Fieldwork: Ancient Discoveries from Cleveland to Mongolia

March through June 29, 2008

Location: Lower Level Gallery
The Department of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History studies ancient animals with backbones. The remains of these ancient vertebrates are often found as fossils that date from 5,000 to 450 million years ago.

Led by Curator Michael Ryan, the Museum’s team conducts research around the world on a diverse range of extinct species including dinosaurs and giant sharks from the ancient sea that once covered Cleveland.

The Exhibit
The exhibition highlights recent fieldwork conducted in Alberta, Canada, Cleveland, Ohio, and the Gobi Desert, in Southern Mongolia, by Dr. Michael Ryan and the Museum’s Vertebrate Paleontology team. The exhibit includes color photographs, maps and artifacts that illustrate the group’s search process and findings.
 
The exhibit is made up of over 40 brilliantly vivid images that are displayed on boards with jagged, and sometimes, broken edges. These rough hewn shapes call to mind the shards of rock that the Vertebrate Paleontologists encounter as they examine the earth looking for important fossil evidence. The exhibit also includes a cast from an Albertaceratops. It is the skull of a recently uncovered dinosaur that Dr. Ryan discovered in 2001 in Alberta, Canada. Visitors are invited to gently feel the contours of the bones as they imagine how the animal may have appeared in life.

Free with Museum admission.

Related Events:
Dinosaur Expedition to the Gobi

August 13 – 28, 2008, approximate dates
Cost per person: approximately $3,990 not including airfare

Join Dr. Michael Ryan, our Museum's Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology, for the trip of a lifetime to the remote fossil beds of the legendary "Flaming Cliffs" and Nemegt Basin, two of the world's premier fossil sites. Working under the guidance of experts, expedition members will have the opportunity to prospect for and excavate fossils from the legendary Gobi Desert which is home to some of the most exciting finds of the century.

The trip begins and ends in Ulaanbaatar, visiting Mongolian cultural treasures and the Natural History Museum as well as the paleontological laboratory of the Academy of Sciences and includes 3 nights in a ger camp, the traditional felt tents of nomadic herders and 8 nights camping at the excavation sites.

Contact Stacey Heffernan, (216) 231-4600, ext. 3292, or email sheffern@cmnh.org,  for the most up-to-date information.

Exhibit Details:
Follow the Museum’s Vertebrate Paleontologists into the Field

Cleveland’s Paleo Production Line
While fieldwork may inspire thoughts of devil-may-care adventure, the heart of fossil research takes place in the lab. In order to be studied and accurately described, countless hours of meticulous preparation must take place to expose the fossil from surrounding rock.

Following preparation, casts are often made from fossil material. These exact replicas are used for further research and museum displays while serving to preserve delicate specimens for future generations of scientists.

Familiar Faces
Of its over 7,000 specimens, the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology houses two particularly famous items. Dunkleosteous was the “great white shark” of the Devonian period over 350 million years ago. Our Nanotyrannus lancensis skull is of great interest to researchers studying the evolution of carnivorous dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex.

Casts of these famous creatures, made here at the Museum from our holotype specimens, can be seen in Museums around the world.

The middle of nowhere, literally
The Gobi desert in southern Mongolia is one of the most sparsely populated regions on Earth. While home to few people, it is home to some of the world’s most famous dinosaurs, including Velociarptor, Protoceratops and the first recognized dinosaur eggs.

Dr. Ryan is interested in Gobi dinosaurs because they lived at the same time as those from his work in Alberta, but from a different and much drier environment.

A city submerged
Over 360 million years ago, the land that is today the City of Cleveland was covered by a deep sea ruled by primitive sharks and other prehistoric fish. When these animals died, their bodies settled into the soft mud that would eventually form the famous Cleveland Shales.

The Museum’s collection of fossil fish from the Shales, such as Dunkleosteous, is world renowned. Each summer, crews from the Museum scour these formations for new discoveries.

The fossil hunter’s candy store
The province of Alberta in Canada is one of the world’s best places to find and collect dinosaur fossils. During the Late Cretaceous Period (85-65 million years ago), dozens of different dinosaur species lived adjacent to the great inland sea that once divided North America.

Rivers and erosion have cut vast badlands into the modern Albertan landscape, where paleontologists regularly hunt for and find dinosaur bones.

Horned dinosaurs gain a new cousin
Albertaceratops nesmoi (Nesmo’s horn-faced dinosaur from Alberta) was discovered in southern Alberta along the Milk River by Dr. Ryan in 2001, and published in the Journal of Paleontology in 2007. This ceratopsian is the oldest known horned dinosaur from Alberta and is a distant cousin of Triceratops. It was named to honor Cecil Nesmo, a local rancher who has supported research in the area for over 40 years.

Teamwork is the order of the day
The task of dinosaur hunting is bigger than any one scientist. Simple logistics and the need for rigorous peer review of research make working together the best way for paleontologists to advance their field.

The Southern Alberta Dinosaur Research Group, headed by Dr. Ryan, coordinates the paleontology projects that go on each summer in the province.

Valley of the duck-billed dinosaurs
Braving 110 degree heat and rugged terrain, Dr. Ryan and his team collect fossils from a large group of teenaged duck-billed dinosaurs. These animals died from an unknown cause and were buried in a type of mass grave.

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is generously funded by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.