Month: August 2025
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Paleontologist Discovers First Known Silurian Horseshoe Crab
SciNews has an article about the discovery of a horseshoe crab fossil in the Silurian. Horseshoe crabs are known from the late Ordovician, but there was a gap of 80 million years from the Devonian. This animal, Ciurcalimulus discobolus, lived about 424 million years ago. It was collected by Samuel J. Ciurca in 1975 from the Kokomo Member…
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Field Museum: After the Age of Dinosaurs
The Field Museum has a new exhibit that looks at the time after the non-avian dinosaurs went extinct during the K-Pg Event about 66 million years ago. How did the world recover? And, how long did it take? Chicago-based illustrator Jay Ryan created original artwork for the Field Museum’s “After the Age of Dinosaurs” exhibition.
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ESCONI Field Trip to Danville Shale Pile Fossils – Saturday, September 27th, 2025
Danville Field Trip Rules for Saturday, September 27th, 2025 An ESCONI field trip to the Danville IL Shale Pile for Pennsylvanian fossils is scheduled for Saturday September 27, 2025 starting at 10 AM. This is on private property and there is an attendance limit of 25 people. The gate will be secured once we are…
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Fossil Friday #280: Mayomyzon pieckoensis
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #280. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! Mayomyzon pieckoensis is an extinct species of lamprey found…
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Throwback Thursday #280: Braceville Trip 05/16/2009
Here’s a great report from Andrew Young of the Braceville Field Trip on May 16th, 2009. Notice that the spoil pile is much bigger!
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2025 ESCONI Rock, Mineral, and Fossil Swap Report
Well, the 2025 ESCONI Rock, Mineral, and Fossil Swap is in the books. It was a huge success. This is the first time we have held this type event. Except for a little rain before setup, the weather was absolutely perfect… upper 70’s and partly cloudy. There were 19 swappers/sellers… all were selling something. We…
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This Tiny Dinosaur Wrist Bone Could Rewrite the Origins of Flight
SciTechDaily has a story that highlights a new dinosaur discovery that might rewrite the evolution of flight. New research by a team led by James Napoli, from the Department of Anatomical Sciences in the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, found that some theropod dinosaurs had a bird-like carpal bone, or pisiform. The…
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Mazon Monday #284: Mayomyzon pieckoensis
This is Mazon Monday post #284. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Mayomyzon pieckoensis is an extinct species of lamprey found in the Mazon Creek fossil biota. Pipiscius zangerli (see Mazon Monday #253) is also a lamprey from Mazon Creek. Lampreys are a group of jawless fish known for its funnel-like sucking…
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Fossil Exhibit Transports Visitors To Prehistoric Will County
The Isle a la Cache Museum in Romeoville, IL has a new exhibit “Souvenirs From the Silurian Sea: Fossils of Will County” opening on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2025. It’s a free exhibit that runs through November 30th, 2025. The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 AM to 4 PM. WJOL has a nice…
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From Warehouse to Stardom!
From Warehouse to Stardom!by Katherine Howard and Jim BiglerMany years ago, Rusty Grenier, a member of ESCONI, built a Styracosaurus sculpture with his father. After his father died, Rusty donated the sculpture to ESCONI. It was stored at the ESCONI warehouse with care…its future undecided. In March 2025, Katherine Howard and Jim Bigler, both beaming…
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Fossil Friday #279: Meringosoma sp. from the Solnhofen
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #279. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! This week’s featured fossil is a stunning…
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Throwback Thursday #279: Vacation Conversation from 1951
Back in the 1950s and 1960s, the fall “Brag-Night” turned into the fall auction. The auction was used by folks to sell off extra material collected during summer vacations. Here is a “Brag-Night” drawing from September 1967. The “Brag-Night” for 2025 (renamed to “Show and Tell” is at 7:30 PM on September 20th, 2025 at…
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‘Most remarkable’ fossil of Jurassic sea monster from Germany is previously unknown species
LiveScience has a story about a new species of plesiosaur. Plesionectes longicollum, which means to “long-necked near-swimmer”, lived during the early Toarcian age (183 million to 174 million years ago), which is the early Jurassic. The fossil specimen measures about 10 feet long and was found in 1978 from a quarry in Germany, part of…
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Fossil Shows a Sharp-Toothed Mammal That Thrived Among Dinosaurs
The New York Times’ Trilobites column has a piece about the discovery of a new mammal from the late Jurassic of England. It’s called Novaculadon mirabilis, from novacula, the Latin word for razor for its sharp teeth. The animal was about the size of a mouse and lived about 145 million years ago around what is…
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Mazon Monday #283: Mazon Creek bromalites evidence a specialized, xiphosurid-rich diet for Pennsylvanian predators
This is Mazon Monday post #283. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Another week, another new Mazon Creek paper,.. “Mazon Creek bromalites evidence a specialized, xiphosurid-rich diet for Pennsylvanian predators” was published in the journal Palaios. It was authored by Russell Bicknell, Julien Kimming, Andew Young, Bruce Lauer, Rene’ Lauer, and…
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The World’s Rarest Mineral Is So Rare It’s Only Ever Been Found Once
