Funny story for you...I worked at a Monsanto plant for many years before I retired. One day I drew hole watch duty for a confined space entry, which entailed a few hours of very boring duty standing watch outside of a vessel while monitoring a gas meter for hazardous fumes. While performing my duties I became bored and began searching through the limestone rock that was the standard ground cover in the plant. Much to my surprise I found a perfect trilobite fossil in one of the limestone rocks!
I just recently found this man's Channel. It is truly enjoyable and he is quite a likeable intelligent host! "Like, someone you'd want on an exploring in the woods." ...if he ever gets to NW Tennessee, I would pay a fee to go! Love the subjects!
I pretty much have a literal fossil room in my house because I find so many but I've never found a trilobite that I was able to take home. I have found some at the Burgess Shale site but obviously I can't take them home. The way it works here I'm only allowed to take surface fossils if they're on public lands or private land that you have permission to be on. Then you're allowed to keep the fossil at your house as a steward to it for the Government of Alberta which is the legal owner. Super strict rules here. But if I had taken the trilobite from the Burgess site which is a UNESCO Heritage site I could have been fined up to $1 million per fossil. It probably sounds strange but I find most of my fossils on the roofs of buildings. They use smaller sized river washed rocks on the top of flat roofs and since I'm a high-rise window cleaner I'm always up there. My co-worker hates that I'm always looking for rocks lol.
We have a summer house in Lackawanna County ( a few counties over from Swatara State Park). When I was younger the man who owned much of the mountain had a small family quarry. He showed me a fossil of a fish. This wasn't just a small fish, but quite large. He would find fossils but it wasn't what he was looking for. He wanted to make stone. He also told me of finding a huge hole in his quarry and dropped a small cap. It echoed meaning he likely had some kind of a cave below. I would think it could be like crystal cave (pa. tourist place) and have all kinds of things down there. Never had the opportunity to find fossils because he kept everyone out of there. I never found a fossil before. But I found a rock in the pond we're on that looks like a hat. Almost as though it was really hot and hit the swamp and the front flattened out. I keep it in the basement. I call it the hat rock. It's quite heavy.
I first found out about this spot when I was a teenager. I’ve been back several times since but most of what I’ve found so far are what appear to be small clam shells. It’s always interesting to see what you dig up. Good luck and thanks for sharing.
At 7.07 you definitely have a trilobite pygidium (tail). Clean up with a toothbrush. Trilobites molted their pygidia so are often found in isolation. Keep going and splitting some of those larger blocks of shale along their planes. Congratualtions!
I love fossil hunting! I live in a pretty good place for it. The mountains to the west has tons of ancient ocean fossils. To the east is the badlands with fossils of much larger animals from like 65-200 million years ago. Plus to the south you'll find our colorful official provincial fossil ammolite.
Triblodite are fun! They are an index species ,well studied, they were around for along time , changing slowly..so match the details and you get a pretty good date . Most animals you want the teeth ,
That was most definitely a partial trilobite, probably a Calymene. As for the shells you found, most of them were actually brachiopods, not "clams" as such. And yes, there really is a difference between a brachiopod and a pelecypod (clam, oyster, mussel, etc.).
first off I appreciate the Tolkien quote and I really enjoy watching Alot of my old haunts. I'm from Tremont area so I grew up around some of these locations. would love a video on the boxcar rocks! they are not that far from your fossil spot.
I dug on that pile of rubble and found a fossil after 30 minutes. Best part of the hike was walking down a couple miles to Bordner's Cabin and seeing that amazing waterfall!
The area where you were hunting is famous for a trilobite called Cryptolithus, which was what you had the tail of - most of them are going to be pieces. The big brachiopods are also up there. O found nearly a whole one in the same spot a little over 2 inches across. The 81 overpass was incredible for trilobites and brittle starfish - unfortunately they are no longer allowing fossil hunting there.
I have not been up that direction lately. I did now know the fossil dig there was closed off. I was going to suggest that place to Cliff. My Son and Grandson spent an afternoon there and I was astounded at what they found. (I collected fossils in my youth and have a couple of real gems, like a complete clam, partially open and one can see the vent.) Back to the kids. What astounded me the most was they found some complete aquatic animals, fully 3 dimensional. They were fairly small, but complete and extremely fragile.
