Saturday was a full day at the Fossil Festival at the Falls of the Ohio State Park in Clarksville, Indiana. The morning started out breezy and chilly with a sunny sky. Good hiking and fossil collecting weather. The first photo shows a group returning from across the Ohio River spill way which is a path to the outer Devonian and Silurian coral beds.
Visitors started visiting the collecting piles of Silurian and Devonian fossils along with the Illinois mineral pile. I mostly identified brachiopods for visitors but saw a number of
Eucalyptocrinus calyx cups being found. I got worn out digging through the pile to try and find fossils for visitors. Using a shovel was somewhat successful in breaking up some of the compacted shale but a pick would have worked better.
A young woman found the corner of a clear-to-purple fluorite cube with a phantom cube corner inside. That was a nice piece to see. Later some trilobite pieces were found including an imprint of an
Arctinerus. Jack, the fossil dog, showed up to see how every one was doing with their collection efforts.
Later, I was shown a blastoid that might be a
Troosticrinus (Shumard, 1866) which is really rare. It was fun meeting some of the dedicated fossil collectors at the piles.
The Interpretive Center has been receiving upgrades so I checked them out. The lobby displays have been removed to allow social gatherings to be held there instead. The mastodon did remain but moved to the side.
Large glass sculptures hang from the ceiling.
I finished out the day at the KYANA Geological Society table selling fossils/minerals/rocks as a fundraiser and telling visitors about the upcoming club show. We were next to students from Indiana University and University of Cincinnati. It had really warmed up by the afternoon, I wished I brought some shorts and a T-shirt to change into.
My walk back to the car I came across a flint knapper with some of his work. I believe his name was Steve and he had some very nice pieces.
