Ancient Miss. was under water

In October 2020, photographs featuring a collection of fossils were sent to Mississippi State University's Extension Services and made their way to Renee Clary's desk. She's a geology professor and director of the Dunn-Seiler Museum on campus. Clary was drawn to a large tooth in the collection, which had characteristic of a mosasaur specimen - large marine reptiles dating back to the Late Cretaceous period. They were fairly common in prehistoric Starkville, she says, which, like the rest of Mississippi, was underwater for a vast period of time. In the Tishomingo area, there are a few of the Paleozoic fossils that are older than the dinosaurs. "What we know about Starkville and Mississippi from this period is that we were underwater," she said. "We find sharks' teeth, ammonites, mosasaur vertebrates, giant Exogyra oysters and great reefs." Mississippi's aquatic past may come as a surprise to some, but pre-history of the state is a subject of great interest to paleontologist at MSU. The work is valuable in piecing together a picture of the past, but also in predicting the picture of the future. (Source: MSU 10/05/21) Starkville used to be underwater: MSU geologists analyze prehistoric fossils found in Mississippi | News | reflector-online.com