This post highlights the Florida Vertebrate Paleontology course students impressions of digging at the Montbrook Fossil Site for the fourth or second to last time. Follow these students through their first, second, and third experiences of digging at the fossil site.
Sunday, February 26
“This trip, I helped with a plaster jacket for the first time. I’d seen this done in documentaries as a kid, never thought I’d be doing it myself. With larger bones, it’s sometimes easier and safer to take the whole chunk of sand and clay back to the lab. I dug around the sides of a Gomphothere vertebra, exposing it, and then jacketed it up for transport. While I was dredging that out, I struck a gold mine of vertebra fossils – much more than I normally get. Biggest finds of the day were a vertebra and leg bone from two alligators, but I also pulled out turtle shell fragments more or less nonstop.” – Ben Rumsey
Sunday, March 19
“Today was my fourth dig day. The weather was beautiful before lunchtime and then grew very hot after. As always, the site was peaceful and near silent other than small chatter and tools digging. Overall, I feel as though I found less fossils than my other days, but they were more notable finds. My morning started with several tiny fish bones. Fish bones are a pain because you will almost always break them unless you dig at a snail’s pace. Not to mention I hate the feeling of, “oops, I think I just broke that.” Eventually, I pulled up a larger sized fish bone, followed by a very cool alligator tail vertebra. To date, the tail vertebra is probably my favorite find. Hours went by and I found no other fossils. My square was quickly turning into just a sand pit. My square was actually so uneventful, that it became the location to provide sand for other people’s plaster jackets. Nonetheless, I didn’t mind carrying several buckets worth of sand away from my dig location. I enjoy using the time to zone out to music or catch up on some podcasts. As the day went on, I started to find a few more fossils including a turtle shell fragment (of course), an alligator claw, and a snapping turtle toe. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my finds for the day even if there were just a handful. As Dr. Bloch and Dr. Hulbert always say, someone will reap the benefits of your hard work on a later day, and with that being said, I am okay with my time being spent for the greater good of the site.” – Blake Meyer
Wednesday, March 22
“Regardless of the fact that it was my first time not running into the free-roaming cows surrounding the Montbrook fossil dig site, the cloudy weather and the shade it provided made for a promising first impression of my day. I was assigned a square in the lower section of the pit, digging in the sand below the clay layer. My section was directly next to the plaster jacket I had made a few days before, so it was heartwarming to be able to dig so close to my previous square. In the section I was assigned, there was a cloth covering up one of the side walls that had a piece of fossil protruding out. When I went to uncover the fossil to dig around it, I uncovered a beautiful spider. Much to my surprise, this spider ended up spending the entire day next to me nestled on one of the walls that made up the perimeter of my section. My square started off very promising even though I was making my way through a lot of loose dirt. Even though there wasn’t a high dirt to fossil ratio, I was able to find many pieces of turtle shell, as well as other small miscellaneous fossil pieces. However, this all occurred within my first hour of digging. The rest of the day was spent sifting through empty sand and meticulously lowering down layers of dirt in my section, as well as plenty of heavy lifting of the dirt to the dump site. On the plus side, I built up some good arm strength! Aside from the lack of fossils I encountered, the sun decided to make a strong and vibrant appearance a couple of hours in, and persisted throughout the rest of the day. Even though the second half of my day proved to be hot and fossil-less, I was able to help flip over my plaster jacket from the other day! It was the most enjoyable haul I’ve ever had to do because I felt an indescribable personal connection to that group of fossils. As the day was concluding and I was breaking down layer after layer of empty dirt in my square, I did come across a few layers that were not only frustrating but I thought were extremely cool. The frustration came from the fact that everywhere I struck when trying to dig felt like fossil, but instead it appeared to be a few layers of extremely hard clay that was intertwined with specs of what seemed to resemble limestone. This appeared to be a unique layer that nobody could recall encountering yet. Even though it was challenging to dig up, it was very enjoyable to analyze. My only wish was that I had a pedologist next to me to share my interest in the abnormal patch of dirt.” – Kelsea Rose
Saturday, April 1st
“Today was my second half-day at the dig site. I again forgot sunscreen 🙁 but had a very successful day at the site. I found a snapping turtle vertebra, lots of pieces of turtle shell, a tooth, and multiple claws. The past two times I have gone to the site I have been in areas with more rock and hard clay. These areas require more detailed digging and multiple allocations of water. As much as I enjoy finding more fossils in these new plots, the areas with looser sand were easier to dig in and allowed for a lot more filled buckets. Being in this area made me feel more accomplished afterwards because I could see improvements and changes much faster. I also found myself making less mistakes and I was able to take better care of the bones I found because of the looser surroundings. I didn’t take any pictures today but my next time at the site will be a full day and I will be sure to take some then!” – Monica Sciturro
Sunday, April 2nd
“Today’s dig was tedious but exciting. I can say it was both because there was never a dull moment in my grid square. No matter which corner of the square I turned to to start digging, I contacted turtle shell fragments within a few strokes of my trusty flathead. I have come to find that unlike the weather, the water hoses, the handles of Tidy Cat buckets, and the subject of conversation, 5-6 million-year-old dead turtle shells are about the most reliable part of digging at Montbrook. I had to have loaded my bone bag with upwards of 10 pounds of shell fragments and only a few examples of anything else! I noticed immediately at the beginning of the day, two tantalizing fossils jutting into my square. However, at least half of both examples (one turtle shell fragment and one very large rounded bone, unidentified) were covered by around 3 feet of earth by the next square over. That was disappointing. Anyways, the most exciting fossil unearthed in my square was an alligator vertebra.” – Erich Zellmer
