Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Hard Shell Conglomerate After Some Cleaning. |
This is the clump I've been cleaning so I could see what metal object is inside The metal object hasn't been completely uncovered or identified yet but getting the clump partially cleaned, I looked at the surface a little closer and noticed the small shells, broken shells and other objects that could be thousands of years old.
Being a detectorist, I've been paying attention to the metal and not so much the clump itself. I was missing the forest for the trees.
I could see see silica and fossil shell crystals. That doesn't happen quickly. But I could also see some black specks that could very well be microfossils.
Microfossils are simply small fossils - less than 2 mm. I got into interested in microfossils some years ago and searched for them by dissolving fossil-bearing conglomerates. The usual procedure used by teh Florida State Museum is to crush that kind of material and then sift it and then inspect the sifted materil microscopically. I posted some of my suspected microfossils on the fossil forum site for identification and did indeed find some so I learned a little about identifying microfossils. However, I found process very slow and tedious and didn't keep up with it.
After some cleaning of the clump shown above and noticing that it looked like it was the right kind of material and that there were some promising black specks, I decided to look at the clump closer to see what else it might hold.
As I scanned the surface of the clump with the microscope, I got the feeling that I was touring the surface of a small planet. It took quite a while to go over the entire surface with high power magnification. There were new interesting landscapes everywhere. Millimeter by millimeter I scanned the surface trying to cover it all but probably missing some areas.
Here is one interesting overhang I discovered.
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| One Small Part of Shell Conglomerate Shown Under High Magnification. |
The black spots are likely fossils or pieces of fossils. Here is what the Florida Museum site says.
Black microfossils in Florida are typically microscopic fossils of foraminifera — single-celled marine organisms with calcium carbonate shells — preserved in sedimentary rocks. They are often found in Eocene to Pleistocene carbonate deposits such as the Ocala Limestone, Tamiami Formation, and other shallow-marine limestones (Collections Overview – Invertebrate Paleontology).
Here is another view of the landscape I photographed on the tiny planet.
In this view you can see one likely fossil sitting on the high spot just left and below the center of the photo and the much bigger one just a little above center.
There were many interesting views, and I didn't post pictures of all of them, but I wanted to give you a brief look at what I saw besides the metal object I was focused on before becoming interested in the smaller details of the clump.
If you are interested in learning more about microfossils, here is a good link to get you started.
What Are Microfossils and Why Are They Important?
Here are a a few examples of microfossils from the Florida Museum site.
The world is as big, complex and interesting as your brain can handle or allow. There is always more - much more - and unfortunately (maybe fortunately) - we are only capable of processing a very very small portion of it all. Zoom out or zoom in - there is no end.
We seek old item while constantly walking over things that are millions of years old.
They say that to the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail, but it is also true that when a treasure hunter has a metal detector, every treasure is metal. It doesn't need to be.
Your world is as big and amazing or as small as you let it be.
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| Bicentennial Medal. |
Somebody (I think maybe grandma) gave me this fifty years ago. The lasst fifty years flew by.
Happy Independence Day,
TreasureGuide@comcast.ne
Thank God for founding Fathers that thought big.
Happy Independence Day.