From October 5th to December 18th, Montbrook has seen 177 volunteers digging 5 days per week, for a grand total of 2,170 person-hours in 53 days!

Site at beginning of Fall 2017 field season. Florida Museum photo by Margaret Messineo.
Site at beginning of Fall 2017 field season. Florida Museum photo by Margaret Messineo.

 

Our top volunteers, contributing over 30 hours and uncovering the most fossils include William Buhi, David Cox, Joshua Doby, Sherry Harmon, Susan Harris, John Helling, Cindy Lockner, Sharon Lord, Christopher McAleer, Margaret Messineo, Carol Sewell, William Sewell, Sharon Shears, and Michele Wilbanks. Carol Sewell, William Sewell, and Susan Harris volunteered over 100 hours each!

Thank you all so much for your dedication to the fossil site and to the landowner for allowing us such access!

Some highlights from the season:

October 6th, 2017 Margaret Messineo uncovering a baby gomphothere skeleton. Florida Museum photo by Jonathan Bloch.
October 6th, 2017 Margaret Messineo uncovering a baby gomphothere skeleton. Florida Museum photo by Jonathan Bloch.

The very first day of digging following the summer break, Margaret Messineo began uncovering a baby gomphothere skeleton! Since then it’s been Gomph-A-Palooza.

 

We celebrated our two-year anniversary, expanded the pit, prepared plaster jackets for the public in the Florida Museum’s 100-Year Anniversary exhibit, cataloged our 10,000th specimen, and hosted a tour of the site for our youngest group yet, the earth sciences class at East Marion Elementary.

East Marion Elementary Earth Sciences class. Florida Museum photo by Shari Sexton.
Upper premolar of a baby gomphothere (inch scale bar). Florida Museum photo by Rachel Narducci.
Carol Sewell preparing a gomphothere jaw out of a plaster jackets in the 100-Year Anniversary Exhibit. Florida Museum photo by William Sewell.
November 9th, 2017 The crew removing a plaster jacket containing a baby gomphothere skull and jaws from the site. Florida Museum photo by Carol Sewell.
Bill Sewell helping to expand the site. Florida Museum photo by Carol Sewell.

So, all this talk of Gomph-A-Palooza… but wait; plot twist. After preparing a jaw of what we thought was another gomphothere, we realized we have a Mastodon! Another jaw was jacketed and taken out of the pit just this past week. (A blog post with more information about the Mastodon is in progress and will be linked here when available.)

 

Partial Mastodon jaw. Florida Museum photo by Rachel Narducci.
Partial Mastodon jaw. Florida Museum photo by Rachel Narducci.

For the Spring 2018 season, we plan to dig for 84 days. Imagine the possibilities!