475 Million Year Old Fossil Found On Lake's Edge

Walking along the beach of Douglas Lake in East Tennessee, an 11-year-old by the name of Ryleigh Taylor happened upon an object. A structure, rather, that Taylor first described as a "Moana Rock." It does, after all, look somewhat like the "Heart of Te Fiti."

The structure found by Taylor doesn't glow green, and it more than likely won't be defeating any evil nature spirits any time soon. Instead, this structure was a trilobite. It was a rather rare trilobite too – one that wasn't broken into a million billion pieces.

Taylor's family reached out to the University of Tennessee to learn more about the ancient-looking structure. There they connected with Colin Sumrall, University of Tennessee associate professor of paleobiology. According to WATE-TV in Tennessee, Sumrall identified the object Taylor discovered as likely more than 400-million years old.

"It's actually fairly unusual for someone to find a fossil," said Sumrall. "Typically when we look at fossils of trilobites, they molt when they grow. So what happens is, when the trilobite skeleton just crumbles into hundreds of little pieces. To find one where all the pieces are intact, it's actually a pretty lucky find."

If photos captured in Google Maps are updated, it would seem that the lake's particularly drained at the moment. Not empty, but certainly low. If any time were good for finding ancient creatures in the lakebed, now would be that time. Let us know what you find, if and when you find it. And remember, whatever you find – IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM. That's what Indiana Jones would do, and that's what Taylor reportedly plans on doing with her trilobite as well. Good on you, Taylor.

Chances of other local seekers finding similar oddities along the beach at Douglass Lake aren't particularly high – but there IS one whole heck of a lot of space to search. The Lake can be found using directions provided by Google Maps, as found below. If you do head out to Douglas Lake in search of ancient fossil Pokemon (or real fossils), be sure to obey all local laws and ordinances.

NOTE: Taylor did not share the exact place of the find along the lake's edge – or at least the local news source didn't think to ask and/or report. Given the massively varied edges of the water right now, it really could be almost anywhere – in a wide variety of places.