Fossil Collecting?

Post by Watty » Mon Nov 23, 2020 11:06 am

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honduranhurricane wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 22, 2020 2:03 am

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My 5 y/o loves dinosaurs (as do many young boys, I know I did). Have picked up a couple of fossil teeth recently (Megalodon and Spinosaurus). Wondering if there are any collectors in the community that may have suggestions/tips about our new, but potentially growing, hobby?

My 5 y/o loves dinosaurs (as do many young boys, I know I did). Have picked up a couple of fossil teeth recently (Megalodon and Spinosaurus). Wondering if there are any collectors in the community that may have suggestions/tips about our new, but potentially growing, hobby?

At one point in college I was a geology major before I switched to computer science so I know a little but but I am hardly an expert.

You need to distinguish buying fossils for a collection and actually going out in the field and collecting them yourself.

One thing you can buy in places like eBay is dinosaur gastroliths which are rounded polished stones that some dinosaurs used to grind up their food. Some dinosaurs did not have molars so they were like chickens in that they basically had a huge chicken gizzard where they swallow stones to mix with their food to grind it up. Over time the stones get rounded and in some cases polished too. They have found these with dinosaur skeletons but more commonly they are pooped out so there are some rock formations where these are relatively common so they are relatively inexpensive.

You can also find insects in amber online but you need to be careful about spending a lot since they are sometimes faked. Some of the amber is also mined illegally under very bad environmental, work conditions, and child labor so you should also be concerned about what you are supporting by buying that.

One thing to keep in mind is that most fossil collecting yourself is a lot different than picking up sharks teeth on the beach or splitting a rock and getting lucky and seeing a nice fossil.

Fossil collecting is usually hot sweaty buggy work digging through rock, that is then followed up by hours or days of meticulous work with specialized tools removing the surrounding rock matrix. If you look at "fossil preparation" on Youtube you can see some of what is involved but they make it look easier than it really is.

It will also be a lot different in different parts of the country and if you live in an area where most of the rocks are igneous or metamorphic where may be very few sedimentary rocks near you that might have fossils.

You may be able to find locations to collect fossils near you but you need to have realistic expectations about what is involved in getting the fossils that are anywhere near what you will see for sale online.

I've found some fossils over the years mainly by luck when I was out hiking. I have tried also going out to specifically collect fossils a few time and it has been pretty disappointing.

You might be lucky and live in an area where fossils can easily be collected but a five year old will likely be disappointed when they can't find a great looking fossil in the first half hour.

At one point in college I was a geology major before I switched to computer science so I know a little but but I am hardly an expert.You need to distinguish buying fossils for a collection and actually going out in the field and collecting them yourself.One thing you can buy in places like eBay is dinosaur gastroliths which are rounded polished stones that some dinosaurs used to grind up their food. Some dinosaurs did not have molars so they were like chickens in that they basically had a huge chicken gizzard where they swallow stones to mix with their food to grind it up. Over time the stones get rounded and in some cases polished too. They have found these with dinosaur skeletons but more commonly they are pooped out so there are some rock formations where these are relatively common so they are relatively inexpensive.You can also find insects in amber online but you need to be careful about spending a lot since they are sometimes faked. Some of the amber is also mined illegally under very bad environmental, work conditions, and child labor so you should also be concerned about what you are supporting by buying that.One thing to keep in mind is that most fossil collecting yourself is a lot different than picking up sharks teeth on the beach or splitting a rock and getting lucky and seeing a nice fossil.Fossil collecting is usually hot sweaty buggy work digging through rock, that is then followed up by hours or days of meticulous work with specialized tools removing the surrounding rock matrix. If you look at "fossil preparation" on Youtube you can see some of what is involved but they make it look easier than it really is.It will also be a lot different in different parts of the country and if you live in an area where most of the rocks are igneous or metamorphic where may be very few sedimentary rocks near you that might have fossils.You may be able to find locations to collect fossils near you but you need to have realistic expectations about what is involved in getting the fossils that are anywhere near what you will see for sale online.I've found some fossils over the years mainly by luck when I was out hiking. I have tried also going out to specifically collect fossils a few time and it has been pretty disappointing.You might be lucky and live in an area where fossils can easily be collected but a five year old will likely be disappointed when they can't find a great looking fossil in the first half hour.

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