In the latter '98 and '99 seasons, a method of stopping the Hole filling with sand was
mashed out into a more practical solution. In the end, we were packing the Hole with plastic drums, 1/3 full of water
(to stop the flotation force tearing them away), wrapping everything in tarpaulins and fastening steel mesh and
girders on top of everything, with a few sand bags to add the finishing touches. It now only takes an hour to get the hole ready, as opposed to 3 or 4.
Here's the homepage of the dig, if you're in any way interested in any of that, take a look. It's been updated for this year's dig now.
Oh, what's that? What's a beetle bum, you ask? :) A beetle bum is not, in fact, the
posterior end of a beetle, live or dead. They were a bit of a mystery, but some clever person decided that
they are little lumps of clay (or clay-derived rock) that had been coated with a shiny, metallic mineral coating
somehow, through the millions of years it spent underground. It's still something of a mystery as to precisely
HOW they got coated, and why some did and others didn't, and now we're finding them inside bits of coal, which is most
puzzling. Doris, who's PhD is on the taphonomy of the site, is collecting them to try and figure them out. Good luck!
Dinosaur Dreaming
Since that is basically what I have been doing for most of my life, I figured I should get involved.
Basically what it is, is a bunch of volunteers digging up bones (hopefully) for reasearch by the Museum
and the Uni...
Of particular intrest suddenly is the prospect of mammal remains, whereas up until
recently, all they were finding was dinsoaurs, turtles, fish, amphibians, lumps of coal and beetle bums.
Just for reference, the site is about 115 million years old, which puts it at the beginning
of the Cretaceous Period, the last dynasty of the dinosaurs.
Several different types of dinosaurs have been found there, including hypsilophodonts
(hip-si-LOAF-o-donts, meaning "high ridged tooth"), allosaurs, and armoured ankylosaurs.
Hypsies (as they are affectionately known) were small (1-2m long), bipedal dinosaurs,
and strictly vegetarian, while the allosaurs were large, bloodthirsty carnivores, early relatives of the infamous Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Ankylosaurs were sturdy quadrupedal herbivores, generally armoured against attack and
often defensible thanks to a bony club on the tail. Ankylosaurs at Inverloch are mostly known from
the small studs (or sometimes large blobs) of bone that were embedded in their skin to serve as
armour. These are called "dermal ossicles", and occasionally several are found fused together. There
has also been an ankylosaur rib found at the site.
There have also been a number of theropod teeth found, but nothing else of them to indicate what sort of theropods they
were. The size of the teeth (all broken off above the root) indicates an animal slightly larger than Velociraptor.
So, we know that our Cretaceous rift valley was not without its predators.
For myself, the 2 weeks I spent at Inverloch this year (1999) were pretty damn good, as opposed to last year, I actually
found some decent bones before I was about to leave... :) I had a pretty good haul, finding (or almost missing, to be truthful) a lovely
hypsilophodont femur (that's what they think it is at the moment. This may change). Also a few interesting vertabrae, and a lovely little
fish tooth on my last day, with its transparent cap still in place... :) Various other anonymous bits and pieces await our enlightenment,
but no mammal bits for me this year! *sigh* That was left to everyone else...
The mammal jaw tally has now reached 7, I think, not bad considering the first one only came to light in early '97. The most remarkable day
we had while I was there was when not one but TWO mammal jaws were found by 2 different people, all within half an hour of each other... the champagne came out
that night... ;) Seems Tom was right when he said, after the first one was found; "Where there's one, there's more"...
I'm definately going again next year, if only so I can get a T-Shirt that reads "Dinosaur Dreaming Dig Crew 2000"... :) Yes, we all know that the 21st century doesn't REALLY
start until 1-1-2001, but as I read in a book once, "the psychological impact of all those zeros was too much"... That, and the impeccable fabulousness of the food... they feed us good
down there... except when some people decide that we have to have curry... there's a great fish & chip place in town...
Dinosaur Dreaming Homepage. Yay! :)
Yet another update, the mammal jaw tally has reached 8, I beleive, which includes at least two species of Ausktribosphenos
(say that three times quickly with a mouth full of peanut butter), and another little critter which they thought was a Eupantothere
(a group of extinct mammals that probably gave rise to monotremes, I think), but which might actually be a missing link between eupantotheres
and monotremes. How cool is that? :)
I'm only going for a week in the 2000 season, but hopefully my bone-spotting skills have been much polished by my experience this year with
preparing the bones. Well, one bone, so far, but staring at the stuff down a microscope for hours on end is good practice for seeing it on the
beach at the site. I hope. :) The training days that have recently taken place proved very successful, and with the tides willing, it should be a terriffic season.
I'll put a summary of my week here after I've done it, in February.
A further update... I've just come back from another week on the site, for the 2003... my first year at the dig since 2000. It was good to be back! They've gotten rid of the bottles in the hole, and there's just a system of beams, mesh and tarps now, and it's working a treat.
The mammal jaw tally is now at 21! There are several species represented... one is definately a monotreme (Teenalophus, I think), while debate still rages over Ausktribosphenos and the others. Only one found this year, disappointingly... but lots of other stuff came out.
I might even put up some pictures if you're really lucky... ;)
Chatting
Personal stuff
Family&Friends
Creativity
Photos
Back to page 1
U2
© 2000 alisond@cyberone.com.au