Dinosaur Dreaming

Future plans for 1997

Preparations for Dinosaur Dreaming 1998 are already well under way. As in previous years, the 1998 field season will commence at the beginning of February and run for a duration of 6 weeks.

Nick van Klaveren is working on a system to cut down the time required each day to remove the sand and water from the excavation site. Being an inter-tidal site, the excavation pit is filled in with sand and water at every high tide. The time taken to remove the water, using a small pump, and digging out the sand can take up to 2 hours each day, and as we only have an access window to the site of between 6-8 hours between tides, this is a large part of our excavation time. Plans to fill the excavation site with sacks containing empty PET plastic bottles, secured by mesh in an effort to reduce the amount of sand filling the pit, are being considered. It has been estimated that at least another 4 field seasons are required to remove the remaining fossil layer. During this period, the excavation pit will be expanded considerably so a method to reduce the amount of sand and water from entering the pit each high tide is essential.

A more intensive training program for new volunteers is also being formulated to increase the chances of recognising the tiny bones, which may lead to more evidence of the elusive mammals and other yet undiscovered animals that lived at this still largely unknown time in Australia’s past.

Preparation of these small, fragile bones is time consuming and painstaking. The sandstone matrix, which encases the fossils, can only be removed mechanically, either with pneumatic or electric hand tools, or in some cases, with a mounted needle and a microscope. The backlog of unprepared specimens increases each field season with thousands of potentially ‘new’ discoveries still waiting to be prepared. It could be many years before the real picture of life in the Early Cretaceous of Victoria is finally revealed.

The results of this field season’s work are only as good as the people who volunteered their time and enthusiasm to make them possible. We all know that it takes team effort to achieve results and 1997 was no exception. The addition of our ‘international’ friends enriched our team spirit. To travel thousands of kilometres to help break rock into little pieces shows great enthusiasm, and we are very appreciative. Special thanks must go to Nicola Barton, the discoverer of the mammal jaw. This was her second field season with us and we fervently hope she will return again in 1998 to find more wonderful surprises.

Finally, this report would not be complete without our grateful thanks to The National Geographic Society, whose unflagging support over the years has made our work and discoveries in the Early Cretaceous of Victoria possible.

Dinosaur Dreaming 1997 Crew Members