Dinosaurs, Fossils, and Archeology, Oh My!

A couple of summers ago, I toured local summer reading programs with a presentation on Digging into the Past, looking at dinosaurs, fossils, and archeology. These are a few resources that might be helpful in learning more about them.
 

Fossils
This short video shows how a paleontologist finds fossils. Paleontologists first study the rocks in the area in the office, looking specifically for sedimentary rocks. Knowing how old the rocks are helps the scientist know what animals to expect. When out in the field, they do a lot of walking (and then more walking), looking for clues in various sedimentary rocks. Once they find an interesting spot with fossil evidence they may spend more time in that area. This video shows how paleontologists identify fossils. After fossils are found, paleontologists decide whether they will excavate the find. If they do, this is how the remove the fossils and add a burlap and plaster jacket after getting proper permits. The process continues! The Museum of the Rockies has a great collection of videos that document each step along the way.

Where we live near the Great Lakes, the whole area was covered by water during the times of the dinosaurs, so no dinosaur fossils have been found near our area. Indiana, however, is known for a few fossils. The crinoid is often found near Crawfordsville. This looks like a flower and was once thought to be a plant, but was actually a sea animal. Falls of the Ohio State Park is also an area known for fossil hunting. Fossil collecting is no longer allowed; however, there are opportunities for education in this area and to see the fossils in their natural setting. There is another area near Toledo where it is okay to collect fossils from the Denovian time period.

Archeology
This game helps understand the differences between archeologists and paleontologists. Archeologists find information and discoveries about how PEOPLE lived in the past. They may consult a geologist to understand rocks and geology from a particular time period (as paleontologists might), yet they do not look for dinosaur bones and other fossils. Check your knowledge on archeologists at the True or False Archeology Game.

The magazine DIG also has great resources on archaeologists at their DIG website. 

Archeologists often find artifacts and try to understand how they might be used. They even compare them to the tools we might use today. Here is a Prehistoric Tool Matching game to try from Falls of the Ohio State Park.

Stomp, Stomp, Roar, Roar!

We had such a fun exploration at Nurturing Acorns, a preschool nature program at Woodlawn Nature Center, this week. The kids had not seen each other for a few months while we took a break and there were several new faces.

We started with a chocolate play dough that smelled divine. The children were recreating dinosaur themes, making nests, eggs, and more. They learned about dinosaurs through their play. As they played, we talked about what scientists have discovered about our possibly feathered friends.

Dinosaur Party at Woodlawn Nature Center

Yesterday, we checked out the Dinosaur Party at Woodlawn Nature Center. PaleoJoe brought a new exhibit on Fossils of the Michigan Basin from the Devonian time period.

The kids played outside for a long time and then checked out the exhibit. They searched for various fossils and interacted with the materials. There were a few places they could touch, feel, and play a search and find with fossils. 

I really liked this information on crinoids. I've known about them for quite some time. They were mistakenly thought of as plants previously (they kind of look like a flower with a long stem), but are actually sea animals. Crawfordsville, IN is known worldwide for the quality of crinoid fossils that are found there. 

We bought some of the author and paleontologist's books and were able to have him sign them! We're looking forward to reading these and going back in time!

There were chocolate trilobites for sale, as well as many different fossils. It was interesting to see so many people bring in fossils to ask PaleoJoe. One was really neat which showed the "track" of trilobite as it scooted along the ground. 

There were also other activities available, such as digging for fossils, making fossil imprints, fossil rubbing, and dinosaur cartoons to watch. Many people were also enjoying the other exhibits, like the wigwam, the wildlife viewing window, and going on hikes in the woods. 

The concession stand had several options with dino names, such as dinobites, at very reasonable prices. There were pulled pork sandwiches, meatballs, dino cookies, and more. 

The exhibit will be at Woodlawn Nature Center until the beginning of March, so take some time to check it out. It was neat to see children spinning around and saying how AWESOME it was to see these fossils. The adults also liked checking it out, with representatives from the Michiana Gem and Mineral Society, and other rockhounds flocking from Niles and Dowagiac to see the exhibit at the Center. By the way, we really liked the show Michiana Gem and Mineral Society put on in August. 

There were also a couple of video clips from Fox 28, such as segment 1 and segment 2. Cool stuff! PaleoJoe was fascinating to listen to--I was able to help with a field trip the previous day--neat! We really appreciated this after digging for fossils earlier this summer and visiting The Dino Store over in South Bend. 

Fossil Park

We recently headed out to Sylvania, Ohio to visit the Fossil Park. One of the librarians mentioned a place to dig for fossils from the Denovian time period. I never found the same place, but I did find this neat park where we could dig through the dirt for fossils for free. It took us just about 2 hours to drive from the northern part of Elkhart County. Fossil Park is open for part of the year. We arrived early in the morning and were the first ones there. Trucks bring loads of dirt in from a nearby quarry. The quarry is interested in what's on the other side of this section of fossils. They don't mind sharing the fossils, which is great for us! The park system there has several helpful downloads to add to the learning experience, such as a fossil lesson plans, Denovian coloring sheets, what can I find handouts, a field guide, and an egg carton template. We've used egg cartons for rock collections before. It's a fun way to organize and collect treasures. The boys have a couple of small fossil collections that we purchased, but now they can add their own finds to their collections.