Science Alert has a story about the world’s rarest mineral. Kyawthuite is so rare there is only one known specimen. It was purchased at a market in Chaung-gyi in Myanmar by gemologist Kyaw Thu, who thought the raw gem was a mineral called scheelite. After cutting it, Kyaw realized it was something different. Unable to match…
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Lizzadro Museum “Exploring Gemstones: An Introduction to Gemology” Saturday August 16
Today at the Lizzadro Gemstones have dazzled humanity for centuries, symbolizing wealth, status, and personal expression. But what gives them their allure? Discover the science of gemology – the scientific journey into origins, properties, and mysteries of these natural treasures. Join Dr. Cigdem Lule for an introduction to the tools, techniques, and scientific scope of gemology. With strong…
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Fossil Friday #278: Annularia sphenophylloides
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #278. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! —————————————————– Today, we have another beautiful contribution…
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Throwback Thursday #278: Silver Tullies and Trilobites
ESCONI was more active in lapidary in the past. Until the early 2010s, there was a Lapidary Study Group. Sheila Bergmann was the study group chairman for many years. The pieces shown below are silver castings and silver plated from the Dave and Sheila Bergmann collection. There’s a few calymene trilobites and various tully monsters.…
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Dinosaur teeth reveal some were picky eaters
Science News has a story about dinosaurs, A new paper in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology reveals that some herbivorous dinosaurs were probably “picky” eaters. By analyzing calcium isotopes in 150-million-year-old tooth enamel, the authors determined the diet of these dinosaurs depended more on nutritional value and texture of their food than the size of…
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Happy 32nd Unearth Day, SUE!
To commemorate SUE’s 35th rebirthday, the Field Museum did this post on LinkedIn last week. On August 12, 1990, Sue Hendrickson unearthed SUE—the world’s largest and most complete T. rex fossil ever found. 🎊 Since then, SUE’s been on quite the journey: from a rocky resting place in South Dakota to the spotlight at the…
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Mazon Monday #282: Pit 11 Shutdown in 1974
This is Mazon Monday post #282. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. For the Braidwood, Wilmington, and Coal City area, 1974 marked the end of an era with the closure of the last operating coal mine—Peabody Coal Company’s Pit 11. The mine had been in operation since 1951, originally opened by…
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Their Last Love Token: A Dinosaur Rebuilt From Its Excavated Bones
The New York Times has a story about the preparation of a special triceratops skeleton. It’s a love story with dinosaurs… The 159th skeleton to come across Barry James’s desk was potentially one of the largest triceratops ever found. A colleague, Craig Pfister, had telephoned James, a commercial paleontologist, from Wyoming to discuss the astounding…
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Making New T-Rex | Jurassic World Rebirth: Hatching a New Era Clip
Say what you will about the plot lines and stories in Jurassic Park, but the special effects can be… well special. Here is a fun clip about the “new” T-Rex in the latest iteration of the Jurassic Park franchise” Five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, the planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable…
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Fossil Friday #277: Alethopteris sullivantii
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #277. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! —————————————————– Jim Alann recently sent us a…
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ESCONI Field Trip to Mount Orab for Trilobites – Saturday, September 13th, 2025
ESCONI will have a field trip to Flat Run Fossils in Mt. Orab, Ohio on September 13th, 2025. Flat Run Fossils is a new pay-to-dig site in the famous Mt. Orab trilobite beds. For many years,thousands of gorgeous Flexicalymene and Isotelus trilobites have been collected from this area. Other possible finds include brachiopods, graptolites, cephalopods,…
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Throwback Thursday #277: Poem “Some of These Days”
This is Throwback Thursday #277. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! email:esconi.info@gmail.com. —————————————————– Here’s a poem from the November 1974 edition of the newsletter. You only have so much…
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Mazon Creek, Field Museum, and ESCONI in the News!
Mazon Creek, Field Museum, and ESCONI was in the news on multiple Chicago channels! FOX 32 CBS News NBC 5 Chicago One of the “world’s best fossil sites” is located just an hour outside of the Windy City, according to Chicago Field Museum researchers. Dr. Arjan Mann, assistant curator of early tetrapods at the Field…
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ESCONI Field Trip to Braceville, IL for Mazon Creek Fossils – Saturday, September 6th and Sunday, September 7th, 2025
Braceville Field Trip Rules for September 2025 The ESCONI field trips to Braceville for Mazon Creek fossils are set for September 6th and 7th, 2025 from 9 AM to 3 PM. You can attend one or the other, but not both days. There is an attendance limit of 50 people each day. You must register…
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What caused the holes in SUE the T. rex ’s jaw? Probably not an infection
Media for Press Release: What caused the holes in SUE the T. rex ’s jaw? Probably not an infection Photographer(s): Unspecified (c) (c) Unspecified This Field Museum Press Release link is a little old, but still very interesting. What caused the holes in the back of SUE’s jaw? SUE the T. rex is one of the most…
