New bone and fossils excavated from Stainton gravel beds

This ulna piece was found over 2 metres into the gravel bed, it seems to have a hole created by a fang and other teeth marks.

Unknown vertebrae piece

Unknown radius

Unknown jaw piece

Unknown vertebrae

Note the instant colour and shine once these bones are simply washed and dried.

More can be viewed regarding the Stainton gravel beds by clicking the link below
The Stainton gravel beds

Bone excavated from deposit above Stainton gravel beds.

I found these rib pieces today in my main excavation at Stainton beck, the end of one of the ribs can be seen just below the end of the tool. Other parts of the two ribs fell away as i removed the clay, they can be seen in the top right of the image.

The image below shows the packed sandy clay layer just above the Stainton gravel bed, before i started digging.

Note how tightly packed and previously undisturbed the clay around the bones are.

The image above shows one rib above the other in the centre.

This image shows the sandy clay layer that contained the bones now removed, the layers above and there are at least two were created by the last actions, of the retreating ice of the last major cold stage.

Rib and distal tibia fragment excavated from Stainton gravel beds.

I found this rib piece over 2 metres into this dig, just above the packed gravels.

I also found what i think is a fragment of a distal tibia.

Note how packed the gravels are around the bone.

There are at least six different layers in this excavation, including the ever present red clay beneath the gravel layer. These two layers are to be found at all the locations i have excavated in the south west area of Cleveland, so i now think there is more than a good possibility that this sequence of layers extend from at least Stainton to Ormesby beck in the cypress road area of Marton Middlesbrough.

 

More can be viewed regarding the Stainton gravel beds by clicking the link below

The Stainton gravel beds

Example of the magnetic properties of the Cleveland dyke at Stainton.

I dug this cobble from Stainton Quarry and as with the majority of the whinstone ive tested in this area, it attracts a magnet. 

As far as i can gather at this preseant time the Andesite dyke stone from this area has never been reported as magnetic ie attract a magnet

 

The fact that this cobble attracts the magnet, and others I've tested in the old Stainton quarry workings, makes it clear that for some reason the dyke stone in the Stainton area has a different make up than that of other stretches of the dyke, one being the outcrop about a mile north west at Stainsby beck, the dyke stone in the outcrop did not hold the same magnet, yet a layer of broken down whinstone laying between two separate clay deposits above the dyke outcrop was all magnetic?

 

For more info and images regarding my  research into other magnetic minerals please click the link below.

The magnetic properties of the Cleveland dyke in t...

 

Mandible excavated from Stainton gravel beds.

My Daughter found this jaw fragment from a new dig in a section of packed gravel 5 metres east of my main dig at Stainton, at the moment i can not identify it. The teeth don't match bovine horse or cervidae that i have or have viewed. The radius i believe could be from the same animal? it apeares to be cervidae?

                        More can be viewed regarding the Stainton gravel beds by clicking the link below
                                                                The Stainton gravel beds

Flint ( burrow ) Nodule

I found this recently how and why it was among the magnetic whinstone i am studying at the moment i have no idea.
And i state now it was not excavated from the Stainton gravel beds !
 

The nodule has a rough outer texture but has razor sharp edges!

I am told these burrow nodules usually contain fossils but flint is new to me , and at the moment i don't quite know what to look for !?

I think its a beautiful piece almost alien in appearance.

Septarian Nodule dug from the Stainton gravel beds...


 

New deposits uncovered shrouding the Stainton gravel beds.

These are the latest deposits uncovered at Stainton with the red clay bottom then gravels, then an organic layer.

There is what i believe to be a natural spring shown to the left.

More Andesite (whinstone) that atracts a magnet

I discovered this whinstone today it has been used as a bridge in two locations over a drainage channel just south of the larchfield community, there's a 16 inch pipe under the stone so i imagine it was done in the early to mid 20th century, probably with left over mined whinstone from the Stainton area.
All the stone in the image attracted the magnet shown stuck to the whinstone block above the pipe.

Excavations.

This post is to reassure any groups or individuals who come across my blog that there is no lasting damage to the becks and no wildlife is ever disturbed. If there are signs of life ie Voles or even rats the area gets left alone.
As for the becks themselves any excavations are out of sight, and done in such a manor that the natural flooding of the beck will restore any area back as it was, in the main i choose areas that have recently collapsed naturally therefore not changing the natural course of the becks.
One thing i have noticed that may be of interest to people involved with the wildlife of the becks is wherever i see these ancient deposits exposed, ie the river gravels clays  some laminated some not, Voles and other small mammals have had no interest in digging into now or in the past, the material is probably to tough to get through.