Thanks for the cool little adventure! Saw you on JP's channel & added yours. The one you & he did of the falls, then cooking at the end of March, beginning of April 2020 was super cool.
Cliff thank you for all of your content, love watching your travels. This is off topic but the dragonfly insect repeller , does it work? And if so, where’d you get it please? Tia
Though this video is 3 years old, its good to see the US out doors. I'm from Savannah but stuck in Vietnam during Covid lock down. You look like a Civil War soldier, maybe 151st Pennsylvania Regiment...
Who knows what you may find there along the creek. I used to find huge amounts of fossils at the foot of Cloudland Mnt In Alabama. Right alongside a tail rosd track when i was a kid. I had shoe boxes full but my mothet hating clutter always threw them out unfortunately. I had some awesome ones of sll kinds of bones. Mskes me sick to this fay anf im on my 60s. Dont let anyone fool you. You never change. Only our bodies become old and painful. I hate it as i still am a young woman trapped in an old body Enjoy your youth. Dont take it for granted. It doesn't last forever. Tramp to your hearts desire. Advice from me to you. From an older wanderer God bless
Ahah! I'm a geologist but from your intro I had no idea where you were. But you are at a state park in eastern Pennsylvania and are finding fossils in a black shale. I'm assuming it is Devonian and perhaps a Marcellus equivalent? You found a bunch of brachiopods and some pelecypods (bivalve) shells. The later are what we commonly see on the beach nowadays and we eat in chowder or on the half shell. Brachiopods while very common in the Paleozoic are rare today. But they still exist alive on the planet.
@D S Sorry i did not reply sooner Cliff. I do not know what type of egg it is, but whaterver was inside had hatched. the egg in its fossil state is about 7 cm around egg and only 3 quarters remain.the length is 9 cm .
Where is this again? I’m i SW Virginia in the Appalachians near East Tennessee. I usually find shells that are totally black in color inside some type of black flaky rock that smells of oil. At 51 years old this old retired army veteran is trying to learn something new.
Man-made lake in benbrook Texas surrounded by Marine fossils have several bucketfuls some as large as 10 or 12 in around most of them are bigger than your hand
You must be back in my home stompin grounds around maybe Cincinnati ohio butler Hamilton kinda area mayyybe ?👍. Not all wonderers r lost it's true. ...but they r ALSO not complete either🤔✊ nice post!
Interesting place for archaeologist or geologist ! Federal land? Not restricted area ? Free to pick anything? The area must have been under the ocean millions years?
Man. Everything out of focus! Sugestion: put them on your open palm, and use it as a focusing surface. If you let the ground on screen, the autofocus will latch to it.
Also from one of my trilobites what you fount sure looks like one...it looks like it's missing the head and a bit of the middle but you definitely have the sides
Come visit us and we can go up to Simi Valley. I can show you ancient coral fields 900 feet above sea level. There’s also some very interesting old shell formations. Let us know if you’re ever this way and will take you out there. We are in socal California.
Really? You'd buy fossils? Id find some for you for free if you lived near lol!. This isnt scientific what soever, but if you live in PA on the side of cliffs is usually where i find a pile.
@@JTH148 Trilobites made their first appearance in the fossil record at about 520 million years ago, and they were wiped out to extinction during the Permian Mass Extinction event at around 252 million years ago.
Funny story for you...I worked at a Monsanto plant for many years before I retired. One day I drew hole watch duty for a confined space entry, which entailed a few hours of very boring duty standing watch outside of a vessel while monitoring a gas meter for hazardous fumes. While performing my duties I became bored and began searching through the limestone rock that was the standard ground cover in the plant. Much to my surprise I found a perfect trilobite fossil in one of the limestone rocks!
Lucky dog!
Nice story!
Thats awesome! How large was it?
So lucky!!!!
Really cool to see these fossils in their natural environment rather than in a museum or collection. It's nice how accessible this site is too.
WV is chock full of fossils, I have a Trilobite I found in a rock quarry near where I live
I just recently found this man's Channel. It is truly enjoyable and he is quite a likeable intelligent host!
"Like, someone you'd want on an exploring in the woods."
...if he ever gets to NW Tennessee, I would pay a fee to go!
Love the subjects!
A beautiful site. Nice fossils. Definitely a trilobite. 1st 2. Shells are very nice. Love your videos and thanks for sharing. John,. Florida.
All i was ever able to find was a couple of fish, even one fern of a sort, but never a trilobite. Great find !
