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Notes from the Field
Tom with a 51-million-year-old predatory fossil fish (Phareodus encaustus) ready to be sent to the lab for preparation!
A busy crew
The camp at night
A night dig -
Higher temperatures dictate work at night. Each layer of limestone is painstakingly lifted by hand.
Overhead view of night dig
Setting up 2017 camp - Enya (left), with student interns
Heading into our excavation for summer, 2017. Weather is sunny and cool...
great sunsets!
High praise from Dr. Phillip Manning, Reader in Palaeobiology, Head of Palaeontology Research Group and STFC Science in Society Fellow, University of Manchester, England, Summer, 2015:
Dear Tom,
Thank you to both you and your splendid team for your generosity and hospitality last week. In my 30 years working in palaeontology I have gotten to work with some outstanding folks in the field. You stand head and shoulders above them all in your approach, analysis and operational procedures...
...it is the fieldwork that keeps my paleontological heart beating strong. The Green River provided a powerful boost to me. I am so grateful for the opportunities that folks such as you and Pete offer my team…we cannot keep the palaeontological fires burning, unless we maintain a steady stream of fossil fuel for the subject. It is not only my team and I that should be grateful to you, it should be the whole discipline.
If there is anything I can do to help in future excavations, I would do so in a heartbeat. Both you and Pete Larson are inspirational speakers for our discipline. I look forward to working with you when I am in post at the College of Charleston, so you might again pass-on your enthusiasm to another generation.
Again, you have my deepest thanks.
Best wishes
Phil