Fossils in... - Finding Fossils

uses of ivory

• baton for making rope

• projectile points

• carving figurines

• engraving/etching figures & maps

• vessels

• beads

• needles

• diadems

false-

Non-native Alaskans are allowed to possess unworked mammoth/walrus ivory from Alaska.

false_

Fossil shark teeth have been found at archaeological sites around the world_.

Windover, FL-

Which site likely provided the oldest evidence of Native Americans gathering & using shark teeth?

• David, Jerusalem; Holland Point, MD; Windover, FL; Wheatley Point, MD-

David, Jerusalem

~80myo shark teeth:

• Iron Age house

• closest outcrop where tooth could’ve been found ~80km away

• 29 species, including crow shark

Windover, FL

• Native Americans

• potential uses after hafting:

  • scraping, drilling, incising, & cutting

(*hint - location)

Sandy Hill, Holland, & Wheatley Point (MD)

1. megalodon & mako (Choptank River formation — Calvert Cliffs)

2. megalodon & snaggletooth

3. mako teeth used as spears/tools

Chesapeake Bay region

modified shark teeth — arrowheads, drilled

pre-European Calusa & Oceania people

shark teeth attached to clubs & spears

uses of shark teeth

• scraping

• drilling

• cutting

(incising, attached to weapons [swords, clubs, spears, etc.])

brachiopods

carved into effigies (person/figure that’s punished)

petrified wood artifacts

• hammerstones

• choppers

• knives

(scrapers, bifaces, flakes, cores, gravers, burins, drills, pecking stones, abraders, polishing stones, & debitage)

trilobite talismans & amulets

found in limestone caves in France:

• 400myo w/ hole drilled into it

Native Americans:

• SW desert (Ute tribe)

• wore talismans of these

belemnites

What is NOT another fossil he mentioned from archaeological sites beyond ivory & shark teeth?

• crinoid columnals, brachiopods, petrified wood, belemnites, trilobites

Lamanai, Belize

What country did he find that snail artifact at?

• likely an olive snail

• whistle/instrument(?)

• donated it

art that depicts prehistoric life/environments & that is based on fossil evidence

What is paleoart?

the start of paleoart

some think it started w/…

• “A More Ancient Dorset” painting (1830)

• Jean Hermann — inspired by pterosaurs (1800)

• Proto-Paleoart — Klagenfurt Lindwurm in (1590)

  • maybe based off the head of

    a wholly rhino found in 1335

• Monster of Troy Vase (560 BC)

  • skull depiction that may be based off a Giraffid in genus Samotherium

Crystal Palace Park

south London:

• world’s 1st dino sculptures

• created in the 1850s

  • at the time, very recent fossils

• inaccurate

paleoart requires a lot of knowledge abt…

anatomy/biology, environmental details, & being able to depict behavior/ecology in a believable way

Rowan University

Thomas Block

• Breathing Life Into Fossils: The Science of Paleoart

• Paleoart certificate

celebs

1. Russell Crowe bought a mosasaur skull (not a dino) from Leonardo DiCaprio

2. Nicolas Cage outbid DiCaprio for a dino skull that might’ve been stolen

   1. Tyrannosaurus bataar

   2. Eric Prokopi — self-described ‘commercial paleontologist’ who pleaded guilty to illegally importing fossils from Mongolia & China

consequences of celebs buying fossils

1. prices are going up for dino fossils

2. museums can’t compete w/ celebs/private collectors

3. vertebrate fossils are rare & they won’t reach the scientific community

~500 BC

What is potentially the oldest paleoart that was discussed in the paleoart part of the lecture?

• ~1,500 BC; ~500 BC; ~1,500 AD; ~1,800 AD

behaviors, environments, & ecology

In the “paleoart stories” more than just the pure anatomy/morphology of dinosaurs was being represented in the art pieces.

• What else was being represented that we discussed?

Nicolas Cage, Russell Crowe, & Leonardo DiCaprio

Name a celebrity that we discussed that has purchased fossils.

true

Catherine Badgely (a former prez of SVP) said that it’s fine if people collect fossils, but that they should avoid collecting unique specimens.

fossil jewelry

main: amber & shark teeth

other: ammonite, fern, trilobite, orthocone cephalopod, sea urchin (cassiduloid probably), trilobite, mosasaur tooth, dinosaur bone

Fossilhut

What is NOT a fossil selling business that we went over?

• Fossilera, Fossil realm, Fossilicious, Fossiland, Fossilhut

selling scientifically significant/rare fossils (vertebrates like dinos)

What was main ethical issue we specifically discussed w/ regard to the sale of fossils?

fossil tours/dives

• Aquanutz Diving — 15 dives experience

• Black Gold Fossil Charters — dives

  • both are shark teeth

• Fossil Lake Safari — FossilEra adventures

  • fish, stingrays, gars, plants, insects

• Elevation Science Institute Dig — room & board, transportation, meals, tools

  • Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus

• GeoWorld Travel — global tours

  • Morocco - trilobites

  • Namibia - Namacalathus

  • Oman - coral, Megalodont shells

Zoic Paleotech

fossil prep tools & supplies

recent news stories

• largest(?) fossil snake in India

• 11 yr old girl — sections of an Ichthyosaur jawbone

• Patagonia — Titanosaur that was ~10x smaller than others

• 70 myo giant dino — almost complete; connected from skull-tail

• 9 yr old girl — 5in Megalodon tooth at Calvert Cliffs, MD

• Lucy — “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” by the Beatles played on the night of the discovery

mythical beasts 1

1. griffin — protoceratops

2. unicorn — elasmotherium (long-horned rhino ancestor)

3. devil’s toe nails — gryphaea (oysters)

4. roc — aepyornis (Elephant Bird of Madagascar)

5. cyclops — deinotherium (prehistoric elephant skull)

mythical beasts 2

6. jackalope — ceratogaulus (horned gopher) *a stretch

7. bunyip — diprotodon (giant wombat)

8. Monster of Troy — samotherium (prehistoric giraffe)

9. snake stones — ammonites

10. dragons — dinosaurs

Christianity

creationism: God created universe & all life from nothing (~6,000ya)

• fossils?

  • some organisms trapped in rocks

  • Devil put them there to deceive people

  • “Relics of Noah’s Flood”

• God created the process of evolution

snake stones

monks/nuns cast spells on snakes to petrify them

• ammonites

shaligrams

worshipped by Hindus & Buddhists; becoming rare bc of climate change

• ammonites

ammonite spiritual properties

• harmonize feelings

• balance the mind

• enhance physical health

other fossil healing properties

• dino bones — regulate body temp

• petoskey stone — psychic work (MI state stone, “coral”)

• petrified wood — concentration

• stromatolite — understand your life experience

medicinal uses of fossils

• China — fossil dust (bones) drugs

  • “dragon’s teeth/bones”

• Latin America — turtle fossils as a sedative for hyperactive children

• belemnites — sore eyes

• trilobites — sore throat

• fish teeth — poisoning, fever

• serpent’s tongue (ground shark teeth) — teeth erupting pain

medicinal uses of ammonites

• snake bites

• blindness

• barrennes

• impotence

• cramps

• mastitis in cows

medicinal uses of amber

• vertigo

• cramps

• gonorrohoea

• mental illness

• the plague

• fumes from burning it

  • effective against respiratory problems

  • ease childbirth

Amun/Ammon

Which Egyptian god are ammonites named after?

• god of the air