“As a palaeontologist, I’m constantly unearthing surprises — and in some cases, bones that have gone unseen for millions of years.
In this image, taken at the University of Wisconsin Geology Museum in Madison, I’m chipping away a rock to reveal a fossil. This piece is from the remains of a mass mortality event involving ancient amphibians known as temnospondyls, and dates back at least 230 million years. There are dozens of skeletons of a species called Buettnererpeton bakeri preserved in this block, and once the bones are cleaned up, we study these specimens to learn more about the animals’ biology and the environment around them.
This fossil was found at a site near Dubois, Wyoming. Since we discovered fossils at the site in 2013, our field crew returns each year to excavate a little more.
