"Do you want to go fossil hunting?"
A text message I've received exactly one time in my entire life.
Obvious answer - YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This particular type of fossil huntin' was in a sandy cliff and beach area that millions of years ago was underwater, prime fossils include shark teeth, crocodile teeth, and fossil shells. To find such treasures you need to sift through the sand. Some people BUY sieves, use kitchen colanders (aka strainers), or buy wood and screening to make their own box sieve. I wanted to make my own sand sieve, for free.
Lucky for me there were some discarded screens in the disposal area.
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| Raw material for an adventure. |
My design was inspired by the leather catch-alls you see for sale in the 'gifts for men' section of home decor magazines. Basically a square with the corners pinched together to make a kind of low basket. To make my sieve I did the following:
1. Cut a large square of the window screen mesh (~2ft x 2ft)
2. Fold the edges about 1 inch over, then over again (so the cut edged are less likely to poke your fingers)
3. Use a hole punch to punch a hole near the corner on each edge.
4. Thread twisty-tie through two holes at one corner, wrap, secure.
5. Add chopsticks on two sides inside the folded mesh section, for reinforcement.
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| Supplies and a sieve. |
I made some other sieves in the car on the way to the fossil huntin' beach, one of them was a triangle, because why not?
When we arrived at the beach this poster gave us some inspiration and guidance about what to look for.
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| Look! |
Turns out fossil huntin' at this beach is a mix of swimming, sitting, sifting, and not losing the interesting things you find. Some of our party found what appeared to be fossil crocodile teeth, cool! I found some nice rocks and shells, but clearly we need to go back until we find a giant fossil shark jaw or at least a Megalodon tooth. All in all a wonderful day at the beach with friends.
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| Hard at work, prospecting for fossils. |
Happy fossil huntin', dumpster divin', and freestylin' as you go.