“The moral I am laboring toward is that a landscape as splendid as that of the canyonlands can best be understood by poets with their feet firmly planted in concrete data; and by geologists whose heads and hearts have not lost the capacity for wonder.” —Edward Abbey

Field work can be the most demanding, but is also the most rewarding, aspect of being a paleontologist. Since I entered graduate school I have worked extensively in the American Southwest, especially New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and Colorado. Excavations I have led with students and volunteers have recovered almost 200 jackets of fossil vertebrates ranging in age from Pennsylvanian to Pleistocene, and including Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous dinosaurs.

A critical aspect of paleontology is understanding the strengths, nuances, and limitation of the fossil record. My research has always involved not just collecting fossils, but observing and recording every aspect of their geological context as well.

Field excavation can be grueling, and unforgiving. When time comes to flip a jacket, many person-days, or even person-weeks, of effort are evaluated instantly on a pass-fail basis. If it works, you’re much closer to bringing some unique piece of the earth’s past back to the museum. If it fails, it’s lost forever. The video below shows a passing grade on a 9-person crew’s third day in the field.

My favorite stomping grounds are the Mesozoic rocks of the Colorado Plateau. I should probably go looking for dinosaurs on other continents, but there’s so much country to explore in the Four Corners states that it’s hard to tear myself away.