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The Fossil Journal

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River vs Beach Fossil Finds in the Lowcountry

A field guide to telling river fossil shark teeth from beach fossil shark teeth in the SC Lowcountry. Learn how fossils erode from submerged Oligocene and Miocene formations into blackwater rivers like the Cooper and Edisto, giving them deep color, smooth patina, and fine preservation, versus how surf and beach renourishment deliver smaller, more worn teeth to Folly and Edisto Beach. Includes a comparison table, the realities of collecting each, and what origin means when you buy.

Jun 29, 2026

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South Carolina Fossil Formations Explained

A plain-English guide to the South Carolina coastal-plain geologic column and the fossils each layer yields — the Oligocene Cooper Group (the Ashley and Chandler Bridge Formations, with early whales, dolphins, and Otodus angustidens shark teeth), the Miocene Hawthorn Group phosphates, and the Pliocene-to-Pleistocene Ice Age deposits that produced the Columbian mammoth. With verified, well-hedged ages and why the correct formation matters for dating and valuing a specimen.

Jun 29, 2026

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The Otodus Shark Lineage: Megalodon and Its Ancestors

A curator-led guide to the megatooth (Otodus) shark lineage and how to tell the species apart by their teeth. Walk the sequence from Otodus obliquus through auriculatus, angustidens, and chubutensis to megalodon as the lateral cusplets shrink and vanish, the serrations refine, and the crown broadens into a cutting blade. Includes the honest Carcharocles-vs-Otodus naming history, why megalodon was not the great white's ancestor, and South Carolina's role as Oligocene angustidens country.

Jun 29, 2026