Palaeontology Field and Museum Skills

Palaeontology Field and Museum Skills includes an overseas field course to examine fossiliferous deposits in a field context. Students will develop palaeontological field skills including discovering and identifying fossils and fossiliferous deposits, understanding and describing depositional environments, recording sedimentary sequences and interpreting taphonomic and fossilisation processes. Modern techniques for the documentation of fossils in the field will be employed. Students will gain a detailed understanding of how fossils are preserved, discovered, collected and conserved, and the significance of key fossiliferous deposits and sites for evolutionary palaeobiology. From a museum perspective, students will learn about the roles and organisation of museums and collections, compare and contrast the different ways in which geological museums curate, display and conserve palaeontological collections, engage with ethical issues around the collection, curation and study of fossils, and develop their own museum skills.

By the end of this module you will be able to:

• Develop a wide range of palaeontological field skills
• Explain the geological (sedimentary) context of  fossiliferous deposits
• Explain the taphonomy and fossilisation processes of fossiliferous deposits
• Explain the significance of fossiliferous deposits for evolutionary palaeobiology
• Understand the approach of different geology museums to curation, display, interpretation and conservation of palaeontological collections
• Understand the history and modern roles of museum collections and the ethical issues around the collection, acquisition and study of fossil specimens
•  Design a concept for a museum exhibition to a level approaching a professional standard.

Assessment

• Fieldwork blog
• Exhibition design