Thursday, June 4, 2015

They Have Arrived!

Welcome University of Wisconsin Oshkosh crew!

 Because Cleveland Lloyd is protected by BLM, BLM controls the permits and who digs there. Long story short, different universities can apply to dig and study here. Currently, the permit is held by these guys.

 So far, their game plan is just to break through the lime stone layer above the bones so that they can then excavate the bones and take 3D images of where everything is, thus mapping the site in more detail than ever before. This has been going on for the past four years or so now. They also brought out a fairly large crew, so some of them spend their time prospecting when they need a break from digging.

 We interns have found plenty of bone poking its head out of hills just by walking around here. Its out there. Prospecting with them should be fun.

 Because YES! We get to join them later on for camping, excavating, and prospecting. Especially once they get worn out from breaking limestone. Which they were by the end of the day. Tomorrow tomorrow...

 The cool thing is that this site, while its been worked since the 1920's, didn't really see good mapping until the 2000's.

 So what? They still get dinosaurs!

 Actually, there is a lot of information to be gained from the orientation of the bones. How they're deposited lends information to how they were deposited, to if there is a relationship between where the animals are, if there was water present, and other factors that tell more of the story. Back in the old days of paleontology, people would find bones, get excited, pick it up out of the ground, jump up and down and do a happy dance....!

 Remember what I said last year was the number one rule?

 NO HAPPY DANCE! CALL THE BOSS MAN!

 See, when you find a bone, you don't touch it again until it is mapped, thus preserved valuable information that can never be replicated otherwise.

 And the 3D imaging that they're doing lends more information, including information about depth as well as where the bones go on a grid.

 To further save information, this particular group is refraining from collecting any bones that don't have bite marks, pathology, or other evidence of what may have gone on here at the site. After all, the bones are safe under the roof of the building that they're in, so unless they really need to be studied they are better off staying where they are. More information that way.

 See, we still don't know what happened here, why the bones are here. The search continues for the answer (slowly but surely), and every bit of information adds what we know, giving us more questions to answer. And hopefully, leading to an answer eventually.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

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.