Exploring Georgia's Fossil Record & Our History of Paleontology
  • Items of Interest
    • Presentation; Oaky Woods Stratigraphy
    • I, Periarchus (A Fossil's Tale)
    • Coastal Plain Correlation Chart
    • Black & White Sketches
    • Contributing Artists
    • Public Fossil Locations >
      • South Houston County Fossils
      • Updated; Islands of the Savannah River
    • Georgia's Amateurs >
      • Amateur; Jared Dyche, On The Way To A Degree
      • Cam Muskelly, Duluth, GA
      • Kyle Keller, Valdosta, GA >
        • Kyle Keller Returns, Still Rocking!
      • Hank Josey, Dublin
      • Thomas Thurman, Warner Robins, GA
      • Bill Christy; Kamin Performance Minerals Fossils
    • Origins Of This Site
    • Georgia Fossils in the Smithsonian
  • Education Material
    • Georgia's State Fossil; Shark Teeth
    • Taking Georgia's Paleontology To Georgia's Classrooms
    • Georgiacetus Presentation; A Whale for Georgia
    • SW GA RESA 2018 Talk
    • Library & School Presentations
    • An Introduction To Fossils; Presentation
    • Georgia's Fossils Presentation; 500 million years
    • Free Fossils for GA Science Teachers; Crassostrea gigantissima
    • Georgia College Natural History Museum
  • Georgia's Lost Meteorite
  • Evolution in Georgia's Fossil Record
  • 1: Georgia's Oldest Fossils; Archaeocyathids, At 513 Million Years Old
  • 2: Trilobites; 500 Million Years Ago
    • 2A; Murray County Stromatolites
    • 2B; A Trilobite Nest in Georgia
  • 3: Geologic Time
  • 4: Our Oldest Vertebrate?
  • 5: Georgia Before the Dinosaurs
    • 5A; Georgia’s Pennsylvanian Plant Fossils
  • 6: 200 Million Years Ago
    • 6A: Birth of the Atlantic Ocean
  • 7: Cretaceous Georgia, Dinosaurs & more
    • 7A: Georgias Pterosaur
    • 7B: So Many Sharks
    • 7C: Coelecanths
    • 7D: Xiphactinus vetus
    • 7E: Side-necked turtles
    • 7F: Marine Reptiles
    • 7G: Dinosaurs in Georgia
    • 7H: Deinosuchus (Terrible Crocodile)
    • 7I; The Blufftown Formation
  • 8: Suwannee Current, Gulf Trough, & Bridgeboro Limestone
  • 9: The Clayton Formation Report; By Hank Josey
    • 9A: The Georgia Turtle
  • 10: The Eocene; Georgia's Oldest Mammals
    • 10A: The Origins of Whales
  • 11: A Whale For Georgia
  • 12: Basilosaurids; The First Modern Whales
    • 12A: Basilosaurus cetoides
    • 12B: Basilotritus
    • 12C: Cynthiacetus
    • 12D: Chrysocetus
    • 12E: The Redmond Mandible of Albany Ga
    • 12F; Houston County Basilosaurus to the Smithsonian
  • 13: Ziggy and The Museum of Arts & Sciences, Macon, GA
  • 14: Late Eocene
    • 14A: Eocene Fossils & Stratigraphy
    • 14B; Fossils, Impacts & Tektites Dating the Clinchfield Formation
    • 14C: The Tivola Limestone
    • 14D: Twiggs Clay Vertebrates
    • 14E: Ocmulgee Formation Vertebrates
    • 14F; Sandersville Limestone, By Hank Josey
    • 14I: Dating Late Eocene Sediments
    • 14J: Georgia's Tektites; Georgiaites
    • 14K; Shell Bluff; Georgia's Most Historic Paleontology Site
    • 14L; Taylors Bluff, Paleo Paddling the Ocmulgee River
    • 14M; Eocene Terrestrial Mammals From Gordon, GA
    • 14N: Fossil Ridge, A Stratigraphic Study in Oaky Woods Wildlife Management Area
    • 14O; Georgia's First Entelodont
  • 15: Early Oligocene
    • 15A: The Marianna Limestone
    • 15B; The Glendon Limestone
    • 15C: Undiffereniated Oligocene Residuum
    • 15D; Brissus bridgeboroensis; A New Echinoid Species From Georgia’s Bridgeboro Limestone
    • 15E: The Curious Steinkern Sea Biscuits of Red Dog Farm Road
  • 16: Bonaire GA Entelodont
  • 17: The Whale Eating Shark
  • 18: Miocene Epoch; 23.3 to 5.3 Million Years Ago
    • 18A; Miocene Terrestrial Vertebrates
    • 18B; Paul Fell, Rockhouse Cave
  • 19: Pliocene Epoch; 5.3 to 2.5 Million years Ago
  • *NEW* 19A; Two Small Primitive Horses from Taylor County
  • 20: The Ice Ages; Pleistocene & Holocene Epochs
    • 20A; Clark Quarry's Mammoths & Bison
    • 20B: Pleistocene Vertebrate List
    • 20C: Georgia’s Eolian Dunes
    • 20D: Georgia’s Carolina Bays
    • 20E: Late Pleistocene Significant Events
    • 20F: Southeastern Thermal Enclave
    • 20G; Diamond Back Terrapins
    • 20H; A Kaolin Mine Beaver Dam
    • 20I; Pleistocene Vertebrate Fossils On Georgia’s Piedmont
  • *NEW* 20J; Watkins Quarry Pleistocene Vertebrates, Glynn County, GA
  • 21: Humans in Georgia
  • 22: Geology of the Coastal Plain, 1911
    • 22A: 1911 Cretaceous Fossil Locations
    • 22B: 1911 Eocene Fossil Locations
  • 23: Coastal GA Locations (1957)
  • 24: Needed; The Georgia Geologic Survey

​Chapter 7E; Side-Necked Turtles

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Schwimmer’s Hannahatchee Creek excavation also recovered a wealth fossilized shell fragments from side-necked turtles of the genus and species; Bothremys barberi.

This was the most common sea turtle in our area 77 million years ago and the fossilize shell pieces show that some individuals were very large with shells up to two inches thick.

Some references state that Bothremys barberi was a fresh to brackish water turtle. It is also referred to as the “paving stone” turtle because fossil of its shell can be large and relatively flat, like paving stones. 

These ancient side-necked turtles are different from Georgia’s modern turtle populations. Our modern turtles can pull their heads straight back into their shells when sensing danger, some even have a plate which will pull up like a door sealing the shell.

Side-necked turtles can only fold their rather long necks between their front legs and lay their head to one side. This leaves the other side of their head and part of their neck exposed.

The side-necked turtles which knew Georgia when the dinosaurs walked are now extinct but about 70 species of related freshwater side-necked turtles endure in the Southern Hemisphere.

These include the large Central African mud turtle, African dwarf mud turtle whose shell is about 5 inches long and the giant South American river turtle whose shell reaches 35 inches long. The evidence suggests that our Bothremys barberi was dramatically larger.

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References:
In a personal communication, David Schwimmer indentified the “abundant turtle fossils” from the Hannahatchee Creek Excavations as side-necked sea turtle carapace fragments. He donated more than 125 samples to the Mid-Georgia Gem and Mineral Society for elementary and middle school egg-carton mineral/fossil sample kits which the society assembled and donated to Bibb & Houston County schools.

The fossils were scrap from the excavations.

Late Cretaceous Fish From The Blufftown Formation (Campanian) in Western Georgia. Gerard R. Case and David R. Schwimmer. Journal of Paleontology Vol.62 No. 2, 1988 The Paleontological Society

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