Gettin down at Lee CreekThe 2007 spring collecting season at Lee Creek is upon us, and the active Lowcountry chapter of black river fossils made the road trip north for our slots as members of the Friends of the Aurora Fossil Museum. My anticipation was high, but after a night with less than 2 hours of sleep, I was definitely in for an “up hill” climb. (I’m so sorry for that one!) The material was exactly what we expected - Mounds and mounds of premium Yorktown and Pungo formation. Everywhere we looked we found excellent material to hunt. There were many footprints from the previous weekend’s collectors plundering the hills. No rain had fallen during the week, and even though everyone said the hills needed to dry out, I think we collectors would have appreciated some rain. Still though, there was excellent hunting everywhere and for anyone with their nose to the ground, there is always something to be found. I spent about half the day crawling in the Pungo and the other half the day digging in the Yorktown. The obvious highlight of my day was spying a megalodon tooth with only a quarter-sized section of root lobe exposed. It looked like someone stepped on it. It’s a nice tooth with obvious shamer qualities. Still though, it is my best Lee Creek megalodon find so far. Other notable finds for the day were two pristine cow shark teeth and many nice makos. I also shook my head at the tooth that could have been – a 5 7/8 inch reformulated Yorktown megalodon. With a tip, it would have been 6 inches. It was in the thick lag obviously and as a result, it got mangled. I really had to keep my eyes peeled this weekend. The teeth blended in with their surroundings so well that they were nearly invisible unless I was looking right at them. I nearly stepped on many teeth they were so well camouflaged. Usually only a small section of root or enamel was visible. There are abundant fossils in the pit but it really needs to rain to bring out the true potential of the area. With some weathering, this area will produce some fantastic fossils.
|
Location
| Lee Creek Mine, Aurora, North Carolina, USA |
| ID | 796 |
| Member | dw |
| Date Added | 3/10/2007 |
 |
| There are so many shark teeth to be found at Lee Creek that it is mind boggling to sit back and look at the results sometimes. |
|
 |
| One of the first makos I found after I stepped into the pit. |
|
 |
| I didn't see this mako until I passed it and looked back under the rock. Sometimes teeth are completely exposed but are in the shadow of a rock. |
|
 |
| A mako completely exposed in the Yorktown formation. There was a footprint inches from this well camoflaged tooth. |
|
 |
| This exposed root got me really excited. Then I unearthed less than half of what used to be an incredible tooth. This is the kind of thing you have to look for to succeed in the Lee Creek mine. |
|
 |
| A nice Pungo mako in a gully. |
|
 |
| There are loads of Carcharinus teeth in both the Pungo and the Yorktown formations. The smaller ones can be picked up by the handful from any good exposure of Pungo. The larger ones are from the Yorktown. |
|
 |
| There are also loads of Makos to be found in both Pungo and Yorktown formations. |
|
 |
| These are more rare teeth - I only found one of each. From left to right they are Galeorhinus (Tope), Sphryna (Hammerhead), and Alopias (Thresher). |
|
|