All the fossil pieces that will be presented on this Website and appear in the book "carchaDOrias. In search of the treasures of the Earth" are part of the author's collection and were collected during the prospections described. They come exclusively from land temporarily unexploited during the extension work of the port of Antwerp and which has now disappeared. Now completely inaccessible, their sediments are buried under the concrete and asphalt of gigantic industrial complexes. The developments, naming of fossils and hypotheses put forward in this work yet to be published or on this site are under the sole responsibility of the author and within the limits of his amateur skills, whose sole aim is to share an experience and its photographic testimony.
Paleophoca nysti, Upper Pliocene, Antwerp harbour, Belgium
Among the fundamental reasons for my choice, for the sole prospecting objective, of a geological stage as quantitatively unrewarding as the Antwerp Upper Pliocene, the quality of preservation of the pieces occupies a preponderant place. If shark teeth constitute the source of all hopes as well as the most intense emotions upon their discovery, we will never hesitate to collect other specimens worthy of interest. And certain finds justify some challenges, whether they be fatigue or sometimes dantic climatic conditions. However, the most basic intellectual honesty requires me to recognize that it was during radiant, mild and sunny weather that I was one day going to kneel in front of a fossil never encountered since. An extremely rare set, this fragment of a seal's mandible is still decorated with two molars. But since such an experience was going to take place a few months before my decision to systematically take my digital camera, I do not have any “in situ” images of it. Which in no way detracts from the interest of presenting it in this book, as it is as spectacular as it is well preserved.
Excerpt from “carchaDOrias, in search of the treasures of the Earth” (to be published)
Hexanchus gigas, Pliocene, Antwerp harbour, Belgium
Pathological tooth, Pliocene, Oorderen sands, port of Antwerp, Belgium
Made from a concentration of samples of extremely diverse origins and natures, this matrix of sand with a predominantly greenish color mixed the black pebbles typical of the Lower Pliocene with other non-contemporary, flattened and rather reddish ones. What accentuated its particularity was that it included shark teeth of unequaled freshness, with a formidable edge, associated with a wide variety of shells and specimens belonging to geological horizons very distant from each other. Delicate bones of seabirds, otoliths of dolphins, reworked teeth from the Miocene but also from the much older Eocene, multiple fragments of whales including surprisingly complete intervertebral discs and tiny skate curls formed, among other things, a confusing association of fossils for researchers. To our knowledge, this stratigraphic level was not listed in the scientific literature. But if we had to cite only one other characteristic of this layer which was - to say the least - enigmatic, it was an unprecedented proportion of remains of the shark Hexanchus gigas, many examples of which were going to be exhumed.
Excerpt from “carchaDOrias, in search of the treasures of the Earth” (to be published)
Pathological Carcharodon hastalis, Upper Pliocene, port of Antwerp, Belgium
Collected at a time when I had not yet taken the habit of taking my digital camera with me on my prospecting outings, this Carcharodon hastalis nonetheless deserves to be highlighted. Because after having caused a slight disappointment at the time of its discovery, the impression would very quickly turn into major interest, as the unharmonious aspect of this piece was compensated by the characteristic which was precisely at the origin: a malformation affecting its entire height. No broken or poorly fossilized tooth, but the perfect example of a pathological specimen! During the animal's lifetime, it had probably been damaged during its growth, when it was relatively soft because it was still developing. No doubt the jaw of this shark suffered an attack at this precise location during a predation maneuver. The damaged tooth will then have developed into two distinct stumps but attached to each other, of which only the section with the largest dimensions has come down to us. Such a piece therefore retains its full value in a collection, even if it must be recognized that it rather pales in comparison to the phenomenal quality of the other specimen presented.
Excerpt from “carchaDOrias, in search of the treasures of the Earth” (to be published)
Otodus angustidens, reworked Miocene-Pliocene, Antwerp harbour, Belgium
Otodus megalodon, Miocene-Pliocene, Sint-Niklaas quarry, Belgium
Against the backdrop of the intervertebral disc of a large cetacean from the same provenance, these three specimens are extremely rare examples of the fossil teeth of Otodus megalodon which can be taken from the old quarries of Sint-Niklaas in East Flanders. Could, we should rather say, as these old clay pits are currently abandoned and have become totally inaccessible, having like many others been transformed into dumps. To the great dismay of researchers...
Appearing on Earth during the Devonian period, well before the Dinosaurs reigned supreme, and therefore “old” by more than 350 million years, sharks form a very long animal lineage. But exploring only the Pliocene and Miocene of Antwerp, relatively recent eras in geological terms (a few million years at most), fossil enthusiasts encounter species whose external appearance was probably not fundamentally different from what we know today. However, it is precisely the teeth that best bear witness to this slow evolution, their representatives having left traces with extremely variable morphologies. Excavation sites have also yielded specimens that have completely disappeared, some of which are considered direct ancestors of those that can be collected in the port of Antwerp. If so-called “reworked” examples were collected there, typical in their blackness and their high degree of wear, others in perfect state of conservation could be taken on site, on the very rare occasions when their original deposits were accessible . Among these highlights of Paleontology are the names of abandoned or still active clay pits and sand pits, in localities famous among amateurs such as Steendorp, Rumst, Sint-Niklaas, Balegem or Oosterzele. From the latter come these two magnificent teeth of Otodus auriculatus, the distant ancestor of the mythical megalodon.
Excerpt from “carchaDOrias, in search of the treasures of the Earth” (to be published)
Otodus auriculatus, Lutetien (Eocene), Oosterzele quarry, Belgium
Carcharodon carcharias, Upper Pliocene, Antwerp harbour, Belgium
In this perpetual struggle against time, one constraint with which we always had to deal was Nature itself. Newly laid out, sand sediments remained interesting to prospect as long as they were not invaded by the rustic vegetation of the region. Very undemanding, it spread easily. Once covered with wild plants, the sites ultimately became unsuitable for any fruitful research. This did not prevent me one day from crossing one of them with long strides until suddenly seeing, out of the corner of my eye and almost by a miracle, a characteristic protuberance. Barely flush. Unexpected but spectacular.
Excerpt from “carchaDOrias, in search of the treasures of the Earth” (to be published)
To identify : Coprulus ?
Or fossil excrement. A very recent study published on the famous marine sediments of the Calvert Formation (United States) suggests that this mass could correspond to pellets of fecal matter, probably accumulated by invertebrate organisms, such as annelids (worms).
