Recovery Time

 

We love to comb the beach for treasures: fossils, shells, ray or shark eggs.

 Three weeks ago the weather forecast predicted 100% rain

but it turned out to be ideal circumstances for beach combing.

Strong but not too strong wind and (almost) no rain.

Due to strong winds the previous days a lot of junk washed up on the shore.

Rope, nets, shoes, wood and an awful lot of plastic.

 

 Suddenly something caught my eye....

At first sight it looked like a piece of rubber, care tyre or a piece of wood... 

but it appeared to be an upper jaw and part of a skull of some kind.....

So exciting! Fossil find? Doggerland? A great find, we were chuffed!

A couple of days later an expert said it's recent and from a cow.

We still have our doubts so we'll go for a second opinion ☺︎

The next morning... 

a beautiful sunrise... and the beach almost to myself... 

In the afternoon lots of activity at 'La baie de la slack' near Ambleteuse.

Get into the 'Groeve'

"Get into the Groeve" is what de kenderman said to me ☺︎

The Dutch word 'Groeve' almost sounds like groove but means 'quarry'.

Yesterday we visited the 'Groeve van Romont' in Eben-Emael.

As beginners we got a guided tour for a start

but we managed to find some broken sea urchins.

Cleaving a big chunk of marl can give you a beautiful imprint 

The original shell in the bucket of an expert, not ours.

Our 'guide' helping us to saw a small piece from a big chunk to take home...

Blue skies alternated with dark skies and some rain...

The kenders in action...

What a beautiful day, meeting geologists, amateurs and citizen scientists...

We brought some fragile and damaged fossil sea urchins home.

Ideal for practicing cleaning skills...

Beachcombing

 

What a beautiful and quiet spot this is... Maasvlakte 2 (Dutch: Tweede Maasvlakte)

In March the kenderman found a fossil tooth, we suspected it belonged to a horse.

We used the website: oervondstchecker.nl and it was confirmed.

The expert opinion: a molar from the upper right jaw of a horse.

In 2 years time, at several locations, we found 4 teeth at the beach...

horse - sheep - cow - giant deer

(Maasvlakte 2 - 't Zwin - Wissant - Maasvlakte 2)

Links to another post you might like: Doggerland

Doggerland

Perhaps you've heard about Doggerland...

Thanks to some beach finds we got really interested.

In January we started the hunt and visited Monster.

It was windy, rainy and very cold but we found lots of fossil bits and pieces...

In May I found an artefact at Maasvlakte 2, our first visit to this area...

I knew it was something special, a so called "spits".

Measuring 6 cm probably a bow and arrow tip.

The idea someone held this piece way back... was mind-blowing.

The expert opinion : a harpoon tip approximately 10.000 years old.

If it had been up to me, we would have started visiting every weekend (smile)

In August, our second visit, the kenderman found this tooth on the same beach.

Due to the expert is a molar from a red or giant deer...

We were both eager to visit the Doggerland exhibition at RMO in Leiden.

a reconstruction of neanderthaler Krijn

I must admit I'm really obsessed by "spitsen" or "tips" now (big smile).

We dis see some other objects in the museum but we'll go back...

Magic from the bronze age... two swords from Ommerschans and Jutphaas.

Dating 1350-1500 BC

Two giant blades, too heavy, no handle, not even sharpened.

No functional weapons, only objects of beauty?

Natural History Museum of Maastricht

Last Sunday we visited the Natural History Museum of Maastricht
(Wikipedia also in english available here)

What an impressive entrance!!! The work of artist Han van Wetering

kenderman's favourite of the day : a fern fossil...

Mosasaurus of Maastricht

as long as I remember my family searched and found lots of small shark teeth fossils

one of my favourites of the day... the Lynx

 Not for the faint-hearted!

And don't get me wrong... I do prefer living animals

but I'm fascinated by the mummies...

Another piece of art by nature...

and some bugs...

What a magnificent room!!! Windows surround us...
I could live here happily ever after (big smile)