Another outstanding clip, Cliff. I thoroughly enjoyed the 8 minutes packed with good views and no "dead time".
Congrats on the trilobite! Loved them since childhood and its on my bucket list to find one.
Thanks
I have one on my lap but I bought it I didn't find it
I pretty much have a literal fossil room in my house because I find so many but I've never found a trilobite that I was able to take home. I have found some at the Burgess Shale site but obviously I can't take them home. The way it works here I'm only allowed to take surface fossils if they're on public lands or private land that you have permission to be on. Then you're allowed to keep the fossil at your house as a steward to it for the Government of Alberta which is the legal owner. Super strict rules here. But if I had taken the trilobite from the Burgess site which is a UNESCO Heritage site I could have been fined up to $1 million per fossil. It probably sounds strange but I find most of my fossils on the roofs of buildings. They use smaller sized river washed rocks on the top of flat roofs and since I'm a high-rise window cleaner I'm always up there. My co-worker hates that I'm always looking for rocks lol.
@@BrodyYYC Come to Texas .... You can find and take home all the fossils you want!
World during prehistoric eras: jungle and desert.
America: **i said we underwater today**
We have a summer house in Lackawanna County ( a few counties over from Swatara State Park). When I was younger the man who owned much of the mountain had a small family quarry. He showed me a fossil of a fish. This wasn't just a small fish, but quite large. He would find fossils but it wasn't what he was looking for. He wanted to make stone. He also told me of finding a huge hole in his quarry and dropped a small cap. It echoed meaning he likely had some kind of a cave below. I would think it could be like crystal cave (pa. tourist place) and have all kinds of things down there. Never had the opportunity to find fossils because he kept everyone out of there.
I never found a fossil before. But I found a rock in the pond we're on that looks like a hat. Almost as though it was really hot and hit the swamp and the front flattened out. I keep it in the basement. I call it the hat rock. It's quite heavy.
How cool that you are actually allowed to dig for fossils in this park. Parks out west tend to be much more restrictive. Great video!
Cool video, thanks for posting. You also found a Greenops trilobite pygidium at 2:55.
Thanks
@@thewanderingwoodsman7227 What is a trilobite?❤️
I first found out about this spot when I was a teenager. I’ve been back several times since but most of what I’ve found so far are what appear to be small clam shells. It’s always interesting to see what you dig up. Good luck and thanks for sharing.
At 7.07 you definitely have a trilobite pygidium (tail). Clean up with a toothbrush. Trilobites molted their pygidia so are often found in isolation. Keep going and splitting some of those larger blocks of shale along their planes. Congratualtions!
I agree with further splitting of the larger blocks he knocked off. I was going to comment that until I saw your comment.
Why are the holes in the ground left open!? Not cool.
I love fossils and science
The shells your finding with a trough running threw the middle of the shell is called mucrospirifer if that info helps.
I love fossil hunting! I live in a pretty good place for it. The mountains to the west has tons of ancient ocean fossils. To the east is the badlands with fossils of much larger animals from like 65-200 million years ago. Plus to the south you'll find our colorful official provincial fossil ammolite.
Triblodite are fun! They are an index species ,well studied, they were around for along time , changing slowly..so match the details and you get a pretty good date . Most animals you want the teeth ,
That was most definitely a partial trilobite, probably a Calymene.
As for the shells you found, most of them were actually brachiopods, not "clams" as such.
And yes, there really is a difference between a brachiopod and a pelecypod (clam, oyster, mussel, etc.).
I was about to comment naming the fossils but I guess you already did surprised somebody got the naming right.
Actually, looks more like a phacopid - Probably Eldredgeops rana.
@@TJfossil there the same trilobite phacopid and eldredgeops same one you mean but the outer parts would be flatter then super curved rounded.
I remember being a kid, and liking trilobites better than Dinosaurs!
Pssh...
first off I appreciate the Tolkien quote and I really enjoy watching Alot of my old haunts. I'm from Tremont area so I grew up around some of these locations. would love a video on the boxcar rocks! they are not that far from your fossil spot.
I have a video of the boxcar rocks already, but I will probably go back again soon and make another video.
I dug on that pile of rubble and found a fossil after 30 minutes. Best part of the hike was walking down a couple miles to Bordner's Cabin and seeing that amazing waterfall!
