Area fossil hunter loves turning up Florida’s past

RENZ There’s a nondescript retention pond just east of the Lee County line on State Road 80 in LaBelle that holds stories and secrets. Those stories are now being revealed at the Clewiston Museum, where the bones of a dugong, a prehistoric sea cow, arrived in unceremonious cardboard boxes this week. The bones will join other fossils already on display; treasures from that small body of water.

Ten years ago, fossil hunter Mark Renz from Lehigh Acres was driving along the road when he spotted a large pile of freshly dug up dirt.

“They hadn’t put up any no trespassing signs yet, so I thought it was cool to go in there and see what’s there,” he said.

He impetuously pulled off the side of the road and started sinking his hands into the pile, pulling up fragments of what he recognized as giant land tortoise shells. The animal has long been extinct and Mr. Renz thought that remnants of other longdeparted creatures might be nearby as well. That fortuitous stop would result in the discovery of a riverbed that once welcomed mastodons and mammoths, camels, llamas and a species of horse that until then had never been seen in Florida.

Mastodon and mammoth teeth are just a spattering of the fossils available found on expeditions with Mark Renz, a local fossil hunter. The Florida Department of Transportation was digging out the pond as part of the project that would eventually expand SR 80 to four lanes. Mr. Renz spent four years asking the state for permission to dig the site and eventually got a yes. He worked with a team of volunteers and spent the next 18 months pulling up pieces of the past. The only rule for participation in the dig was that finds had to be donated; none could be sold for profit.

“This place was just loaded with stuff,” said Mr. Renz, parked in his truck by the pond. The area is now surrounded by barbwire-topped chain link fence. “You’ve got to picture this: We’re 12 feet below the surface of the water, digging in an ancient riverbed that is 500,000 years old. It was just awesome.”

COURTESY PHOTOS The bones were sent to the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida where they were identified, classified and categorized in the ways that scientists are prone to do. They assigned genus and species and made one curious discovery. One set of bones belonged to a horse they would come to call equus pseudalitidens. Until then, these kinds of remains had only been seen in Texas and the Great Plains. The horse, which was almost identical to the modern-day kiang horses that live in Tibet and Mongolia, once roamed Southwest Florida.

On this day, Mr. Renz stares out at the cabbage palms just beyond the pond remembering, wistfully recalling long days spent digging up pieces of Florida’s biological past. “I don’t miss it,” he said of the dig that once consumed most of his time.

These days, he spends several days a week leading fossil expedition tours, wading through the waters of the Peace River and helping others to share in his love of discovery. Visitors are often surprised at how easy it is to find fossils. “From the first scoop into the river bed, you’re going to find a tooth,” he said. While many of these finds are unremarkable, Mr. Renz always makes sure to take a close look. He never knows when he might stumble across another site like that pond. “I’m convinced that all under Florida there’s stuff like that everywhere,” he said. Some fragment, some simple mound of dirt or a random handful of sediment may lead to his next adventure, new discoveries and old stories being unearthed. 

.. if you go

>> What: Clewiston Museum – SW Florida

Fossils on Display >> Where: 109 Central Ave. Clewiston >> For more info: (863) 983-2870 >> What: Fossil Expeditions >> Contact: 368-3252

www.fossilexpeditions.com