18I; In Search of Bony Bluff
Historic Miocene Fossil Site
Along Georgia's Suwannee River
By Jared Shuler of scfossils.com
Posted 07/July/2026
Historic Miocene Fossil Site
Along Georgia's Suwannee River
By Jared Shuler of scfossils.com
Posted 07/July/2026
Editors Note;
To my knowledge, Jared and Shane made the first paleontological expedition to Bony Bluff since Wythe Cooke in 1943 (USGS Bulletin 941) so I certainly congratulate their effort! More work needs to be done at this site and we now field researchers experienced with this difficult locality. In 1989 a crew from the Florida Museum of Natural History collected a dugong from nearby (See Section 18F of the website) but they were unaware of historic Bony Bluff as it does not occur in Florida's literature.
Well done, Gentlemen! You are indeed explorers!
...Thomas Thurman, GeorgiasFossils.com
To my knowledge, Jared and Shane made the first paleontological expedition to Bony Bluff since Wythe Cooke in 1943 (USGS Bulletin 941) so I certainly congratulate their effort! More work needs to be done at this site and we now field researchers experienced with this difficult locality. In 1989 a crew from the Florida Museum of Natural History collected a dugong from nearby (See Section 18F of the website) but they were unaware of historic Bony Bluff as it does not occur in Florida's literature.
Well done, Gentlemen! You are indeed explorers!
...Thomas Thurman, GeorgiasFossils.com
Firstly, I want to start this trip report off with a thank you to and recognition of Thomas Thurman’s incredible work on collating GA paleontology on the georgiasfossils.com website and sharing it in the Facebook group. He inspired me to start my own scfossils.com, which is currently lacking in attention, but nevertheless is an important project of mine. I hope someday my website will be comparable to his. His page on Bony Bluff captured my fascination and inspired this trip, which I greatly enjoyed and am very glad that I took on.
This trip was 18-months in the making, as that’s when the Bony Bluff article was published on the georgiasfossils.com website. After a few false starts at making the trip happen, I finally made it down on June 19th, 2026. My good friend Shane and I made the drive from Charleston, SC down to Roline boat ramp, located at 30.56416° N, 82.72519° W, which is just across the Florida line. We used a small jon boat with a 2.7HP motor to work our way (very slowly) up river.
This trip was 18-months in the making, as that’s when the Bony Bluff article was published on the georgiasfossils.com website. After a few false starts at making the trip happen, I finally made it down on June 19th, 2026. My good friend Shane and I made the drive from Charleston, SC down to Roline boat ramp, located at 30.56416° N, 82.72519° W, which is just across the Florida line. We used a small jon boat with a 2.7HP motor to work our way (very slowly) up river.
The goal for the first day was to reach Rocky Ford just across the Georgia line. The water level was at ~1.7 feet, but it was pouring. As can be seen in the river level chart (fig. 1), the water quickly rose after we arrived. However’ making our way up river we struck the bottom multiple times against the hard marl that cropped out in seemingly random stretches of the river.
At these points we would have to either pull up the motor and paddle until the water was deeper, or get out and pull the boat along to deeper water. I believe that one of these stretches of hard bottom is where the UF team recovered the Metaxytherium calvertense skeleton, (See Section 18F of this website) which would be exposed in large swathes as seen in old Google Earth imagery (fig. 2) if the water was ~6 inches lower than it was for our trip.
At these points we would have to either pull up the motor and paddle until the water was deeper, or get out and pull the boat along to deeper water. I believe that one of these stretches of hard bottom is where the UF team recovered the Metaxytherium calvertense skeleton, (See Section 18F of this website) which would be exposed in large swathes as seen in old Google Earth imagery (fig. 2) if the water was ~6 inches lower than it was for our trip.
After a few hours I was tired of being in the cold rain and was ready to set up camp. We found a nice spot to get set up, and after getting our tents set up we got into dry clothes and cooked a quick meal before heading to bed. I slept to the sound of an owl hooting directly above us. It was my first time primitive camping but certainly will not be my last.
The next morning I woke up around sunrise and spent a little time getting stuff organized and fishing in the river. We set off early around 8 AM and went another 3 river miles north in search of Bony Bluff.
The water level had risen more than 6 inches overnight and was showing no signs of stopping, so I was worried we had missed it due to it being underwater. I made the call that we would have passed it by then and we should start heading back.
On the way back, we noticed an exposure on the East bank of the river we had missed on the way up because we had been so focused on the West bank. We stopped and began investigating and very quickly I found a chunk of bone and a shark tooth. This was it! We had found Bony Bluff!
The water level had risen more than 6 inches overnight and was showing no signs of stopping, so I was worried we had missed it due to it being underwater. I made the call that we would have passed it by then and we should start heading back.
On the way back, we noticed an exposure on the East bank of the river we had missed on the way up because we had been so focused on the West bank. We stopped and began investigating and very quickly I found a chunk of bone and a shark tooth. This was it! We had found Bony Bluff!
A patient shark tooth waiting to be picked up.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t expecting a more impressive locality similar to the tall bluffs I’m used to in South Carolina, however I was not disappointed as we found in total ~100 shark teeth and a smattering of stingray teeth, fish teeth and other fossils.
A few pieces of dugong rib were also recovered, however unfortunately no associated remains were found. After a couple hours we had collected all the loose fossils we could find, and before leaving we filled a 5 gallon bucket of matrix to be picked for micro fossils and for dating by the UF at a later date. We then packed up our gear, headed back to camp, and packed up camp as well before heading down river to the truck. We had achieved our goal and decided to head home a day early.
A few pieces of dugong rib were also recovered, however unfortunately no associated remains were found. After a couple hours we had collected all the loose fossils we could find, and before leaving we filled a 5 gallon bucket of matrix to be picked for micro fossils and for dating by the UF at a later date. We then packed up our gear, headed back to camp, and packed up camp as well before heading down river to the truck. We had achieved our goal and decided to head home a day early.
Figure 1 - Suwannee River level on Fargo gauge
(June 5 - July 5, 2026)
(June 5 - July 5, 2026)
Lessons Learned
For a future expedition, I would wait for the water to be at ~1 foot as that seems to be ideal for viewing the maximum amount of exposure.
However, this water level would make navigation immensely difficult in anything other than a kayak or canoe. I would propose launching at Fargo in canoes and heading down river, allowing for an entire day or more to make it to Bony Bluff as it is 13 river miles from Fargo to Bony Bluff. Canoes would be best due to storage capacity and ease of dragging/portaging.
This would need to be a 4-5 day expedition allowing ample time to explore the larger outcrops and to recover anything requiring excavation as the marl is quite tough.
Note: All fossils and matrix collected on this trip have been entrusted with Barry Albright, formerly of UNF, who is delivering it to Florida Natural History Museum at the University of Florida on my behalf.
For a future expedition, I would wait for the water to be at ~1 foot as that seems to be ideal for viewing the maximum amount of exposure.
However, this water level would make navigation immensely difficult in anything other than a kayak or canoe. I would propose launching at Fargo in canoes and heading down river, allowing for an entire day or more to make it to Bony Bluff as it is 13 river miles from Fargo to Bony Bluff. Canoes would be best due to storage capacity and ease of dragging/portaging.
This would need to be a 4-5 day expedition allowing ample time to explore the larger outcrops and to recover anything requiring excavation as the marl is quite tough.
Note: All fossils and matrix collected on this trip have been entrusted with Barry Albright, formerly of UNF, who is delivering it to Florida Natural History Museum at the University of Florida on my behalf.
Figure 2 - Suwannee River in December, 2011. River level
~1 foot on Fargo gauge
~1 foot on Fargo gauge