Red Hill
Red Hill Hunt
April 2009
Red Hill is an interesting site. It contains remains of one of the Earth’s earliest tetrapods, one of the first true forests, and even one of the first forest fires. The main reason why many people come to red hill is to find early Devonian fish. Namely lobe finned fish, placaderms, and primitive sharks. As stated in all my trip reports pertaining to this site, the fossils are fragmentary in nature and very difficult to extract.
The DVPS led this trip. They came prepared with lots of heavy hammers, chisels, and shovels. The trick to this site is to create/clear off a shelf, and then to neatly split slabs off the shelf. Many of the DVPS crew are pros at doing this. Within minutes they will all be lined up clearing off a large shelf along a productive layer for extraction.
I on the other hand am not a pro. I spent most of my time looking for an area that could be turned into a shelf. Then I spent many futile attempts at trying to clear off a shelf. Finally when I cleared one off, it was the wrong layer. Needless to say, I did not get a large shelf cleared off where I could just pull up fossil laden slabs. By the end of the trip (when my arm was too sore to swing a sledge anymore) I had found a few Hyneria fish teeth, and some fragmented placaderm armor. On a sad note, one of the larger Hyneria teeth I found blew into dust in the wind before I could reach for glue to stabilize it. Al in all, I’m not disappointed, I have come to expect hardships from this site. However, it is such an interesting site, I will for sure return again to try my luck.
Pics of the Site!
Club members are collecting along Red Hill
Here, some of the DVPS crew are clearing off a shelf for extraction.
On the far right is Doug Rowe, the Paleontologist from the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences who oversees Red Hill.
Fossils Found!
Here is one of the finds, a Hyneria Lindae tooth.
These are two Hyneria Lindae teeth.
This is another Hyneria Lindae tooth in the matrix.
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