Africa Geographic’s scientific editor, Tim Jackson, is fascinated by Africa’s dinosaurs and recently asked some of the world’s leading dinosaur palaeontologists – bone-collectors to you and me – what hunting for fossils is really like.
© Africa Geographic
TJ: So what’s it really like to work on dinosaurs in the field? (Many fossils seem to be located in some pretty remote areas of the continent. I have this picture of many hours of searching and the painstaking excavation of fossils that can be brought back to the laboratory where the real work can begin!)
David Krause, Stony Brook University, New York, US
It’s almost impossible to explain how exciting it can be. While prospecting, you never know around which corner you might turn and lay your eyes on the bones of a previously unknown dinosaur (or other vertebrate animal – we collect all animals, not just dinosaurs, to obtain a broad view of paleoecology). The same is true while quarrying. Long hours under the burning sun, and finding nothing, seem insignificant when punctuated by the uncovering of a new specimen.
Oliver Rauhut, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany
Challenging, especially in the more remote areas of Africa and in the least developed countries of the continent. When working in Niger, we had to have the plaster of Paris for the jackets shipped from the US, since we couldn’t rely on supplies from the country. Work is hard and hot, and everything, from fossil transport to everyday life, needs a lot of planning and logistics.
Paul Barrett, Natural History Museum, London, UK
The work I’ve done was in the areas around Lady Grey and Clarens in South Africa. Both are great places for fieldwork with lots of rock exposure among the various farms and bits of open scrub that make up most of the landscape in these areas. The fieldwork involves a lot of walking around staring at the ground trying to recognise bits of bone that might be showing on the surface: luckily the bone is usually a different colour from the surrounding rock, so it doesn’t take too long to get your eyes trained. Some of the rocks in the area can be quite hard to excavate, needing the careful use of rock saws to remove specimens, but in many other areas work with trowels and other small handtools is more usual. The landscape is stunning, meaning that when you have a break there are gorgeous views all around you and the chance of seeing some interesting wildlife. It’s pretty hot, dusty work, especially when making plaster jackets, and can be tiring with lots of walking or climbing in warm, dry conditions, as well as carrying equipment and specimens.
Robert Reisz, University of Toronto, Canada
That is generally the case for all fossil work. However, the African continent has always attracted explorers, and difficult field conditions tend to be challenge rather than a hindrance. Many palaeontologists relish the challenge – it is part of the attraction of the field.
Roger Smith, Iziko Museum, Cape Town, South Africa
Dinosaurs are rarely found fully-articulated but surprisingly often found as accumulations of disarticulated bones of multiple animals in bonebeds – so generally if you come across a bonebed you can collect many specimens from a single locality. Dinosaur skulls fall apart pretty easily so skulls are frustratingly fragmentary.
Adam Yates, Museum of Central Australia, Alice Springs, Australia
That picture isn’t far wrong. Although not all sites are remote. A lot of South Africa’s dinosaur sites are little more than a few hours’ drive from major towns, and sometimes in picturesque country with wonderful facilities at hand. Also it is important to remember the field aspect of the work is more than just digging up the bones for study elsewhere. Import information resides in the context of the fossils in the ground which will be lost if the excavation is not conducted carefully with full documentation as it proceeds.
That said the main memory I take away from fieldwork is a sense of immense satisfaction. I know of few pursuits as peaceful and thoroughly absorbing as lying down on the ground with your nose just inches from a fossil as you slowly ease it from its surrounding sediments.
Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan, University of Cape Town, South Africa
It is absolutely amazing to find a dinosaur bone – even if it is just a fragment. Just knowing that you are the first person to have found this relic of a time long gone is really special. And it is even better when one can shed some light onto the specimen in terms of what it is, and to which animal it belongs. Once in the lab, my research involves looking at the microscopic structure of the fossil bones to deduce various aspects of its biology.
Pat O’Connor, Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Athens, US
This is truly the best part of the process – to be out in the bush or desert, combing over the landscape in search of bits of fossilised bone – and to be sure, many of the dinosaur fossils on this continent are hard won prizes! Nonetheless, this makes the challenge that much more rewarding, when one or more of those bits of bone lead you into a hillside where the rest of the skeleton is waiting to be uncovered.
Matt Lamanna, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, US
It’s almost always incredibly fun. Prospecting for fossils is a great time – you’re out in some remote, often beautiful area that not many people get to, searching for new evidence bearing on the history of life. And when you find something good, it’s exhilarating. Remember the feeling you got when you were a kid and you were about to open a gift that you knew was going to be awesome? The feeling is kind of like that, but magnified about ten times.
TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT AFRICA’S EXTINCT MEGAFUANA READ JACKSON’S ARTICLE ‘STONES, BONES & TEETH’ IN THE JULY ISSUE OF AFRICA GEOGRPAHIC
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