# Sand Dollar



## BSFR98 (Oct 15, 2010)

I enjoy reading this forum from time to time to look at all the finds you guys have.  I did my internship with GP about 12 years ago and when checking survival plots on a huge tract in Twiggs county I found many of arrowheads.   I ended up walking down a logging road that that was real steep that headed down toward the river.   I was looking for a tree survival plot in over grown clearcut. I turned around and noticed something round in the road which was washed out a good bit.  A perfect circle.  I declared it's got to be an Indian artifact.   I picked it up and turned it over and it was a sand dollar!  I felt like it was a piece of gold but I feel that way if I find any type or piece of an arrowhead.  I don't have it here at work but I will bring it in and post a picture of it on Monday.  Right there on the fault line!  Got to be solid proof that the ocean was almost to Macon at one time.   I just wanted to know if any of you  have ever seen or found one or something with regard to the ocean.  There was also corral on the backside of some big rocks in a black bog on that tract.  The foresters I worked for showed me the corral.  I don't have any of that.   I will have to gather up all my arrow heads and take a picture of that too because I'm ignorant when it comes to what type and tribe these came from.  Always been curious though.


Below is the picture of the sand dollar and some arrowheads that got which range from Twiggs counties to the south.  The sandollar looks like it's got cement poured into it.  Petrofied.  I would be curious to know actually how old it is.  If anyone can tell me more about the arrow heads then that would be great too.  My favorite is the bird point on the bottom right and the drill bit to the left of it. It seems all of them are not perfect but either way I cherish them.  The second picture is the drill bit with opposite angles if you can tell.


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## fishfryer (Oct 15, 2010)

There are sea shells in many field rocks just below the fall line.The Cemex plant(the old PennDixie plant at Clinchfield,Ga)used to allow rock and mineral clubs to gather specimens in their mines.Shark teeth,sanddollars,and even fossilized  a whale skeleton have been found there.The chalk mines in Twiggs and Wilkinson counties are other such sites.Many ancient tree stumps are found way under ground there,also.


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## squirreldoghunter (Oct 15, 2010)

I found this sand dollar in Big Grocery Creek in Oaky Woods years back. I guess it's fossilized, it's hard as a rock and has some limestone deposits on it. It's in pretty good shape especially if it's as old as what this article suggests. I don't think I'll be in that good a shape in 65 million years, fossilized or not. 

http://www.saveoakywoods.com/about-oaky-woods/geology

I know folks who have found sharks teeth across the river in Bleckley County near the spot mentioned in the article.


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## jcinpc (Oct 16, 2010)

awesome find, yes there are some fine  teeth found in the Flint heres a tooth my buddy found on the flint






Middle Eocene (40-35 million years ago)
Size and Weight:
Up to 60 feet long and 50-75 tons
Diet:
Fish and squids
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Enormous size; small flippers; short head with narrow snout
About Basilosaurus:
One of the odd things about paleontology is that incorrect names can sometimes take precedence over correct ones. For example, when its bones were first discovered in 1843, the prehistoric whale Basilosaurus was incorrectly identified as a marine reptile--hence its name, Greek for "king lizard." Scientists then tried to amend their mistake by calling it Zeuglodon (after a feature of this enormous mammal's teeth), but usage has since reverted to the earlier, incorrect moniker.

Whatever you choose to call it, Basilosaurus was one of the largest animals of the Eocene epoch, rivaling earlier, landbound sauropod dinosaurs like Seismosaurus and Argentinosaurus in size. Because it had such small flippers, relative to its bulk, it's believed that Basilosaurus swam by undulating its long, snake-like body; today, it's the official state fossil of both Mississippi and Alabama, where various specimens have been found.

Sauropods are one thing; how did Basilosaurus measure up against the giant marine animals of prehistoric times? Well, it was certainly bigger than either Kronosaurus or Liopleurodon (the biggest members of the breed of marine reptiles known as pliosaurs), and it seemed to be in roughly the same weight class as the monster shark Megalodon, which lived at least 10 million years later. Sadly, these two giants never got a chance to meet, so we'll never know which would have prevailed in a face-to-face battle.