The area where you were hunting is famous for a trilobite called Cryptolithus, which was what you had the tail of - most of them are going to be pieces. The big brachiopods are also up there. O found nearly a whole one in the same spot a little over 2 inches across. The 81 overpass was incredible for trilobites and brittle starfish - unfortunately they are no longer allowing fossil hunting there.
I have not been up that direction lately. I did now know the fossil dig there was closed off. I was going to suggest that place to Cliff. My Son and Grandson spent an afternoon there and I was astounded at what they found. (I collected fossils in my youth and have a couple of real gems, like a complete clam, partially open and one can see the vent.) Back to the kids. What astounded me the most was they found some complete aquatic animals, fully 3 dimensional. They were fairly small, but complete and extremely fragile.
Have you tried the creek yet? lime stone is great place to find trilobites. I'm in Illinois , find trilobites in the lime stone in
Kankakee river.
I live in Turtle Creek Pa and with all of the coal I haven’t found any fossils unless I have to look in the limestone cliffs
Looks like a lot of fun, thanks for the video.
Id have a hard time leaving these places!
hi from Thailand I love it
Thanks for the cool little adventure! Saw you on JP's channel & added yours. The one you & he did of the falls, then cooking at the end of March, beginning of April 2020 was super cool.
"This place tends to be pretty hit or miss."
Me, in my head: i guess they never miss, huh
Thing is, just about every place in the world is "Hit or Miss!"
I don't think no one in this community would get this
Got a boyfriend!? I bet he doesn't kiss ya
Cliff thank you for all of your content, love watching your travels. This is off topic but the dragonfly insect repeller , does it work? And if so, where’d you get it please? Tia
Beltsville state park has fossils too.
Wow, nice finds. Thanks for sharing 👍🏼
Wow nice fossil very nice
Those yellow brachiopods look pretty cool in that dark material.
Yep, very pretty mineralization.
Glad to see someone else knew exactly what they were.
Hi sir we have a big big pearl if you are interested please let me know sir here is my whatsapp+639386515220 thnks
enjoyed, Thank you for posting, neat finds
Trilos are my favorite animals, love them.
I absolutely love your fossil videos!
Thanks
Though this video is 3 years old, its good to see the US out doors. I'm from Savannah but stuck in Vietnam during Covid lock down. You look like a Civil War soldier, maybe 151st Pennsylvania Regiment...
Found the fossils of these on my grandparents old porch swing pretty weird looking but cool. Interesting to know about🙂💥👍💥
Who knows what you may find there along the creek. I used to find huge amounts of fossils at the foot of Cloudland Mnt
In Alabama. Right alongside
a tail rosd track when i was a kid. I had shoe boxes full but my mothet hating clutter always threw them out unfortunately. I had some awesome ones of sll kinds of bones. Mskes me sick to this fay anf im on my 60s. Dont let anyone fool you. You never change. Only our bodies become old and painful. I hate it as i still am a young woman trapped in an old body
Enjoy your youth. Dont take it for granted. It doesn't last forever. Tramp to your hearts desire. Advice from me to you. From an older wanderer
God bless
Nice video.
Three words of advice: Head mounted camera.
😁👍
very great find. much respect
@3:36 Looks like a prehistoric plane wing :P
Awesome to hold something that old in your hand and just think how long it's been there and what's changed over the time while it has laid there
Trilibite for sure.
Awesome video man, good job!
Thanks
Buen video, bonito el trilobites😉
Very cool.
Ahah! I'm a geologist but from your intro I had no idea where you were. But you are at a state park in eastern Pennsylvania and are finding fossils in a black shale. I'm assuming it is Devonian and perhaps a Marcellus equivalent? You found a bunch of brachiopods and some pelecypods (bivalve) shells. The later are what we commonly see on the beach nowadays and we eat in chowder or on the half shell. Brachiopods while very common in the Paleozoic are rare today. But they still exist alive on the planet.
I enjoyed looking for Fossils Cliff.I have a couple of Fossils, an egg my Brother found, and aTrilobite.
@D S Sorry i did not reply sooner Cliff. I do not know what type of egg it is, but whaterver was inside had hatched. the egg in its fossil state is about 7 cm around egg and only 3 quarters remain.the length is 9 cm .
Where did these fossils come from ? Was that area covered by ocean at one time in the past ?
It was all covered with water.
