Check out some of our favorite photos to get an idea of what the Field School was like!
Click any photo to view a larger version.
Our 2013 group poses for a photo in front of a site where the layer of rock that marks the dinosaurs’ demise is easily accessible.
Teachers relax by the lake and introduce themselves after arriving in Hell Creek State Park, Montana.
Teachers get an orientation into the day’s topics (how to identify rock layers) and work (finding fossil-bearing rock layers – and fossils!)
Teachers prepare their field notebooks for the day’s work.
The group prepares for the day’s work while University of Washington / Burke Museum paleontologist Dr. Greg Wilson orients the group using a map of the area.
University of Washington / Burke Museum paleontologist Dr. Greg Wilson helps a teacher read a “topo” (topographic) map and identify where to look for fossils.
University of Washington grad student Jonathan Calede talks with teachers about how to observe, identify, and record rock layers.
University of Washington grad student Brandon Peecook (center, red hat) helps teachers “read” the rock layers.
A teacher uses a grain size chart to help her determine what kind of rock she’s looking at.
A teacher, magnifying loop in one hand and grain size chart in the other, gets up close and personal to identify a rock.
Have you ever heard that geologists lick rocks? It’s true! Your tongue is much more sensitive than your fingers, and can help you determine what kind of rock you have. And your tongue will stick to bone!
We may look like we’re just sitting around, but “crawling” – prospecting for fossils on hands and knees – is hard work!
A teacher inspects a fossil she’s found by crawling a fossil-rich exposure of rock.
Teachers help each other identify fossils that they’ve collected by “crawling” – prospecting for fossils on hands and knees.
Teachers help each other identify fossils that they’ve collected by “crawling” – prospecting for fossils on hands and knees.
University of Washington grad student Stephanie Smith holds up a tiny mammal tooth, plucked from the screens (background) used to sieve small fossils from sediment.
The road out to the dinosaur sites is long and bumpy, but at a certain point it’s time to leave the trucks behind and hike the rest of the way in.
Teachers gather around Dr. Greg Wilson to the basics of the Hell Creek Formation – a series of rock layers rich in dinosaur fossils just before they all go extinct.
A panorama of dramatic scenery that surrounded us.
Teachers and paleontologists from UW and the Burke Museum work side by side to excavate half a dozen dinosaur bones.
Teachers and paleontologists from UW and the Burke Museum protect a large dinosaur fossil with burlap and plaster before excavating it and hauling it back to the Burke Museum in Seattle.
A Burke volunteer protects exposed dinosaur bones peeking out of rock at a new fossil site discovered during the 2013 Field School.
The group poses for a photo at the first dinosaur site.
A teacher points (with her left hand) tot he layer of rock that marks the dinosaurs’ demise.
Teachers helped haul out hundreds of pounds of dinosaur fossils in a single day.
Our poor cart couldn’t take the weight of this large dinosaur fossil.
We took turns carrying out the largest fossil – a huge dinosaur leg bone – by hand, four at a time.
