The Real Jurassic Park

Our adventure started in the hot, dry city of Neuquen, an industrial hub in the center of Argentina. We stayed at the Residential Ingles, which cannot be faulted for false advertising because the ancient woman who checked us in peppered her explanations of the house rules with random English words and, unbelievably, sound effects. We spent almost the entire day straightening things out for our visit to the Paleontology Center, which was highly complicated by the distance of necessary destinations, the heat, untimely low bloodsugars, the failure of tour companies to accept debit cards, and the limit placed by banks on how much cash one can remove in 24 hours. Finally, we finished our errands, and we even had time that day to indulge in ice cream, pizza and beer.

Early the next morning, we spent one and a half hours shuttling through the desert to the shores of a giant man-made lake. The Proyecto Dino site was a collection of trailers and aluminum buildings on the beautiful red-orange sands at the edge of the lake. We took breakfast with an overwhelmingly large group of Australian high school girls and a collection of their teachers and guardians. Jorge, the director of the center, greeted us enthusiastically and invited us to walk with him and the Australians on a nearby beach to look for dinosaur bones. I was sort of surprised that upon arrival we would be immediately taken out the "field." After a brief explanation of what we were looking for (which to me made very little sense), Jorge turned us loose. I found a pile of suspect looking material on a rock, and Becca immediately crushed my hopes and dreams by informing me it was just a pile of petrified wood. She claimed a small piece to trick her friends with back home. After some more looking, Becca and I were starting to feel bad about ourselves because the Australians kept finding bones and our searching had yet to produce results. One of the Australian women explained to us that if you think you found a bone, to put it on your tongue or the inside of your bottom lip. If it sticks, it is a bone. I demanded the bone in Becca's pocket, and proved that my pile of petrified wood was in fact a dinosaur bone! We were really excited by this news, and pretty soon we were discovering all kinds of bones and running up to Jorge for validation, as if we were kindergarteners with watercolors. But, as Becca so aptly said, "I don't feel like it's a bone unless Jorge says it is!" I was extremely depressed by the fact that the man-made lake, created 30 years ago, had covered the vast valley of dinosaur fossils. The bones we were finding were merely scraps that had been unearthed and destroyed by the water. What a devastating realization. We were also extremely jealous when one of the Australian girls found a small black dinosaur tooth simply sitting on top of a rock.

Looking for bones on the beach in my awesome new Paleontology hat!

Taking a break on the beach.
Becca on the beach with a piece of dinosaur bone.

After our morning on the beach, we were given a tour of the site and museum, which was fascinating and informative. Our guide explained the geological make-up of the region, as well as the process of how fossils are made, which I will let you wikipedia if you care to know because I am a little fuzzy on the details by now. We also got to view a bunch of petrified trees, which was pretty cool. There was a petrified piece of Arucaria (Monkey Puzzle) tree, and I was fascinated to learn those existed 100 million years ago. There was also a tree that was in the process of fossilization. The outside had fossilized, but the inside was still wooden. I couldn't believe I was looking at actual wood that was between 40 and 50 million years old! We learned about the important discoveries made in the area, and found that in 2000 (I believe) someone had found a piece of bone on their property and informed the nearby university, who brought in Jorge. Jorge began excavating and made one of the most important discoveries in paleontology history. He uncovered a skeleton of a herbiverous dinosaur that was 70% complete--the most complete skeleton in the world! A normal skeleton in good condition is usually about 35% complete. We found out that Jorge, who had been skipping around the beach with us all morning, is actually more than the director of the center--he is a world-famous paleontologist! Other paleontologists visit the center just to meet him. I was elated; not only were we touching dinosaur bones and learning about one of the most mysterious and fascinating professions on the planet, but we were doing so with a world-famous expert! His skeleton contains the biggest dinosaur pelvis ever found. I have forgotten what kind of dinosaur it is, because who really pays attention to those names excpet people like Jorge, but I have it in some literature somewhere. We also learned that all of the finds in the area are from the Cretaceous Period, about 100 million years ago. We visited the excavation site where Jorge discovered the famous skeleton, which is an ongoing excavation project. Apparently, there are eight other skeletons in the area awaiting excavation. We also got to hold fossilized eggs and see some fascinating skeletons that had also been uncovered in the area--tortoises, pterodactyls (spelling? yikes!), the first flying dinosaurs, the first dinosaurs with wings who could not fly, and a crazy looking pelican beak with razor sharp teeth. We also got to witness our guide kill the most ferocious spider I have ever seen.

Becca with Jorge's famous dinosaur pelvis.

