When a paleontologist asks if you’d like to join them on a trip to look for fossils, the answer should always be yes!
That’s how David and I ended up in upper state New York, driving Dr. Martin R. Smith around all sorts of off-the-map places in search of signs of prehistoric life.
Taking “mobile office” to a whole new level, Martin sorts his samples on the roof of our rental car.
At the time, Martin was completing his PhD while based at the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) in Toronto. His focus was on microscopic life forms so tiny they often aren’t visible without a microscope! So the goal was to collect shale and rock from the appropriate time period in hopes there was something more to see once it was back in the lab.
A fossil of a stick, one of many we found on our adventures.
It’s also fun to note that Martin is very tall, taller than David and I, and we’d bring our collections of rocks to him - “Is this a fossil?”. “No, Ainsley, that is just a rock.” I felt like a little kid trying to help an adult with something very important.
We did find A LOT of fossils of sticks, as well as some really cool plated fish though!
Since our trip, Martin has gone on to completely change the way scientists see Hallucigenia, which is quite cool! You can see his article “Ancient mini-monster head mystery solved – here’s how we did it”. You can also follow his adventures on Twitter @PalaeoSmith.
Martin also wrote the forward for my Fossils photography book, which is now available here.
Use what you have for communication when in remote areas searching for fossils!