The best times that you can hope for at work are those days when you don’t have to actually go to work! And that’s what happened to me today. Only a few weeks in the planning, my crew and I left this morning for a fossil dig at an awesome Pliocene (3.5 million year old) fossil site near Chinchilla on the Darling Downs, around three hours drive west of Brisbane.
A 3.5 million year old tooth from the weird wombat-like marsupial, Euryzygoma
Our goal of the trip: to have a scout around the area, keeping an eye out for fossils of the ancestors of our modern vertebrate faunas. We were joined on our trip by our dear friend, Joanne Wilkinson from the Queensland Museum, an awesome bunch of Grade 10 kids from the Samford Valley Steiner School, and my interstate colleague, Dr Julien Louys from the Australian National University in Canberra.
The Samford crew are undertaking a super-important mapping project in the area, plotting in all of the major fossil layers from which bones have been collected from over the past 30-odd years. My crew consists of Dr Tara Clark, PhD student Kyle Ferguson, and Honours student Nick Wiggins. Both Kyle and Nick have been on only a few fossil digs, so it’s a great opportunity for both of them to get their hands dirty and a bit of field experience under the belt. Julien works on a wide range of projects across Australia and Southeast Asia, and is particularly keen in extending his primary research into the Pliocene history of our continent.
Another Euryzgoma tooth, this time a lower incisor
We left really early, making it out to the site by around mid-morning. Our first day was spent inducting the students around the fossil site, and collecting the odd bit of fossil bone here and there. Our best discoveries of the day include fossil bones of giant and weird wombat-like marsupials like the enigmatic Euryzygoma, fossils of giant grey kangaroos (Macropus pan) – the ancestors of the modern roos – plus a massive range of fossil crocodile bits and pieces. Taken together, we can see that diversity around the area was markedly different in the past. The weird marsupials are totally extinct today, and the crocs are now found only in tropical parts of Australia.
We are going to be tweeting live from the dig during the course of the trip. Some of our discoveries are featured below. If you’re on Twitter and would like to learn more, you can follow our trip with the hashtag #LiveFromTheDig. We’ll also do our best to post daily blog updates here on our progress.
Just hit Brisbane #livefromthedig pic.twitter.com/adGtcVsjqa
— Julien Louys (@JulienLouys) May 5, 2015
We've arrived at the dig. Let the fossil hunting begin! #LiveFromTheDig pic.twitter.com/FxrKxNUenq
— Gilbert Price (@TheFatWombat) May 6, 2015
Condamine River at our dig site. Pelicans flying away in distance! #LiveFromTheDig pic.twitter.com/3p3q5qIax8
— Gilbert Price (@TheFatWombat) May 6, 2015
Visit to a local private fossil collection. Amazing 3.5 million year old lungfish fossils! #LiveFromTheDig pic.twitter.com/sP1eoGoVAJ
— Gilbert Price (@TheFatWombat) May 6, 2015
Marsupial Lion tooth, thylacoleo, 3.5 million years old. #LiveFromTheDig pic.twitter.com/5Bm2zqwjxs
— Gilbert Price (@TheFatWombat) May 6, 2015
Massive fossil kangaroo arm bone. Huge roo! #WildOz #LiveFromTheDig pic.twitter.com/Tagil2AMG0
— Gilbert Price (@TheFatWombat) May 6, 2015
Kyleson showing off some cross bedding #LiveFromTheDig pic.twitter.com/50vLirAVI9
— Gilbert Price (@TheFatWombat) May 6, 2015
@TheFatWombat sustains the first injury of the trip #livefromthedig pic.twitter.com/KaIWScG27y
— Julien Louys (@JulienLouys) May 6, 2015
@implexidens @WickNiggins Palimnarchus tooth for you, as promised #livefromthedig pic.twitter.com/u1pXb5F9NT
— Julien Louys (@JulienLouys) May 6, 2015
Gilbert Price
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How exciting! Will definitely love to follow your adventures on Twitter!
Cowabunga dudes!
I ave always wondered if these animals could have been killed off by the humans who turned up in Australia 30 thousand years ago. I would image that they would be easy prey for a specialize intelligent hunter.
Jeff
Love It!
Very fascinated by the work. Are there opportunities for volunteers on these digs?
Do you know of other fossil digs closer to Brisbane?
Thanks,
Danny.
Fascinating stuff! Will be tuning in.