The banks of the York River were quiet Monday, save for the light sound of the waves washing up against the shore.
In York River State Park on Fossil Beach, the river waves washed up against pebbles and various shells strewn across the beach.
Some weigh several pounds and are thousands of years old.
While state park visitors are unlikely to unearth fossils of ancient land animals, Fossil Beach has fossils of more than a dozen different shellfish and aquatic creatures, said John Gresham, education support specialist for York River State Park.
The fossils are found in abundance at York River State Park because of the way sea creatures were stranded over time as a pre-ice age, subtropical ocean dried up. As the sea level went down over eastern Virginia, certain sea creatures were stuck in parts of the York River, where they eventually died.
The sea creatures swam in the York River more than 6,000 years ago.
“Every now and then you’ll find something that is so unique that you wouldn’t even think it would be here,” Gresham said.
Other fossils include barnacles, coral, snails, clams, oysters and whale bones. Shark teeth are occasionally found at Fossil Beach, but guests typically do not find many, Gresham said.
“You say ‘Fossil’ to a kid and they’re immediately thinking ‘Jurassic Park’ and all that they’ve seen on television,” Gresham said. “However, I have to quickly inform them that no you aren’t going to find a (Tyrannosaurus) rex tooth or a brontosaurus backbone. That’s simply not going to happen.”
Gresham isn’t worried the park will run out of fossils, because storms and erosion on the river’s sandy cliffs always unearth more. He does ask park guests only take one fossil home when they visit to make sure other fossil hunters can visit the beach and find nature’s treasures.
“That’s partially because the fossil frenzy hike is such a popular program at our park,” Gresham said. “Especially during months in March through June, we’re kind of busy with that program, so we ask people please leave something for somebody else.”
For visitors who don’t mind a longer walk or bike ride, the Riverview Overlook trail has a beach for fossil hunting as well. That beach is less-visited because of its distance from the main parking lot, Gresham said.
Other parts of eastern Virginia including Chippokes Plantation State Park and Westmoreland State Park are also prime locations for fossil hunting, Gresham said.
Mastodon bones were found at an excavation site in Yorktown and include a complete tusk, several teeth and ribs and a partial jaw. Those bones have been included in Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts of 2018.
One fossil not found at York River State Park, but found elsewhere in the region, is the Chesapecten jeffersonius, an extinct scallop and Virginia’s state fossil. The Chesapecten jeffersonius lived between 4 and 5 million years ago and was named after President Thomas Jefferson.
Want to get involved with fossil hunting? York River State Park is hosting its Fossil Frenzy Hike at 10 a.m. Feb. 2. The event is free.
