The third
stop of this field season was Dinosaur Provincial Park. For those who do not
know about this park, it is located in the province of Alberta and was declared
a World Heritage Site in 1979. It is one of the most beautiful places I have
ever been and is also full of dinosaur bones. What else can I ask for?
Dinosaur Provincial Park situation map
A view of the badlands in Dinosaur Provincial Park
El campamento estaba instalado en un lugar llamado Happy Jack's. Es un lugar sacado de una película del Oeste y casi te esperas ver a Clint Eastwood paseándose por allí. De hecho, la película Sin Perdón se rodó cerca de allí.
The camp was set up in a place called Happy Jack's. It is a place out of a Western movie and you almost expect to see Clint Eastwood wandering around. In fact, the film Unforgiven was filmed nearby.
El trabajo de campo lo dividimos entre la prospección para localizar nuevos fósiles y la excavación de un hadrosaurio del que su cráneo había sido excavado en los años veinte por George F. Stenberg.
Lo primero que llama la atención de Dinosaur Park es que hay huesos por todas partes. No podéis imaginaros la cantidad pero es impresionante. Para mi sorpresa no se excavan todos como sucedería en España, ¡¡hay tantos que no habría espacio suficiente en los museos para albergarlos a todos!!. Así que solo aquellos de calidad excepcional son excavados y llevados de vuelta al laboratorio.
Un precioso caparazón de tortuga
He aprendido una barbaridad y espero volver al año que viene. Quiero agradecer a todos mis compañeros y amigos de campaña de campo su ayuda y compañerismo (Philip, Eva, Clive,Victoria, Scott, Michael, Sydney, Matteo, Kerri...) ¡sois los mejores!.
The camp was set up in a place called Happy Jack's. It is a place out of a Western movie and you almost expect to see Clint Eastwood wandering around. In fact, the film Unforgiven was filmed nearby.
Happy Jack's (Photo by Clive Coy)
Happy Jack's (Photo by Clive Coy)
A view of our camp site
The field
work was divided between prospecting to locate new fossils and digging a
hadrosaur whose skull had been excavated in the twenties by George F. Stenberg.
The first
thing that draws your attention in Dinosaur Park is that there are bones
everywhere. You cannot imagine the amount but it is impressive. To my surprise you
don not dig all the bones as it would be in Spain, there are so many that there
would not be enough space in museums to house them all! So only those that
present exceptional quality are excavated and brought back to the laboratory.
A beautiful turtle shell
Aquí con un fémur de hadrosaurio (se quedo allí)
Here with a hadrosaur femur (it stayed there)
Prospectando en las badlands
Prospecting in the badlands
Hadrosaur jaw
El hadrosaurio que estuvimos excavando tiene una historia curiosa. El cráneo fue excavado por George Stenberg allá por los años veinte pero, gracias a que se encontró en el yacimiento un pedazo de periódico de la época y las cartas que George Stenberg dejó, se ha podido descubrir que los restos del animal que afloraban en la superficie pertenecían a ese cráneo que se había recuperado tantos años atrás.
The
hadrosaur we were digging has a curious history. The skull was excavated by
George Stenberg back in the twenties. Thanks that a piece of contemporary newspaper
was found in the site and George Stenberg letters, it has been discovered that
the remains of the animal laying in the ground belonged to the skull that was
recovered many years ago.
Matteo Fabri excavando los restos del hadrosaurio
Matteo Fabri digging hadrosaur bones
Una visión general del yacimiento mientras filmaban para un documental
General view of the site while they were filming a documentary
Clive Coy, Matteo Fabri y yo tras terminar la momia del espécimen (Photo by Clive Coy)
Clive Coy, Matteo Fabri and me after finishing the jacket (Photo by Clive Coy)
Ha sido una experiencia maravillosa. Nos hizo muchísimo calor, había unos mosquitos como no creeríais pero la compañía ha sido inmejorable, los fósiles espectaculares y la comida aun mejor.
It has been
a wonderful experience. It was very hot, there were so many mosquitoes as you would
not believe but the company has been superb, with spectacular fossils and amazing
food.
Picaduras de mosquito
Mosquitoes bites
Comiendo un helado tras una jornada de trabajo (Photo by Clive Coy)
Eating an icecream after a day's work (Photo by Clive Coy)
No se puede decir que comieramos mal... ¡un dia tuvimos langosta!
It can't be said that we were eating bad... one day we had lobster!
I have learned
a lot and I hope to return next year. I want to thank all my field season
colleagues and friends for their help and camaraderie (Philip, Eva, Clive,
Victoria, Scott, Michael, Sydney, Matteo, Kerri ...) you are the best!.
