Museum in the making

I’m spending some time organizing and researching the many things we have found over the last year. I really enjoy learning about each item we’ve found.

This afternoon, I have identified some fossilized horse teeth, a partial claw of a megalonyx (an Ice Age giant ground sloth), and some fossilized colonial coral that is over 60 million years old. All of this group of finds came out of the Colorado River, right here in Wharton County.

Fossilized partial claw of an Ice Age giant ground sloth

Fossilized horse teeth

The two animal fossils- horse teeth and sloth claw would have been deposited here when these animals died. The coral wasn’t originally in this part of Texas. It would have made it down the river from central Texas over millions of years.

Fossilized colony coral with quartz mineralization showing inside the holes

It always amazes me to think about how we’re finding these things from millions of years ago as we walk on our modern river beds.