(LINKS TO PAST FOSSIL FRIDAYS)

Community College (LRCCD)

Geology & Earth Science Instructor: Arthur Reed, P.G.

Happy Fossil Friday!

Friday September 11, 2020

Instructor: Arthur Reed, P.G.

Celebrating Mary Anning

(“She sells seashells by the seashore” likely originated as a result of her work)

Why You Should Know This Prolific Princess of Paleontology

Mary Anning was a 19th-century working-class woman from Dorset with no formal education. She became one of the most celebrated fossil collectors in history. She collected Jurassic marine fossils from the sea cliffs along the English Channel at Lyme Regis in the county of Dorset in Southwest England. Her findings contributed to changes in scientific thinking about prehistoric life and the history of Earth. One section of the Natural History Museum in London is devoted to her findings.

Visitors to her grave often leave small fossils as a token of their gratitude and affection for her (see photos).

(Dr Dean Lomax - Paleontologist photos below) (also see video below)

Smithsonian video on Mary Anning