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## Ballplayer (Oct 16, 2010)

I have friends who build bridges for construction companies and they regularly pull sand dollars, shark teeth, fossils as much as 12-15 ft. below creek/river beds when doing bridge piling work( not sure what you call it ). The dollars they have shown me have all been pure white. Almost unbeleiveable !


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## BSFR98 (Oct 18, 2010)

Guys, that is cool descriptions and the sharks tooth is awesome. It almost looks fake.  I'm sure we have know idea what is below the ground that construction, mining workers etc find.


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## Nicodemus (Oct 18, 2010)

The only two arrowheads in the top picture, are the two triangles on the right side of the picture, The rest are atlatl dart points and knife blades. The beveled piece is a resharpened blade. Nice finds.


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## BSFR98 (Oct 18, 2010)

Nicodemus said:


> The only two arrowheads in the top picture, are the two triangles on the right side of the picture, The rest are atlatl dart points and knife blades. The beveled piece is a resharpened blade. Nice finds.



So the beveled pc. is a resharpened blade.  What do you mean by that?  Please go into more detail if you can.  
I need to do some reading/research 
Thanks for the explination.


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## Nicodemus (Oct 18, 2010)

BSFR98 said:


> So the beveled pc. is a resharpened blade.  What do you mean by that?  Please go into more detail if you can.
> I need to do some reading/research
> Thanks for the explination.





A stone blade dulls with use, just as a modern steel blade does. The best way to resharpen a stone blade, with the least loss of material, is to lay the blade down on a leather palm pad, and flake straight down at a 90 degree angle with a pressure flaker, then turn the blade over and do the same thing again on the other edge. This removes the least amount of material and still leaves a very sharp edge. After a couple of resharpenins`, the blade takes on the beveled shape. 

Contrary to popular belief, this was not to make the point spin in flight. These people didn`t think arrows and atlatl darts spinned in flight.


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## BSFR98 (Oct 18, 2010)

Nicodemus said:


> A stone blade dulls with use, just as a modern steel blade does. The best way to resharpen a stone blade, with the least loss of material, is to lay the blade down on a leather palm pad, and flake straight down at a 90 degree angle with a pressure flaker, then turn the blade over and do the same thing again on the other edge. This removes the least amount of material and still leaves a very sharp edge. After a couple of resharpenins`, the blade takes on the beveled shape.
> 
> Contrary to popular belief, this was not to make the point spin in flight. These people didn`t think arrows and atlatl darts spinned in flight.



Thanks for the explination!!


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## bowyer (Oct 18, 2010)

Really nice finds BSFR98. The most unusual fossil I have found was  some  crab claws in Houston Co. They were in a kaolin deposit with numerous shark teeth. 
I am curious as to where you found the pottery shard. I have not seen any with that design from the Middle Georgia area.


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## BSFR98 (Oct 18, 2010)

bowyer said:


> Really nice finds BSFR98. The most unusual fossil I have found was  some  crab claws in Houston Co. They were in a kaolin deposit with numerous shark teeth.
> I am curious as to where you found the pottery shard. I have not seen any with that design from the Middle Georgia area.



Thanks. As for the pottery, I cannot remember which county that came out of. I worked Twiggs to Washington then down to Telfair to Toombs.  I do remeber that it was near a river so I'm thinking somewhere right there where the Alltamaha and Oconee run.


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## Katera73 (Oct 18, 2010)

neat stuff!!!


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## jw37 (Oct 18, 2010)

I had a piece of property in Danville, Wilkinson county and i found 2 sharks teeth in a rock along with some fossils


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## Chris Whitaker (Oct 26, 2010)

I have 2 grey sharks teeth i found one in cherokee co. Ga on the lake bed & the other i found in northern burke co. Ga in what we call the oyster beds, also got a fossil of a small plant in some white/red chert from burke co


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