Fossils from the Stainton gravel beds.

Lepidodendron root Stigmaria ( carboniferous clubmoss)

Ammonite, Bucklandae.

Unknown trace fossil.

Gryphaea.

Ammonite.

Ammonite.

Ammonite.

Ammonite

Ammonite

Nut?

 Coral.

Coral

Coral.

Fossils from the Stainton gravel beds.

I believe this to be a brachiopod of some kind.

New cervical vertabrae

The wrist band of the glove points to the hole in the packed gravels the cervical vertabrae was found.

Today after a lot of digging to remove collapsed lacustrine material using half a spade! it snapped! ive found a cervical vertebrae even further into the packed gravels, it doesn't mach bovine or horse.

Stainton gravel beds, and clay deposits.

 These very good pics were taken by Andy cooper a geologist from tvriggs who  has helped me a lot along with Alan, the two lads visited the site with me and although i had doubts about the group early doors i was totally won over by there professionalism and friendly approach, i am totally gob smacked about the level of Andy's commitment to discovering more about the geology of this area, the  man deserves a medal!

Isolated  layer below

 preserved organic layer underneath the Stainton gravel beds.

 I have recently collected and sieved a sample of the organic material pictured below and found a lot of what look to be hazelnuts and other unknown seeds, the hazelnuts are intact yet hollow.

Close up of a section of the Stainton gravel beds, with organic material between the two fine gravel layers, for some as yet unknown reason at least a third of these smaller gravels are highly magnetic, i am going to collect samples from deeper into the gravels for the tvrigs group to make a deeper petrographic analysis of the magnetic meterial.



One  layer below my tea cup, and probably at least another two above the Stainton  gravel beds pictured above.



Close up of two separate  layers



New bones excavated from the Stainton gravel beds.

 

The image above shows my latest find just above the trowel

The yellow glove marks the spot i started digging into the hard packed gravels, the new find is over 2 metres into the gravels.

The pic above shows the new find sitting above what i believe is the compressed remains of part of a preserved tree.

The gravels are visible above and below the preserved wood.

The pic above shows the fossil bone almost dug out with the blue- gray layer above.

These pics show the rib piece i have yet to identify it but it looks to have belonged to Ungulate

Bone excavated from deposit above Stainton gravel beds.

These were found today over 2 metres into the river gravels

 Two of the bones join perfectly to the earlier proximal radius finds pictured below.

 Note the fractures, i believe the bones would have broken as the river gravels became more compact.

All images and information was immediately sent to Tees Archaeology and the fact that this is a large cervid radius and ulna found in this condition in ancient river gravels seems of little interest.

These bones were found over 2 metres into the tightly packed river gravels, i am now in no doubt that most of the other bones ive found in this areas deep cutting becks, were originally buried in these gravels before the becks cut through releasing them. I also now believe the beck causes the black staining and the bones that have spent the most time in the becks natural recent sediments, ie fresh organic waste are more likely to have the black coating.

I have at the present time no way of knowing how long it took the beck to cut through the  ancient river gravel layer so can't say how long this process takes. But bones found with the orange staining and concretions still attached have obviously been released from the river gravels more recently.

Bones excavated from the Stainton gravel beds gravels

These pics show the bones after being cleaned.

Two yet unknown radius pieces and humerus.

The orange grains covering the bones are the remains of what they were buried in.

 

 I believe this is how most of my bone finds started out after being washed from the river gravels.

This was a very lucky find as i am only able to dig small parts of these gravel beds, were the beck has had thousands of years to flush the gravels!

Unknown jaw still completely covered in the fine gravels and sediments from these ancient river gravels, Tees Archaeology have been sent these images and given the relevant information as has the Dorman museum Middlesbrough with so far little interest from tees archaeology and none from Dorman museum Middlesbrough.

Bovine carcuss only 2 weeks after death!

This bovine carcass has only been exposed to the elements and life that feeds off it for 2 weeks.

I think its plain to see bone does not last to long left exposed, even without the presence of larger scavengers

Ive added this post so viewers can understand why i am so adamant the undamaged fossil bone on this site must have been buried almost immediately.

Staintons unknown geology

The excavation above measures about 1.5 by 2 metres.

This image shows two separate unknown clay deposits, I have recently visited the site with Andy cooper a local geologist who has informed me he believes the deposit is probably alluvial i am waiting for his full report on the sites, and will post any new information as i get it.

There is also a separate seems of red clay running through the blue deposit..

.  There is an identical deposit a kilometre away at Maltby beck, about the same depth in relation to the surrounding land as the exposed layers at Stainton beck.

The blue layer is at least 3 metres deep and sits on top of an older deposit, . The beck is currently cutting through the older red deposit,  and looks to have been doing so for a very long time