Success!

Today we got to use our hands-on skills to extract real actual fossils! First we went back to the dump and excavated some more from the sites we had identified earlier. I worked on an area that turned out to be a relatively recent landslide that had allowed a few vertebrae to stick out of the sand and mudstone. We got to gently excavate around the bones using small chisels and knives down to dental picks. I forgot the camera so I’ll have to wait until one of my fellow students sends me a picture of me at work. One of the other groups discovered a HUGE bone that turned out to be the frill on the skull of a triceratops. This was such a large discovery that after a couple hours of digging, they decided to cover it back up again and return next year with more equipment and more students. [Bones this large are rare and delicate, and it takes a more time than we had to excavate it properly. Paleontologists seem to think "it's been in the ground for 65 million years; it can wait for one more.] (They’re offering an advanced paleo course… maybe I should take it…) Actually, everyone talked about a reunion next year. EVERYONE take advanced paleo!!

After this, we went to our final field destination looking at the Bear Paw shale, a layer deeper and older than the Hell Creek formation that holds the dino bones. Here there were invertebrates (clams, etc) from the time that this area was covered by ocean water. I should take a minute to say that all vertebrate fossils (dinosaurs and other large animals) are strictly the property of the federal government, and must be sent in to federal repositories that are open to scientists but carefully guarded. The small sea creatures, however, are free for the taking. One of my classmates commented “This is like going to the gift shop after spending all week in the museum, looking at the displays we can’t touch!” I brought home a small cooler of fossils to show my class. I should point out here that the fossils are not in the cooler to keep cold, just to stay unbroken.

Once we got back and finished our lecture, we had our goodbye party. It was amazing how much I’d bonded with the people in that week—it really felt sad to say goodbye. I joked, “It was the best class I never took!” The group was really fun and really nice. People were welcoming to me, even though I wasn’t out in the field with them, and VERY protective of Olli—“Is he OK outside? Should we bring him in? Does he want to come in our cabin?” One night I saw some sort of nasty bug at the bathroom and went and found a group of three people chatting. “Anyone want to see a strange bug?” They all jumped at the chance and came and investigated and poked it. So funny – SUCH science teachers! The last night we played charades, which was hysterical. I successfully acted out “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (which coincidentally Alan had put in) while Alan successfully acted out “The Voyage of the Beagle” (which coincidentally I put in)! I hope Alan takes dino class next summer!