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Fossil hunting in Ireland
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St Johns Point near Killybegs is coming down with fossils.A friend showed me recently.Now I didn't get all the way out to the end but I have highlighted the area we stopped at and the fossils were everywhere.I have some in situ pics somewhere I'll dig out but here are the bigger pieces.I don't know what they are and wasn't aware of No-hammer laws but these were jostled out by hand.There are some big ammonite looking spirals which are cemented right into the rock of the shorefront.
this is the spot--where the road runs right alongside the seafront
couldn't resist putting this up.It's a huge orthoceras I got a few years ago.Originally from Morocco.It's about 2 feet long
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Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,170 Mod ✭✭✭✭
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The first one is a brachiopod(spirifer?), the second is a solitary rugose coral, likely caninia, the third might be the same, or parts of a crinoid? The original deposit looks like a death assemblage, IE when the animals died they were washed around in the surf and collected in spots, so it's all jumbled up(looks quite compressed too). A life assemblage is where they got preserved where they lived kinda thing. Cool finds though ME. Nice one.
Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.
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Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,170 Mod ✭✭✭✭ Join Date:Posts: 59098
It's not much and a crappy pic, though all I could salvage from the attic...
A few corals, brachiopods, molluscs and ferns, all from the carboniferous period. I have more, but god knows where they're scattered.Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.
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It's not much and a crappy pic, though all I could salvage from the attic...
A few corals, brachiopods, molluscs and ferns, all from the carboniferous period. I have more, but god knows where they're scattered.
I must say that mollusc shell at far right is my favourite...would taht have been something similar to a nautulis?0 -
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Hi all,
I used to go fossil hunting when in primary school in Germany. We had a great cliff outside our house and I was able to find trilobites. Unfortunately, I never got back into it after my primary school days and would like to pick it up again and was wondering if there are any good sites to visit in North Wicklow? Any trilobites in Ireland? Sorry of this has been answered before, I admit, I didn't go through all the threads/topics.
Thanks for any help 0 -
Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,170 Mod ✭✭✭✭ Join Date:Posts: 59098
You might find some if you sought out Devonian and Silurian rocks here. There are some, but IIRC the outcrops are tiny, covered by soil. There were a few trilobites that survived into the carboniferous(which is the vast majority of Irish fossiliferous stone), but nowhere like the numbers of previous periods. They were very much on the wane by then, only down to a few species. As a kid I looked in vain for one. It was my "grail" fossil.. Nearest I got was a tiny part of one. They were a small type as it was.Any trilobites in Ireland?
The natural history museum has one alright, found here. In of all places north Dublin. Going on memory it was found in Feiltrim(sp). I do recall going out there on the bus but it was all built over. I seem to recall reading that there had been a quarry there in the past, but this was long gone. This location seemed to be the motherlode for me at the time, as going by the labels in the cases it was where a large chunk of the natural history museums fossil collection had come from, donated by some Edwardian/Victorian collector.
Maybe along the malahide coast? It would be close enough and in fact it was where I did find that fragment of one. I also found a small section of fish vertebrae and a crinoid calyx. Things I never found elsewhere. Might be worth a further look. I'd say few do, or have since the Edwardian bloke collected way back in the day. Now if any north Dubliner knows of the remains of said quarry, or similar outcrops...Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.
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. In of all places north Dublin. Going on memory it was found in Feiltrim(sp). I do recall going out there on the bus but it was all built over. I seem to recall reading that there had been a quarry there in the past, but this was long gone. This location seemed to be the motherlode for me at the time, as going by the labels in the cases it was where a large chunk of the natural history museums fossil collection had come from, donated by some Edwardian/Victorian collector.
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I have access to maps dating back 150 years,incuding this area.
It is possible that the motherlode of fossils is still accesible...if not research further..maybe find out which company performed the building work...they might remember where they dumped the "spoil" from the project.
I recall at a funeral meeting a gentleman in his 60's lamenting the fact that he asa council member was tasked to fill in a Holy Well where Donaghmede is now.
He talked about feild walking sites and finding flint arrowheads and scrapers.as i have done myself and i can still remember where i found them(under houses too sadly)
Sometimes the best kept records are the records people file in thier noggins!0 -
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Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,170 Mod ✭✭✭✭ Join Date:Posts: 59098
I was a terrible messer at 8 years of age (still am).
Yea they're called something like "lightning stones" all over Europe. I'd imagine in the Irish language and folklore there are probably similar type names for Irish fossils. There are so many of them to be found particularly out west you would think there would be.In German these were called "Donnerkeile" or Thunder Wedges according to German Norse Mythology.
Not that I know of P. TBH I don't even know if it's still legal to do so in Ireland. Wicklow isn't going to be great for fossil bearing rocks. It's mostly made up of volcanic action igneous rocks, granite and the like. There must be some outcrops of carboniferous rocks though, as I used to find the odd good coral specimen while fishing in Bohernabreena reservoir at the top of the Dodder river. Access to a detailed local geological map might point out some areas for further investigation.To come back to what you suggested, yes, I see I would have to travel but I would prefer something around North Wicklow or Wicklow in general or even South Dublin. Just for convenience, you know? Are there any groups out there that go out?Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.
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Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,170 Mod ✭✭✭✭ Join Date:Posts: 59098
BYOH. Bring your own hammer. Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.
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