BONV001 - COLLECTION OF NUMEROUS SHARK AND OTHER VERTEBRATE FOSSILS FROM THE FAMOUS BONE VALLEY FORMATION PHOSPHATE DEPOSITS

Product Description

ID

Shark, Dugong, Fish, Gomphothere
Turtle, Mastodon, Crocodile, Horse

FOUND

Bone Valley Fm - Central Florida, U.S.A.

AGE

MIOCENE TO PLIOCENE:  15 - 4.5 million

SIZE

varies

CONDITION

NO REPAIR OR RESTORATION

NOTE

LARGE VARIETY COLLECTION OF FOSSILS
FROM MANY DIFFERENT VERTEBRATE
FAUNA OF THE BONE VALLEY DEPOSITS.
PERFECT FOR TEACHING, GIFTS FOR 
KIDS, OR JEWELRY.  UNIQUE BONE
VALLEY PRESERVATION.

Actual Item - One Only

Comes with a certificate of
authenticity / information sheet

This is a collection of a variety of vertebrate fossils collected over several years from the phosphate mines in the Bone Valley Formation, decades ago when it was legal to enter the area.  For at least 20 years, the mines have forbid entry by fossil collectors.  There are numerous fossils from rays, sharks of a variety of species, fish, mastodon, dugong, horse, crocodile, turtle, to name a few.  This would be a perfect study collection for class or clubs or, an ideal collection to make gifts or jewelry from with the many unique fossils that are included in this group.  There are some really cool fossils in this group!  All fossils are exactly as they were collected.  Bone Valley offers a highly unique formation to produce fossils with colors that are not seen ANYWHERE else on the planet!

From the middle Miocene, 16 million years ago to the earliest Pliocene, about 4.5 million years ago, no other region in North America can claim a more varied and richer wealth of important vertebrate fossil finds than from the famous BONE VALLEY region in the phosphate mining district of Central Florida.  During this time, thick forests and grassy plains covered a stubby peninsula that only went as far south to what is now Polk County.  If you were to visit this area at that time, you would find six-foot tortoises, shovel-tusked mastodons, hornless rhinos, humpless camels, iguanas, gila monsters, and 30-foot crocodiles.  The warm waters surrounding the area were filled with a rich variety of life as well, including long-beaked dolphins, bony fish, rays, sea cows and sharks including the notorious and now extinct giant killer shark, megalodon.

Bone Valley fossils are rare and highly-priced specimens.  Due to the unique geological characteristics of the phosphate-rich region, most of the fossils are beautifully preserved with amazing detail and color.  Unlike the majority of southeastern U.S. fossils retrieved from rivers and streams, Bone Valley specimens are found in dry earth and are not stained with the typical cruddy black and brown muck from rivers.  Because Bone Valley fossils comprise so much variety of both ancient marine and terrestrial creatures, along with their unique and rare beauty of preservation, specimens from this locality are very rare and of great value to any fossil collection.