Digging Up the Past as a Modern-Day Hobby

New subdivisions. New malls. New theaters. We tend to think of our county as a monument to modernism. Ancient history? Anything that happened before the Simi Valley Freeway was finished. The dark ages? An unenlightened era prior to the coming of cable television.

In geological time, of course, these last few decades have gone by in the blink of an eye. Despite rumors to the contrary, the county existed long before the first automobile chugged over the Conejo Grade. Or even before there was a Conejo Grade.

Given our desert-like conditions these days, it’s hard to imagine the county covered with seawater, but at one time there wasn’t a dry spot from the mountains of Ojai to the Oxnard Plain.

The county’s waterlogged past may surprise you, but it’s one of many interesting facts unearthed by staff writer Jeff Meyers, who did this week’s Centerpiece on fossil hunting.

“Prehistoric Ventura County was not a friendly place,” Meyers said. “Underwater volcanoes in Thousand Oaks. Violent earth movement in Simi Valley. San Bernardino was the closest beach.”

The county didn’t dry up until about 25 millions years ago, but the receding water left behind a cache of marine animals that make Ventura a prime fossil-hunting playground. The rare Ventura County starfish, pictured on our cover, is especially prized by collectors.

“It may not be a femur from a brontosaurus, but the little starfish can make a fossil-hunter’s day,” Meyers said.

Marine fossils come in all shapes and sizes. Bones from whales and sharks are found in the east county, but we also have an array of land-based animal remains, from mammoths and saber-tooth cats to rhino-like creatures.

Fossil hunting is relevant this time of year because digging up a fossil is a little like opening a Christmas present. “Fossil hunters say the anticipation and excitement is the same,” Meyers said.

Fossil hunting takes a lot of knowledge and a fascination with the past--two reasons for its obscurity as a recreational activity. Those who do take part usually become obsessed for life, finding fossil hunting “a very rewarding and satisfying hobby,” Meyers said.

But messy.

Fossil hunters have to get their nails dirty, which is why you’ll never catch me at a dig site. No, if I’m doing any hunting, it’s for last-minute stocking stuffers. If you’re in the same boat, read our Shop Talk column. Free-lance writer Leo Smith wades in with advice on how to find inexpensive, quality trinkets that will never become extinct.