A Florida Collectors Guide to Fossils and Shark Teeth

One of the most fascinating pastimes that families and individuals can enjoy at all ages and experience is to go fossil hunting. It does not take long to learn the basics and start enjoying the thrill of finding and holding a piece of history. Soon you will be learning about the prehistoric creatures and the environment they live in. The term “fossil” refers to physical evidence of prehistoric life of a past geologic age. A fossil can range in age a few thousand years old to millions of years old. Depending on where the fossil was found and not the color determines the age of the fossil. Fossils include prehistoric human ancestry and the ice age fauna as well as more ancient fossil groups such as the dinosaurs, ammonites and trilobites. Shark teeth are one the most common fossils found in Florida. Fossils can be found all over the world and not just near water; some fossils found in the United States come from the badlands of Nebraska and Bakersfield California. Some of the earliest fossils that have been discovered dating over 3.5 billion years in age; it was not until about 600 million years ago that you can find complex multicellular life in the fossil records. Most of the fossils that people are looking for and find will fall into this time period. This geologic timescale is divided into different eras, which are then divided into periods. The Jurassic Period from the Mesozoic era is one of the most famous due to the abundance of dinosaur’s fossils found in this time period. Florida surface fossil exposure starts about the middle of the Eocene to recent times.