, and removing old worthless bottles can help you find good bottles.

I remember way back to high school when one day our gym teacher sent us out to pick up the junk on the football field.  I found a dollar under the bleachers.  Guess I liked eye-balling way back then.

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The surf will be slowly increasing over the next few days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net