This is Mazon Monday post #76. What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:[email protected].
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ESCONI's mission is one of education and we love to get the kids interested in our Earth Science passions. In this case, it's paleontology and we are hunting for Mazon Creek fossils. In order to get us ready for the Braceville Field Trips on September 12th and 13th, we have a report for the spring Braceville trip from 8 year old AJ Templer. AJ attended the spring outing with his family. And, from his account had a great time... Oh, and, it was his birthday present!
The introduction of this report is by Andrew Young. Thanks AJ and hope to see you and many others this weekend!
Introduction –
In September of 2020, ESCONI hosted its club field trip to the Braceville gob pile, one of the few public events held during that first challenging year with Covid-19. Masked and socially distanced as a precaution, participants were eager to be outdoors and to engage one another after months of relative isolation. From the outset, it felt like an important day. To one young collector, it was extra-special.
Eight-year-old AJ Templer and his family are relatively new members of ESCONI. AJ and his younger brother, Micah, are also part of the club’s Juniors program. They love turtles and tortoises – with eight living species (ten individuals) sharing the Templer home – and fossils, especially dinosaurs, even coming up with their own board game called Tyrannosaurus Takedown. This day of hunting Carboniferous fossils at Braceville was to be AJ’s surprise birthday celebration.
AJ wrote a report for school about his exciting experience and below is a transcript, including photos of the day and the first of four handwritten pages. (- A.Young)
AJ Templer –
AJ’s field report, Page 1 of 4.
I was getting ready for bed. That was the day before my birthday. I was so excited for my birthday. I remember when it was 2 months away and now it’s today. And then I went to bed. Then I woke up and I said, “It’s my birthday.” Then I went downstairs and my mom said, “Look by the front door.” Then I saw bags that looked like fossil hunting bags. And they said our names on it. I looked inside. There were fossil digging tools. That’s when I knew we were digging for fossils. And then we brought our bags in to the car. Then Mom told me that fossil digging only happens once a year. And it was exactly on my birthday. It was an hour to get there. I couldn’t wait to get there. I knew we were digging for fossils but I didn’t know what we were digging for before we got there.
AJ and Micah at the base of the spoil.
We got our tools and we brought them all over to a guy that works there. He said how there was a big flood a long time ago. And how people lived there and died while digging in a mine looking for gold. Now you’re not allowed to go in that water or else you will go to jail. We got there with our dog. She loves digging so much. When we got there I was so excited and happy. It was a big sand mountain. And it was really steep. And messy.
AJ climbing up a gully carved by erosion.
Then we started digging. Then me and my brother went to the top. My mom is scared of heights so she stayed down there with my dad. I climb to the top with my bother and dad. Me and my brother made a little seat to sit on. My brother wanted my seat and I said No. But I did say I could make the seat bigger and wider. And I did. But it took so long my brother went down. On our way down we found fossils that slided down. And we picked them up. But it was hard to [get] them cause they were sliding and we were sliding too. I tripped on a hill on the way down. But I was all right. Then I climbed to try to get over it but it was hard because we had buckets with fossils in it.
AJ (foreground) and Micah excavating for fossil concretions.
The fossils look like eggs. And we have to soaking them in water and freezing them. Then crack them right in the center. But they’re older than dinosaurs so you have to be careful not to break them. Then we see the fossils inside. That is how you get fossils.
The Templer family filling their buckets with open fossils.
