We’re Fossil Hunters (aka Nerds)

I openly admit that my mom and I are huge nerds. We are. Our “thing” is shark tooth hunting. No, not modern day shark teeth, fossilized shark teeth. We’ve been hunting for over 10 years and have a pretty awesome collection. We have a bunch of different species, even some that we can’t identify. Any shark tooth nerd will tell you that the queen mother of all finds is a Meg. A Megaladon. A big ass prehistoric shark. On a whim, earlier this week we decided to drive to Aurora, North Carolina. Aurora is a small (like a population of 520 small) city that has one blinking yellow light and the majority of their stores are closed. The only occupied buildings are the Town Hall, the Police Station and the Aurora Fossil Museum. Once a year, the museum holds a Fossil Festival where tons of people visit and bring life to the tiny town. Down the road is a phosphate mine. The phosphate contains thousands of fossils and is only open annually to special fossil clubs. The mine extracts and sifts through the phosphate then dumps a few tons of the leftovers in giant piles outside of the museum. We  spent the day digging through the phosphate piles hoping to find some megs but alas, we only found a bunch of small teeth and only one tiny Meg because of the way the phosphate is mined now. Apparently, it’s sifted so fine that it’s nearly impossible for any bigger material to be left behind. Boo.

Melanie

In love with every aspect of life's little moments and beautiful imperfections. I'm also a huge nerd.

5 Responses

  1. Chris Kennedy says:

    More adventures with Mel & Mom!

  2. Tara Saia Mildenberger says:

    Aww thats so cool…shark teeth..awesome..spending quality time with your Mom..even better:)

  3. Susan McCabe says:

    So cool

  4. Andrea Stilley says:

    Great looking megalodon. Red had a wonderful time with you, thanks for sharing the pictures.

  5. Barbara Harrelson Hadley says:

    Love your pictures. My daughter and I shared some happy hours in Aurora – some in the quarry several years back. We’ve had to find sites closer to home these days, but would love to get back down there someday.

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