Last week we took three enthusiastic rookies down to Eagles Nest to show them the site we intend to dig in February. Thanks to Corrie for the site photos.
Sunday, 10 December 2023
Monday, 20 November 2023
Theropod skulls and bird footprints - new publications
Hi Everyone,
It's been a while since I last posted (sorry!), but I have news of two exciting publications to share:
The first is a paper by Jake Kotevski et al about a megaraptorid skull element found at Shack Bay: A megaraptorid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) frontal from the upper Strzelecki Group (Lower Cretaceous) of Victoria, Australia - ScienceDirect
The second describes 27 bird footprints on the Bass Coast: Earliest known Gondwanan bird tracks: Wonthaggi Formation (Early Cretaceous), Victoria, Australia | PLOS ONE
Here is some of the popular press reports:
- ‘World’s oldest’ megaraptorid bone found at Shack Bay (sgst.com.au)
- A megaraptorid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) frontal from the upper Strzelecki Group (Lower Cretaceous) of Victoria, Australia - ScienceDirect
- 125-million-year-old footprints rewrite the history of birds in Australia - Museums Victoria
- Australian discovery of 120m-year-old footprints provides earliest evidence for birds in southern hemisphere | Australia news | The Guardian
- Birds set foot near South Pole in Early Cretaceous, Australian tracks show (emory.edu)
- Fossil footprints found on Victorian coast 'oldest evidence of birds in southern hemisphere' - ABC News
- Fragile bird footprints dating back to over 100 million years discovered on the Southern Australia coast - Science (monash.edu)
- Fossil footprints are the oldest traces of birds in Australia | New Scientist
- NEW DISCOVERY: Earliest evidence that birds set foot near South Pole 125 million years ago (sgst.com.au)
- Birds set foot near South Pole in Early Creta | EurekAlert!
Tuesday, 7 March 2023
Exciting find
I have to be really careful about what I say here, but the amazing Melissa found something pretty amazing last Thursday. We're not sure what it is, but it is big... We are hoping to get it scanned soon so we know what we are dealing with. Watch this space!
Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Tuesday, 21 February 2023
More photos from Fotini
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| Adam carries stuff |
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| The crew works in the bright sun |
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| Alan stares at rocks |
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| Marion gets organised |
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| Extracting rock |
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Vials
When the film-camera industry collapsed, we thought that we might run out of vials to use for collecting fossil frags (and teeth on small rocks!) in the field. Not so. Cleaning out the dig equipment shed revealed hundreds of the lost treasures, and we are now set for many many years to come.
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| Doris atop her pile of vials |
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| Packing them neatly into boxes |
Monday, 20 February 2023
John's boots fall apart - photos by Doris
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| Boot digging fairly well |
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| Boot leaking badly |
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| Boot with its insides on the outside |
Some cool photos from Jack
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| Watching the crew work from the other side of the hole |
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| Building a sandbag wall |
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| Atmospheric clouds |
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| Cleaning the site |
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| Jake sweeping the hole |
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| The hole filling with water |
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| The hole crews working |
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| Jack and John hanging with visiting Palaeo Ruairidh |
Thursday, 16 February 2023
Crew photo
Sandbags
Yesterday we removed the sandbags...
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And washed them...
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Carried them up the hill and hung them up to dry.
Tuesday, 14 February 2023
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Day 4 - The creatives from the Bass Coast Dinosaur Trail visit
Today we were visited by some of the design team behind the Bass Coast Dinosaur Trail. This trail will celebrate the dinosaurs and other animals found on the Bass Coast. Installations are planned from San Remo to Inverloch, and the designers came seeking inspiration from the work that we do. It was a lot of fun talking to them and sharing ideas. Zev from that team has been working at our site for most of the week. I was way too busy when everyone else was at site to take photos...
Read all about the trail here: Bass Coast Dinosaurs Trail | Engage Bass Coast
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| Synchronised Digging |
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| Alan confers with Mary and Marion |
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| Amber and John S in the bucket line |
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| Zev confers with Jack and Jake |
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| Zev confers with Doris |
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| Zev sketches while John W and Alan extract rock |
Monday, 13 February 2023
Day 3 - Lots more shovelling
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| John W resisting on three shovels |
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| John W and Adam passing off a bucket |
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| The cool little toe-like fossil that Dean found |