Week 6 Flashcards
Protoceratops: discovery and lore
The discovery of the protoceratops on the silk road leads to lore around the griffin. This is an example of how discoveries of dinosaur fossils made before the age of enlightenment inspired people’s imaginations and resulted in lore.
Age of Enlightenment
1600s-1700s
We understand the the Earth is really old and changes over time
Stratigraphic principles of relative dating
We understand that fossils are the remains of ancient creatures
Organisms change over time
First name ever assigned to a dinosaur
Scrotumhumanem
Anatomist Sir Richard Owens coins the term dinosaur:
Greek!
Deinos: fearfully great or terrible
Sauros: lizard
Early victorian reconstructions of dinosaurs depicted them as
large, heavy-set, quadrupeds.
Early reconstructions of the dinosaur in the USA depicted them as
lizard like bipeds.
During the golden age of palaeontology Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel C. Marsh ran competing camps in Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming. This led to…
Lots of fossil discoveries and armed camps to protect those fossils and claim credit for the discovery. Over 142 species were discovered during this time.
In Alberta, during the 1800s…
first written report of dinosaur bones in Alberta
Duck-billed dinosaur fragments are discovered along the milk river.
Joseph B. Tyrell made his first discovery while looking for coal, he found a meat eating dinosaur and called it the albertasaurus!
Era of Imperialistic Palaeontology
Museums want dinosaurs, people travel to other countries to get fossils and bring them back to their museum.
Germans go to Tanzania and Egypt
Americans go to Mongolia
Dinosaur “Calm Years”
1900s
After Great Depression and World War II there is no money to fund palaeontology. :(
Interest in dinosaurs decline, research slows down, dinosaurs are once again thought of as huge, slow, stupid, lumbering creatures.
Dinosaur Renaissance
1970-today
Interest in dinosaur re-emerges with a series of new questions.
Melanosomes
Pigment-producing cellular organelles. these organelles give pigment to color.
If we find melanosomes in dinosaurs that means they must be related to birds!
1972 Alberta Historical Resources Act
Fossils are the property of all Albertans
Fossils are to remain in Alberta
Excavation of fossils can only be done by qualified people holding a permit
Violations are punishable by up to 50,000$ in fines and 1 year in prison.
What do you do if you find a fossil?
DO NOT TOUCH IT. Valuable information is in the surrounding rock.
Call a palaeontologist or the Royal Tyrell, a PROFESSIONAL to HANDLE IT. Provide them with info and coordinates.
2 types of fossil collection: Surface Collection
Legal on crown land or on private land with land-owner permission.
Illegal in protected areas, provincial and federal parks.