Do you take them home? Or leave them for someone else to find?
Where is this again? I’m i SW Virginia in the Appalachians near East Tennessee. I usually find shells that are totally black in color inside some type of black flaky rock that smells of oil. At 51 years old this old retired army veteran is trying to learn something new.
Join a local.mineral.or fossil club. People are always enthusiastic and like.having new.folks along. .at least that's how they are in the northeast
Cool trilobite ! We have 3 or 4 places here in Alabama where we find them . May go hunt some Saturday .
Look. Like millions years old cells .
You are very lucky man find anything .👍👍👍
Man-made lake in benbrook Texas surrounded by Marine fossils have several bucketfuls some as large as 10 or 12 in around most of them are bigger than your hand
You must be back in my home stompin grounds around maybe Cincinnati ohio butler Hamilton kinda area mayyybe ?👍. Not all wonderers r lost it's true. ...but they r ALSO not complete either🤔✊ nice post!
Awesome
Interesting place for archaeologist or geologist ! Federal land? Not restricted area ? Free to pick anything? The area must have been under the ocean millions years?
Great finds.
Man. Everything out of focus! Sugestion: put them on your open palm, and use it as a focusing surface. If you let the ground on screen, the autofocus will latch to it.
Mahantango Formation? Devonian?
great channel.
Man, try to put a large object behind your small rocks, like your hand. That way your camera can actually focus on it.
I loved you video! 🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎
The trilobite you found is the tail and part of the body of a phacops trilobite.
How do you know where to find such fossils?
Thanks so much. I also wander and wonder at Everything! Do you take questions?
yes
might I send you a pic of rock to help me ID?
you may
I LOVE YOUR VIDS!
At around 3 minutes you are holding a trilobite with spikes around its shell
What is the park ? I live pa would love to take my boys all my 6 year old talks about is finding fossils 💗
Also from one of my trilobites what you fount sure looks like one...it looks like it's missing the head and a bit of the middle but you definitely have the sides
Come visit us and we can go up to Simi Valley. I can show you ancient coral fields 900 feet above sea level. There’s also some very interesting old shell formations. Let us know if you’re ever this way and will take you out there. We are in socal California.
Nice trilobite I hope you take care of it and where is that place
where is this and is it legal to take such from a state park??
Where is this place again?
I found Brachiopods in the river bank behind my school !
The really good spot thats loaded with trilobites and star fish is out along the road, if you shoot me a PM I'd be happy to show ya where its located.
Is it in GA, or elsewhere?
What park is he in I didn’t catch it
KInda looks like some vuvas and a dirty spot in the middle... Good work man..
nice Fossil
Nice trilobites
That one is defo a trilobite
Is this in Ohio? If it was finding trilobites isn’t that hard, still that’s awesome
Fossil hunt when i was a kid many years.i think it doesnt mean its thousand years old.^_^
can you find and take fossils in England without the danger of a fine?
Is this legal?
What is the name of park you have found it?
Swatara state park
Hey man would you be willing to sell the fossils you discarded or did not want?
Really? You'd buy fossils? Id find some for you for free if you lived near lol!. This isnt scientific what soever, but if you live in PA on the side of cliffs is usually where i find a pile.
چرا فسیلا رو بر نمی داره ? تو شهر ما اصلا فسیلی پیدا نمیشه هیچی حتی فسیل آبزی کوچک هم پیدا نمیشه!🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♀️🤦♀️
Where is this located in PA? I live in Central, PA and have found fossils like the ones you are finding, never found a trilobite though.
Jacob Peters -he’s in Swatara State Park in Lebanon County
Which state park were u at?
Have you panned for gold?
@ 3:54 ...*that is a heart urchin (sea urchin-cretaceous) slightly left center screen*
Hey sorry I didn't get what he said where is this?
Wow, those must be millions of years old. 😆
At least 252 million years old at the youngest, and over 500 million at the oldest.
centuryrox
How do you know that?
@@JTH148 Trilobites made their first appearance in the fossil record at about 520 million years ago, and they were wiped out to extinction during the Permian Mass Extinction event at around 252 million years ago.
centuryrox
Okay, but my question is how do you ”KNOW” that?
What mass event took place and how do you know that?
@Jax Hill You being facetious? 😁
I found hundreds of fossils on one day here
hmm interesting i guest will subscribe to you
What age is that formation ?