Dinosaurs of Darkness by Thomas H. Rich and Patricia Vickers-Rich, Indiana
University Press, 拢24, ISBN 0253337739
DINOSAURS are not won easily from the Earth. Most fossils are scattered
single bones, not the seemingly complete skeletons shown in museums.
Palaeontologists move tonnes of rock to uncover鈥攊f they are
lucky鈥攇rams of bone. They prepare their meagre treasures with exacting
care, hoping for insights into vanished eras.
Australia is not fertile ground for dinosaurs, but Tom Rich and his wife Pat
Vickers-Rich have made the most of the sparse fossil record. Their finds have
shown that small dinosaurs stayed active through the long winter darkness when
Australia was near the South Pole, 100 million years ago.
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The heart of their tale is the long, hard work of excavating fossil deposits
along the wave-battered coast. Working on shoestring budgets, they enlisted an
assortment of volunteers, from dinosaur enthusiasts to local farmers, miners and
the Army. A gifted mechanic jury-rigged old machinery to haul heavy rocks and
equipment up and down a steep cliff to the shore. They even called in blasting
experts, but Tom eventually had to send back one who had failed to master the
delicate art of demolishing rock while preserving fossils.
The hard work brought both discoveries and camaraderie, plus tales to be told
around campfires, like the time Tom promised a cubic metre of chocolate to the
first person to find a mammal fossil at one site鈥攁nd then found himself
having to pull strings at Cadbury鈥檚 to deliver on his promise years later.