T.A.B.A. Chapter 14. Fossils In Them Thar Hills!

So sayeth Yosemite Sam, or Pecos Pete, or Dakota Dave, or Neville Nevada... This is going downhill rapidly so I'll just get on with it.

Remember the chapters about the Wonambi Fossil Centre? Well, there is another fossil museum at the Naracoorte Caves.

It is

Underground

In

The

Caves

And it is sooooooo cool!

I'm actually going to do a bit of chatting about each pic, so I'll be posting each one. If you want the flickr page where they all live (and notice you can run a slideshow of them from that page --look at the upper right and you'll see slideshow link) then here it is right here.

We went down to 2 fossil chambers, the first one was so huge that they've set up a display museum in it with chairs even! At the base of the chamber is an active dig that's about 200,000 years old (yes, those are some really old archeologists!).

Here's the view as you enter the chamber through a narrow tunnel. Yes, I know it's out of focus...

Please note the fossilised backs of some Pleistocene chairs...

I'm one for noticing non-obvious things. You could say I like to go off the beaten path, metaforikalee speaking of course. This is why I was the only one of our group that even noticed, much less took a picture of, these little fossils in a little crevasse off the side of the musuem.



Meet Simosthenurus occidentalis:



Obviously, this bloke is dead. It's also extinct. Been that way for about 50,000 years. It's a roo (and probably would have been tasty like all roos are), but it wasn't a grazer; it was a browser. That means it ate leaves instead of grass. Here's a good link to find out more about it. Just go read about cus after all, "Larnin's FUN!"

Here's the active dig in this museum:

Notice the fossils in the foreground on display?

Oh, let's just zoom in a bit:

Don't worry, we get a lot closer!

Just a really cool shadow above the dig...



These are waiting to be cataloged:



Same thing but with a flash:



Yes, they really do use tiny brushes and dental picks for excavation:


Here's the bloke who is causing all the shadows:

Thylacoleo carnifex

Or, "Leo" for short. A Marsupial lion that's been extinct as long as Simosthenurus occidentalis. Bugga weighed over 120 kilos --260 pounds. You can read (and LEARN) more about Leo right here. The neatest thing about Leo: semi-opposable thumbs!


We got to go down to some scaffolding over the active dig, with the guide (who happens to have the same name AND nickname as WP... weird, eh?) admonishing the group to make sure either wrist straps or neck straps for cameras ae secured. DON'T TOUCH NOTHIN'!!!!

Have a looksie:



Obviously, it's a bit hard to get some depth perception with the flash on, so I did manage to get a shot sans flash that shows a lot more detail.

Would you like to see it?

Of course you would:


Here's the platform we were on. Obviously we couldn't go past the gates since we aren't researchers, sigh.


We then went down through a narrow passage to the next fossil chamber, and climbed up a very steep, rickety, ladder overlooking the other active dig in the area. This dig was about 10 feet below the little outcropping we were on. I tried my best to get some good shots, but the lighting conditions were just a wee bit difficult.


Yes, that's a portable stereo to the left of the tripod...

For those of you diggers, you can tell this dig is still in it's infancy



Alrighty, up next will be WP's shots of the two fossil chambers.

OT: Just an update on the brewing, the latest batch of 60 lagers is ready for consumption, and I'll be starting a batch of ginger beer Saturday.

And my new cheese making supplies arrived! First up will be feta and wensleydale!