The day the sifter bit back

DownNDirty

Bronze Member
Jun 1, 2015
2,178
3,207
South Carolina
๐Ÿฅ‡ Banner finds
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๐Ÿ† Honorable Mentions:
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Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The AT Pro is at the Garrett service center getting a much-needed warranty repair. For those of you who are not aware, Garrett's customer service is second to none! I broke the tabs where the screws run to attach the housing to the shaft (my fault). I sent it to them and they have repaired it, no questions asked and it is on the way back to me at no cost. You can't beat that-and they are an American company.

In the mean time I have been having serious withdrawal symptoms and was in need of an adventure fix. Before I got addicted to metal detecting I spent a lot of time hunting for shark teeth and other fossils in the creeks of the Lowcountry of South Carolina and I decided to revisit one of the creeks last weekend. This area is 15-20 miles inland and the creeks are freshwater. Millions of years ago the ocean covered the area and all sorts of marine creatures roamed the ocean.

In preparation I built a new sifter. Because I would be sifting in the water I attached pieces of swim noodles for floatation

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Well last Saturday morning I made the 90-minute drive down and was in the water by 8:30. The drill for the next ten hours (yes it was a long day) was as follows: Walk the creek, look for patches of gravel, scoop gravel into the sifter, sift and extract the fossils. The best shark tooth of the day was a 4.5 inch megalodon tooth. Unfortunately the left side is broken off, but I'll take it

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Here it is with other smaller megalodon teeth I found Saturday

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Angustidens shark teeth; they pre-dated the megalodons by millions of years

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Here is what I'm pretty sure is a partial vertebra from a giant ground sloth

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Here it is next to a partial giant ground sloth vert I found in the same creek a few years ago; it was id'd by the Curator for Natural History at the South Carolina State Museum

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I also found a fragment of a giant ground sloth tooth

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Giant ground sloths weighed up to 4 tons and grew to a maximum size of 20 feet tall

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Other fossils I found Saturday-three alligator teeth

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A sting ray barb and dermal plate pieces

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A small mammal claw and giant beaver tooth

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Turtle shell fragments

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Dugong rib bone pieces (dugongs are close relatives of manatees)

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Whale inner ear bones

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Petrified wood and fossilized bones

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I ended a long 13-hour day with the 90-minute drive home. Long day but a lot of fun. The AT Pro is due to arrive Friday so this weekend I will get my fix lol.

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Upvote 49
love em all, history is great
 

Wow,, that was a long day of sifting. Very productive.
I like the story you told and the information you put out.
Very educational. I'm impressed.
Congratulations and thank you.
 

DnD looks like you have a good site to hit. If you'd like a few more general areas here in the LC that have produced through the years drop me a note, I'd be happy to share them with ya. I haven't been for fossils in years but have kept up with some of the producing areas, both wet and dry areas! Nice haul!!
 

Glenn looks like you got a boner or 2 while sifting
 

Wow! Those are some amazing finds. Thanks for sharing.
 

I like all of your finds, but have to go with the sharks teeth as the best. Thanks for the in depth research lesson.
 

Wow man... excellent post Glenn and I really like how you put the bits in context with info on the creatures they came from. :occasion14: Those fossils are awesome and thats a nice way to pass the time before the AT Pro gets back to you. I really enjoyed reading this one man.

Glenn looks like you got a boner or 2 while sifting

:laughing7:
 

Excellent post, a pleasure to read, thanks for sharing.
 

Your post was a joy to read, thanks for taking the time to put it together. I learned a lot and feel like you could charge us for tuition.
 

Great story, thank you for sharing. Those fossils are very cool, congratulations! :occasion14:
 

Wow! Love the hunt! That's awesome

Thanks

Wow,, that was a long day of sifting. Very productive.
I like the story you told and the information you put out.
Very educational. I'm impressed.
Congratulations and thank you.

Appreciate it ATW. I like the history behind what I find and try to share it when I can.
 

DnD looks like you have a good site to hit. If you'd like a few more general areas here in the LC that have produced through the years drop me a note, I'd be happy to share them with ya. I haven't been for fossils in years but have kept up with some of the producing areas, both wet and dry areas! Nice haul!!

Appreciate it-pm sent
 

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