About the Surgery...
About the Surgery...
Welcome to the 'Fossil Surgery' answering fossil enquiries
since 1996. This site started in response to puzzled people
asking me about their various fossil finds. I don't claim to
get them right all the time, but perhaps I can point you in
the right direction?
Here are some ways of pinning a name on your fossil finds:
Local Museums
Identification Guides
Local geological societies
University Geology Departments
But if you have something you want identified:
Give me a general idea of where it was found.
post me a photo (with a scale bar by the fossil)
email a digital image to:
land07@esc.cam.ac.uk
My
geological background...
My interest in Geology began in 1977. I was introduced to
collecting semi-precious stones on a local sea shore.
Ferryden is a village on the East coast of Scotland. It is
famous for the agates which erode out of the ancient lavas there. The staff at my local museum encouraged me to look for fossils in the Old Red Sandstone of the area.
Between 1988-1992, I studied Geology at the University of
Aberdeen. From there, I moved to The University
of Manchester, England. My Ph.D studies were focussed on
the fossil record of horseshoe crabs.
Between 1995-1996 I was employed by the UKESCC to develop educational software. I moved back to Aberdeen in the Summer of 1997 to begin a post-doctoral research project / lectureship on a Devonian hot spring deposit, the Rhynie Chert at the University of Aberdeen.
January 2001-August 2007: Principal Curator of Invertebrate
Palaeontology and Palaeobotany at the
National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh.
My current job is a temporary research contract at the
University of Cambridge. I am based at The Sedgwick Museum of
Earth Sciences investigating 'Charles Darwin the
Geologist'. This study involves re-examining his notebooks
and rock collection from 'The Voyage of the Beagle'.
A rabble of palaeontologists circa. 1993 (LIA in the
mirrored shades).
Back to the Main Menu
Site edited: 9th February 2008