What is that?

By Dorrie Williams

Here’s what I thought when I saw this weird thing on the beach, why I picked it up, why I kept it, and my thoughts when I found out it was this rare, awesome fossil. I headed out to New Brighton State Beach in Capitola, California, on a glorious, sunny spring day. With a negative low tide, it was a great day for beachcombing.

I grew up rockhounding for agates with my parents and my maternal grandparents. Grandpa Eddie was a lapidarist who cut, shaped, and polished stones into cabochons and tumbled many agates. I learned at a young age about tides, how to hunt the gravel, and identify agates and petrified wood, which was my mother’s favorite. I love my beach walks for exercise, but my head is down the entire time scanning for anything unusual or anything that catches the light. I’m also an artist and a photographer so I am often thinking, “Wouldn’t that make a lovely image?”

I knew this day was going to be a good beachcombing day, because the moment I stepped on the beach I found some large teeth, which I later found out were horse teeth. This was a first for me and an unusual find. Within my first hour on the beach I’d found large chunks of petrified wood, several nice pieces of sea glass, a large agate, trace fossils of large clam shells, and a sand dollar fossil. I thought my day was complete!

I wear prescription sunglasses so I will often squat down at the top of a gravel pile and face the ocean, letting the waves do the work. I stay rooted in one spot and just scan the surface for a long while. I wear water shoes and use a Kingsley North Treasure Scoop to drag anything of interest towards me. I was honestly on the hunt for more sand dollar fossils, but I spied something unusual. It was caramel-colored and looked very smooth and hard, but there were also holes. I scooped it up, then stepped back from the water’s edge to take a video of my cool find.

Honestly, as I turned it over and over in my hand, my first thought was that it looked like an ear bone. I’ve taken anatomy, and with a recent bout of vertigo, I’d just searched online for the workings of the inner ear. My find felt so smooth and lovely in my hand, and I brought it home to share with my husband.

I’d taken the video and immediately posted it on my Instagram and Facebook stories to share with my rockhound parents and other landlocked friends who love beachcombing as much as I do.

My friend Kirsti told me I could send her pictures of any unusual finds, and in turn, her fossil expert friend Wayne Thompson might be able to help us with identification. So, I decided to take her up on that offer and messaged her. I just knew in my heart it was special. I think, like many beachcombers, I have a hard time parting with special finds.

That being said, I got a message saying, “WOW! YOU FOUND SOMETHING REALLY AWESOME! They’d like to know if you’d donate it to the Santa Cruz Natural History Museum!” My heart felt so full and I immediately thought YES, absolutely! My husband and I sat across from each other at the table and the excitement on his face had me doing cartwheels before I even read the details.

I was elated to find out that my rare find was the left ear bone of an unnamed species of extinct porpoise that used to swim in the ancient waters of Monterey Bay. Fewer than a dozen bones from this porpoise have ever been found. I am thrilled to make a donation to the museum, but I’m also filled with immense joy knowing my find will aid in the identification of a species that has eluded scientists. It is an honor, really.

As a former elementary school teacher, I used to take my third graders on field trips to Gaumer’s Mining and Mineral Museum in Red Bluff, California. This is where my grandparents brought me as a youth to learn of fossils, Native American artifacts, rare gems, and fluorescent minerals. Now, my rare fossil find will be on display for this community to learn about the ancient history of their area.

Handing the fossil over to Wayne Thompson and the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History was a giddy moment. Someday this fossil will be displayed in a case at the museum for school children and museum patrons to see firsthand, alongside the mastodon skull found in the Soquel River by a local resident, rocks and minerals from the area picked up by rockhounds, and artifacts from the people who have made their home here for thousands of years. It belongs here.

Learn more about beach fossil finds from around the world. Articles ›

This article appeared in the Beachcombing Volume 40 January/February 2024.