On May 29, 2021, BPS members and guests had a much-needed and super fantastic field trip to a very special private property in Montgomery County.  This gorgeous property is lovely to visit and has a creek in the back that kept all attendees screening for hours.  The creek situated in the Mooreville chalk formation of the Cretaceous period so fossil finds from today included shark teeth, enchodus teeth, gastropod steinkerns, and Hamulus worm tubes.  Several very interesting and special fossils were found, including a fragment of mosasaur jaw containing 2 teeth, a nice, large fish vertebra, a possible mastodon cusp, a fossilized rodent tooth, a fossilized beaver tooth and a couple of enchodus jaw fragments including partial teeth.  No wonder everyone was eager to keep screening!

 

Also in abundance were Native American artifacts.  Well-worn pottery shards were common on the gravel bars but a couple of nice pieces of pottery with very distinct decorations were found.  Many quartz and chert points and tools were found also, including a hand sized scraper made from dark chert.  Considering the amount of pottery in the area and the number of points found, it is fairly clear that there was Native habitation somewhere very close to the creek.  

 

Also native to the area, a banded water snake was photographed.  His behavior indicated that he was in his stealth/hunting mode.  Don’t know if he caught anything but he was not terribly disturbed by the humans nearby.  The great photo is provided by our very own Michael – thanks for being in the right spot to snap this cool guy!!

 

This could not have been any nicer of a day and trip.  The weather was ideal and so was the site.  I am happily tired and grateful to have been a part of such a good trip.