Monthly Archives: November 2009

How many ears?

Posted on November 28, 2009 by altondooley

For the last few months we’ve been preparing one of the whale skulls from Carmel Church. This specimen was found immediately beside our Diorocetus specimen; the rib cages from the two whales overlapped each other. This was actually the first of four whale skulls … Continue reading →

Posted in "Picasso", Carmel Church mysticetes, Carmel Church Quarry, Chesapeake Group | Tagged | 5 Comments

Singing Darwin

Posted on November 22, 2009 by altondooley

This Tuesday, November 24, will be the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species be Charles Darwin. In honor of this event, the School of Visual Arts at Virginia Tech is presenting a performance art event called “Singing … Continue reading →

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Geoscience education

Posted on November 20, 2009 by altondooley

There have been a number of disturbing reports recently about the reduction or elimination of various geoscience organizations, including the University of Wyoming Geological Museum and now (possibly) the Department of Geological Sciences at Michigan State University. I’ve heard other stories … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, education, and philosophy | 2 Comments

Carmel Church Day 4

Posted on November 17, 2009 by altondooley

I’m not sure what to make of this dentary. It’s either broken at the tip, with the anterior part rotated 90 degrees, or there are two dentaries sitting next to each other; at Carmel Church the two possibilities are equally … Continue reading →

Posted in Carmel Church mysticetes, Carmel Church Osteichthyans, Carmel Church Quarry, Carmel Church reptiles, Chesapeake Group | 2 Comments

Carmel Church Day 3

Posted on November 16, 2009 by altondooley

Too many bones! Yesterday we found that the apparent paired bones on the right side of our pit were in fact the posterior end of a crushed mandible. Today we found that the mandible is complete, although broken into a … Continue reading →

Posted in Carmel Church mysticetes, Carmel Church odontocetes, Carmel Church Osteichthyans, Carmel Church Quarry, Chesapeake Group | Tagged | 3 Comments

Carmel Church Day 2

Posted on November 15, 2009 by altondooley

Well, what do I know? It looks like the bones we uncovered yesterday that are sitting in our trench are a crushed mandible after all (above). We’re going to try to remove this separately from the other material, hopefully tomorrow.

Posted in Carmel Church mysticetes, Carmel Church Osteichthyans, Carmel Church Quarry, Chesapeake Group | Leave a comment

Back to Carmel Church

Posted on November 14, 2009 by altondooley

After numerous delays due in large part to illness, Tim and I finally made it back to Carmel Church last night. I’ve had hopes of getting in a short (4-5 day) excavation, but the 4 continuous days of rain in … Continue reading →

Posted in Carmel Church mysticetes, Carmel Church Quarry, Chesapeake Group | Leave a comment

Scapulocoracoid update

Posted on November 10, 2009 by altondooley

A few weeks ago we successfully flipped over our large diplodocid scapulocoracoid. We had to spend some time removing the gauze that had been used to help keep everything in place, as well as removing the glue that had been applied … Continue reading →

Posted in Wyoming Excavations | Tagged | 8 Comments

From the collections room (Agnosphitys)

Posted on November 3, 2009 by altondooley

Nick Fraser, the current Keeper of Natural Sciences at the National Museum of Scotland, used to be Director of Research and Collections at VMNH, and essentially created our Department of Vertebrate Paleontology. One of the results of Nick’s tenure here … Continue reading →

Posted in From the Collections Room | Tagged | 9 Comments