Rookies’ Day

 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.

Back in Wonthaggi breaking rock, Wade found his first Dinosaur Dreaming fossil!

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!

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!

Nice bone from "NoddyLand"

 

Yesterday Mike collected this beautiful centrum that Melissa found.

More photos from Fotini

Adam carries stuff

The crew works in the bright sun

Alan stares at rocks

Marion gets organised

Extracting rock

 

Unstable Palaeontologists - photos from Fotini

 

Panoramas by Doris