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The Fossil Journal

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South Carolina Fossil Formations Explained

A plain-English guide to the South Carolina coastal-plain geologic column and the fossils each layer yields — the Oligocene Cooper Group (the Ashley and Chandler Bridge Formations, with early whales, dolphins, and Otodus angustidens shark teeth), the Miocene Hawthorn Group phosphates, and the Pliocene-to-Pleistocene Ice Age deposits that produced the Columbian mammoth. With verified, well-hedged ages and why the correct formation matters for dating and valuing a specimen.

Jun 29, 2026

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The Columbian Mammoth: South Carolina's State Fossil

The Columbian mammoth is South Carolina's official state fossil, designated in 2014 after an eight-year-old's letter set off a memorable legislative saga. This guide covers the full story: the roughly 1725 Stono discovery often called one of North America's first correct fossil IDs, how it differed from the woolly mammoth, what teeth, ivory, and bone turn up here, and a careful, hedged look at the law on collecting and selling Ice Age fossils.

Jun 29, 2026