Public Fossil Locations
Field Report on the Paleontology
 of the Lower Savannah River

By; Henry N. Josey, PharmD.
Filed on 27/Sept/2016
​Revised 8/Aug/2017
South of Savannah there lies a string of several small island which offer some unique opportunities to the field researcher.  These islands, named Barnwell, Hog, Jones, and Cockspur, are not natural islands, but are manmade.  They consist entirely of material dredged from the Savannah River, known as spoil.  The Savannah River provides easy ship access from the Port of Savannah to the Atlantic Ocean.  In order to allow container ships to safely travel the shallow waterway, the river is periodically dredged of sand and silt, which is piled on these islands.  Currently, the river is being dredged from a natural depth of around 20 feet to a depth of 47 feet.  During this dredging process, numerous fossils are pulled from the riverbed.  Since May 2016, the author made multiple trips to Hog Island, Barnwell, and Jones Island to collect fossils.  Transportation to the islands is only possible by boat.
Because of the significant mixing of spoil material, exact dating of these materials is nearly impossible.  Fossils from the Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene epochs are all found together, representing some 19 million years of evolution.  However, it is difficult to find another site in Georgia which offers the quantity and diversity of fossils as these two.  This author has identified at least 27 genera of vertebrates, 12 of invertebrates, and 1 of plants over the course of three field trips.  This incredible diversity is a direct consequence of the numerous sea level changes seen by this area.
Fossil collection on these islands is relatively easy, required few if any tools.  Simply walking the beaches of these islands was sufficient to yield an abundance of specimens (the author has on one occasion found over 60 sharks’ teeth in a two hour period).  These beaches are constantly eroding under the wake of passing container ships.  Digging and/or sifting of the spoil from the island bluff face also yielded numerous fossils.
The following summarizes the results of the author’s visits to these islands since May 2016.
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Author’s Note:  visitors to these islands are advised to use caution.
·         These islands are under the jurisdiction of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and the GA Department of Transportation and may be closed to visitors on short notice.

·         Tide levels vary with both season and time of day.  The beaches on these islands can disappear very quickly.

·         Passing container ships can create very significant wakes capable of knocking down an adult:  use caution at all times!
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Plant Fossils
Scientific Name     Common Name     Specimen
Querus                     Oak                          Leaf
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​Vertebrate Fossils
Scientific Name                     Common Name             Specimen
Birds
Aves (Cohort)                         Bird                                  Long bone

Mammals
Equus                                       Modern Horse               Multiple
Hipparion                               Three toed horse           Teeth
Metaxytherium                      Dugong                           Bone fragments
Odocoileus virginianus        White-tailed Deer         Limb bone
Odontoceti (Parvorder)        Dolphin                           Multiple
Proboscidea (Parvorder)      Elephant family            Ivory fragment
Scaldicetus                              Sperm whale                 Multiple

Reptiles
Alligator mississippiensis   American alligator        Multiple 
Apalone ferox                        FL soft shelled turtle    Carapace
Testudines (Order)                Turtle                              Carapace
Thecachampsa                       N.A. False Gharial        Tooth

Bony Fish
Caranx                                     Jack fish                         Vertebrae
Chilomycterus                        Puffer fish                      Dental plate
Pogorias                                  Drum fish                       Vertebrae
Suliriformes (Order)             Catfish                             Dorsal spine
Teleostomi (Grandclass)      Bony fish                         Multiple
Triglidae (family)                  Sea robin fish                 Nasal bones

Cartilaginous Fish (Chondrichthyes; shark family)
Carcharhinus leucas             Bull shark                      Teeth
Carcharhinus limbatus        Blacktip shark               Teeth
Carcharhinus obscurus        Dusky shark                  Teeth
Carcharias taurus                 Sand tiger shark           Teeth
Carcharocles megalodon     Megatooth shark          Tooth
Carcharodon carcharias     Great white shark         Teeth
Euselachii (Superorder)       Shark                               Vertebrae
Galeocerdo contortus           Long-tooth tiger shark Tooth
Galeocerdo cuvier                 Tiger shark                      Teeth
Hemipristis serra                  Snaggletooth shark        Tooth
Isurus desori                          Shortfin mako shark      Teeth
Isurus hastalis                       Giant mako shark           Teeth
Myliobatis                               Eagle ray                          Multiple
Negaprion eurybathrodon  Lemon shark                   Teeth
Sphyrna laevissima              Hammerhead shark       Tooth
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Invertebrate Fossils
Scientific Name                Common Name               Specimen
Busycon sinistrum           Lightning whelk             Shell
Crassostrea virginica      Oyster                              Shell
Chione latilirata               Imperial venus clam     Shell
Dinocardium                     Cockle                              Shell
Glycemeris                         Bitter sweet                    Shell
Neverita duplicata           Shark eye                        Shell
Oliva                                    Olive                                Shell
Pecten                                  Scallop                            Shell
Scapharca braziliana      Incongruous ark           Shell
Septastrea marylandica Coral                               Colony
-                                             Stone or blue crab       Claw
-                                             Echinoid                        Spine fragment