Ever since I was a small child I have been collecting fossils.  In fact, I can trace my own fascination with biology directly to my discovery that the very house in which I lived (actually a trailer back then), was set upon land literally made of these long dead and formerly ocean-dwelling ancestors and distant cousins. I'll never forget the awe that crept into my little brain as I tried to imagine enormous oceans covering my forested Ozark mountains.

When I was very young, my Mamaw (paternal grandmother) gave me a simple large toolbox for Christmas - a toolbox with a myriad little compartments intended for the sole purpose of housing my growing "rock collection."

For years I filled this box and a couple more with fossils, rocks, gems, shed snake skins, feathers, arrowheads, seashells, and all manner of relatively non-decomposable animal and plant remains - almost all of which I found myself.

The time came when I was not content to let my collection sit in toolboxes in a closet. Thus I built a shadowbox coffee table during graduate school (with super thick glass so my cats could leap onto it from 10 feet away without smashing my fossils...er...the glass and themselves). Now my collection fills my coffee table and almost every bookshelf in my home.

Shadowbox Coffee Table (click for larger)

Coffee Table Fossil Collection (& other stuff - click for larger)

Coffee Table Fossils (& other stuff - click for larger)

I've amassed a decent collection - I'm proud of it anyway, though any paleontologist or geologist would almost certainly laugh at it. Most of them are simple ocean invertebrates, as most of them came from Carboniferous Period limestone of the Ozark Mountains (the entire region is pretty much made of pure crinoids).

All of the above being said, I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I don't know that much about many of my fossils.

Thus, I am starting this series of posts to catalog my entire collection and to see what the experts out there can teach me and all of us about some of our long lost branches of life. Please, if you can add any information whatsoever, it would be much appreciated - i.e. taxonomy, factoids, comments, conjecture, anything. And please point out if I have identified anything incorrectly - a very real possibility.

For this first installment, I am going to begin with my most recent additions - all found this weekend in Bella Vista, Arkansas where I returned for my mom's wedding.

A hat tip goes out to my four nieces (ages 9 to 12) for helping me find them.

Location: Bella Vista, Benton County, Arkansas

Bella Vista, AR fossil site (within 30 meters). Click to go to Google Maps version. Fossils found mostly in gravel uplifted by roots at the bases of trees.

Fossils

What I know: based on my limited understanding of the region's geology, these rocks are primarily limestone from the carboniferous period (and I believe they are towards the boundary between Pennsylvanian and Mississippian - but I could easily be wrong. I know very very little about geology).

Note: You can click on all images for higher res/quality images. These are highly compressed for bandwidth. I've tried to give multiple views of each fossil.

#1 - Crinoid

Lateral view of the inside of a crinoid

#2 - Productid Brachiopod - Order Strophomenida

Update: information provided by Chris Nedin, of Ediacaran: "looks like a productid brachiopod. Order Strophomenida, Suborder Productidina. They can be distinguished by being large, very rounded, with a thick, heavy shell, and along the top, a very straight hinge line, with almost nothing appearing above the hinge line. An example is here at image 408."

Productid Brachiopod

Productid Brachiopod

Productid Brachiopod - view of hinge

#3 - Spirifid Brachiopod - Order Spiriferida

Update: information provided by Chris Nedin, of Ediacaran: "an internal mold of a spirifid brachiopod, Spiriferida, Suborder Spirifieridina. The shell has been filled with sediment and that has hardened. Then the original shell has dissolved away, leaving the sediment inside, which is what you see. The shape is caused because the shell tapers down to a point away from the centre, and curls somewhat. An example is here."

Spirifid Brachiopod - top

Spirifid Brachiopod - side (previous remark: "What the hell is this thing?!")

Spirifid Brachiopod - side

#4 - Rhynchonellid Brachiopod

Update: information provided by Chris Nedin, of Ediacaran: "I think the brachiopod here is a rhynchonellid. Order rhynchonellidida. An example is here."

Rhynchonellid Brachiopods, crinoids, and coral.

Rhynchonellid Brachiopods, crinoids, and coral.

#5 - Spirifid Brachiopod

Update: information provided by Chris Nedin, of Ediacaran: "another spirifid, this time weathered (see the spirifid link above)."

Spirifid Brachiopod

Spirifid Brachiopod

#6 - Crinoid

Crinoid disc impression (and some tiny disc interiors)

Crinoid disc impression (and some tiny disc interiors)

#7 - Possible Spirifid Brachiopod

Update: information provided by Chris Nedin, of Ediacaran: "not sure, maybe another spirifid."

Possible Spirifid Brachiopod - top

Possible Spirifid Brachiopod - top

Possible Spirifid Brachiopod - underside

#8 - Shelly strata

I just like this rock because you can see the shells and strata through cross section

I just like this rock because you can see the shells and strata through cross section

I know - these aren't exactly impressive specimens. However, I already had them unpacked and laid out so I figured I'd start with these. I definitely have some other cool ones to come in future posts.

If you know of any fossil aficionados, please send them this way, as I would really like to know at least a little bit more about my collection. If any of you end up being particular helpful, I may just send you one of my awesome limestone rocks made of pure crinoid discs (they're much cooler than those above), assuming you don't already have some or consider them too bland