WOOSTER, OHIO–Steph Bosch (’14) and Lizzie Reinthal (’14) volunteered to examine the Matmor Formation fossils I collected last month in Israel. Each fossil, most of which are crinoid ossicles, must be scanned under a microscope for tiny encrusters (especially bryozoans), borings, and bite marks. In the image above you can see the collection bags on the left and our three ‘scopes arranged so that we can exchange interesting bits that we find. I had planned to do this work all by my lonesome, and it would have taken a full day. With Steph and Lizzie, though, we were done in an hour and a half. No wonder — they’ve spent the last year doing this kind of analysis!
And here are the results. Each paper tray has a particular category of fossil from a specific location. We found many little (and I mean little) treasures that my future students and I can now study. I’m grateful for the expert help.
Team Israel 2013 will be graduated a week from today. Congratulations to them!