Thursday, June 25, 2015

Quarry History

Because Utah has been excavated for dinosaurs for a relatively long time in the history of paleontology, there's a pretty  rich history to it. Especially at Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, but other sites as well. This means that somewhere, maybe at the end of a rainbow, there is a treasure trove of stories to read and retell.

Found it!


Ok, so it wasn't actually at the end of the lovely double rainbow that I got to see the other day. However, it was at the end of one of our book shelves. The top one. Way out of my reach. But I got it!

And inside it was a ton of information about the history of the quarry. For example, the discovery of the site in the first place.

The first paleontologists who were made aware of this site didn't actually record who led them to it. So we don't have a definitive story.

However, regionally, word of mouth tends to know the answers that we don't.

 In an interview, a senior came forward as the 'first man to find the site.' His story goes that he was out in the desert with his friends and one of their sons herding sheep, and they came across these bones while taking a break. You can still see the depression in the ground where there was a water source for the sheep nearby. The boy started to poke around, and pulled out some bones from what is now the quarry. The man had no idea what these large, black bones were (obviously they weren't from his sheep!) and didn't really think about it. 

 But the boy was curious.

 He took a few to his high school principle/teacher, who recognized them immediately and actually started taking the class out to the site to learn about science and collect a little bit. Of course, word got around.

  Eventually, the scientists came around and someone led them to the site. It isn't clear who that finally was, but the story of the discovery adds an interesting chapter to the excavations history.


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My Story (Very briefly...)

Lots of people claim that they wanted to be paleontologists at the age of 3. So did I. The problem is, I never really grew out of it. My third birthday party had dinosaurs. Everywhere. I grew up digging in fossil dirt from Aurora, NC, looking for coral and shark teeth. I practically lived at my local science museums (and still do, only now I get to do research, fossil preparation, and work in collections!) When local paleontologists discovered a dinosaur with a "fossilized heart" (no longer considered such) when I was little, I got to meet the man who led the work. And then, years later a dinosaur bone with soft tissue turned up. I was officially hooked.
No longer was I dreaming about dinosaurs. I was actively pursuing the science behind prehistoric creatures. I didn't want to read about it, I wanted in on the action. So I started working at the museum, and finally going on my own adventures. And thus, I needed a place to share them and maybe inspire others the way I was inspired. I have gone from watching fossils be prepared from one side of the glass at the museum to working on them on the inside of the glass. I am a student working toward my goal. I can finally start to call myself a paleontologist.