Novelist to Dinosaur Hunter to Environmental Lawyer
This is a guest post by Laura Rooney, BBPI Assistant Crew Chief. Rachel joined our field team in 2014 and has kept in touch ever since.
Do you remember when you first became interested in dinosaurs?
I was late to the game when it came to a love for dinosaurs. I was always fascinated with geology in general, but a love for dinosaurs, specifically, came in college when I took a course called Museum Fossil Preparation. In this class we received hands on experience with putting fossils together, and this sparked my interest in wanting to learn more about dinosaur fossils and paleontology as a whole.
As a child, what did you want to grow up to become? What did you actually wind up doing?
Growing up I always wanted to be a young adult novelist. That lasted about halfway through college when I decided to pursue a different path—geology. I recently received my Master’s in geosciences with a concentration in paleontology, but I am currently signed up to take the LSAT soon with aspirations to become an environmental lawyer.
How did you find out about the dig, and what made you sign up?
I found the dig through Google, and the idea of a cool, hands-on field excavation made me sign up (and I’m glad I did, because the trip was one of the most exciting trips I’ve ever been on!).
What is your most memorable experience(s) while on the dig?
As cheesy as this sounds, just finding small fossils on my own was very memorable. There was a time when we were digging where everywhere you looked there were little theropod teeth and gar scales. It reminded me of looking for seashells on a beach—but way cooler!
Was there anything that you learned on the dig, that you didn't know before coming out?There were two big things I learned on the dig, 1) how to jacket large fossil finds and 2) how to create a 1x1 meter grid for mapping where fossils are found in an area. I also remember learning how to read quadrangles, which is very useful if you’re lost somewhere, and a lot about wilderness survival tactics.
What piece of advice would you give someone coming out on the dig for the first time?
My biggest advice would be to drink lots of water (like, way more than you think you should) and get lots of rest. I remember one day in the field I overworked myself and hadn’t gotten a good night sleep, so I got sick and had to sit out for a day. Keeping healthy is arguably one of the most important things when in the field, so take caution and take my advice!!
Anything else you'd like to add?
Be sure to follow @BBPaleo on Twitter for updates about the trip. If you’d like to check out my paleontological endeavors, follow @irrelephantidae on Twitter!
Editor's Note: We're big fans of @irrelephantidae, and you should be too!
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