This is the version of an interview posted on Discover Magazine, prior to editing. I like this version a bit more due to the personal touch. Besides beloved childhood pets, once an animal is dead we usually prefer it to stay that way. However, there is a nostalgic beauty in being able to see what […]
This was originally posted at my new blog at: http://blogs.egu.eu/palaeoblog/2013/03/18/your-track-or-mine/ How do you tell between different dinosaurs, when you don’t have any dinosaurs? Trace fossils, like footprints, are ghosts of dinosaurs past, remnants of life entombed within the rocks. Palaeontologists and ichnologists (scientists who study trace fossils, not fish) often used to get confused by […]
This was originally posted at: http://blogs.egu.eu/palaeoblog/2013/02/18/its-just-a-flesh-wound/ Fossils, as we typically think about them, tell us about the death of an animal. The teeth, bones, shells, fragmented pseudopods and other weird and wonderful bits of carcass all only ever reflect one thing: a permanent geological limbo. These types of fossil are known as body fossils. The other […]
Recently, the UKAFH invited me to write an article for them on fossil preservation. What kind of palaeontologist would possibly decline! [excluding inverts – they don’t count] This is just a nice basic guide to taphonomic processes, designed for people with limited knowledge of geology or palaeontology. Feedback, as always, is welcome! 🙂 […]