After lunch, we went back to the excavation pit and actually got to get in the dirt and dig! Becca and I were increasingly stunned with how interactive our experience was. I was floored by how accessible Jorge was. Someone in his position in the US would probably be confined to some sort of lecture tour or locked away in some sort of university, and I could maybe ask him a question in an auditorium. Instead, Becca and I spent practically the whole afternoon with him in the pit, and I had the opportunity to ask him all of my questions about the field of paleontology, which were numerous. I asked him what his favorite dinosaur was, and obviously it was Mr. 70%. On the tour earlier that day, we had learned that herbiverous dinosaurs used their tails as whips to fend off attacks, and that carnivores tried to attack the tails first to prevent being wiped out. I asked Jorge how paleontolgoists learn such specific information from such incomplete skeletons, and he gave me a very interesting answer. He said that there are paleontologists that study dinosaur behavior, especially in places like the US where they have more time, funding and resources, and that they look at other information like footprints, the diversity of species, flora, and clues in the geological makeup of the time. However, at his site, because there were so many skeletons, their main concern was identifying the skeletons. He also explained to me how they could identify new species when sometimes they were only discovering 10% complete skeletons, and he said that for that reason identification is difficult and mistakes are often made. He said that dinosaurs that seem to be the same (like long-necked dinosaurs, for example) often have very specific differences in their skeletons. Their pelvises may be wildly different sizes, for example. It still seems tiresome and complicated to me, but endlessly fascinating at the same time. I think Becca and I both felt enraptured for the entire two days of our stay at the center.I also got to ask Jorge about his goals and dreams for the center. He said he spends a lot of time writing grants to fund excavations, but not for improving the center. His goal is to construct a new, more sturdy museum, because they have so much to display. It would only cost about $6 million, which is like nothing to people from the US. I hope to be in the position one day to be able to donate something to the center. As an adult out of school, I rarely get to participate in a project so intriguing, enjoyable and educational. The center also seems like a great place to go with kids.

The digging in the pit was the best part, I think. Especially because I got a mallet and an iron stake and got to blast through layers of rock. The first layers were reddish and we had to remove this layer to get down to where the fossils might be. Rebecca discovered several plant fossils, which are extremely delicate and difficult to preserve, as evidenced by the fact that hers fell apart almost instantly. Becca kept thinking she had found bone, because she uncovered many rocks that were yellowish in color, and Jorge teased her that she was finding dinosaur pebbles, rocks that had at one time been bones but were now unrecognizable. I was blasting away, quite contentedly, when all of a sudden a suspect piece of bone flew out. Jorge confirmed that it was bone, so I started to chip away more carefully and something interesting began to take shape--I had found something! Unfortunately, it was wildly delicate, cracked in several places (including the places I had blasted apart with my equipment). I carefully dug around the bone, and Jorge applied super glue (a surprisingly central tool in paleontology!) to the cracks, but any time I worked directly on the bone, it threatened to come apart. Afraid of doing more damage, I decided to dig to the right of my find. After not much longer, I saw a shiny, tan piece of something in the grey stone. I pulled it out and shouted at Jorge, "Jorge! Is this a dinosaur tooth?" "Let me see," he replied, and as I passed it to him, the damn thing crumbled into like five pieces. Let me tell you, you haven't lived until you've had a world-famous paleontologist roll his eyes at you because you have broken one of his dinosaur fossils! He then came over to where I was digging, painstakingly collected the many pieces of my tooth, and glued them back together. In the commotion, he also uncovered another tooth that I had unwittingly blasted through and then he began to poke around the loosened stone and found another tooth. "Something unusual is happening here," he said. The teeth were all carnivore teeth, probably raptors, he told me! They were from three different species! "I want more!" Jorge demanded, and we dug until 7, but the magic was done for the day. Later, Jorge let me look at the teeth under a microscope. They had fine, cerrated edges and were shiny and beautiful. That experience, I think, will forever remain one of the highlights of my life.

World-famous paleontologist Jorge Calvo instructs me on how to dig.

I found something! (It's that yellowish spot in the rock.)
The excavation pit.
The raptor teeth. The one in the middle is my specific finding.
After dinner, I found I was addicted to digging, so I returned to the pit while Becca rested a bit. I spent about an hour digging with this darling girl named Silbana, an employee of Proyecto Dino. At first, she was nervous to go with me, but Jorge told her that I speak Spanish and that she would be fine. We had a hell of a good time, giggling and talking in the pit. Since we failed to make any new interesting discoveries, we had a lot of time to chat. Silbana had a lot of questions about my life and the US, and I got to learn about her life and some of the Argentine norms that had escaped me since I was traveling so quickly and not really making much genuine contact with Argentinos. Silbana was very warm and open and made good decisions (in that way reminding me of myself when I was her age). Becca joined us and then I really enjoyed myself translating back and forth. Romeo, the on-site cat, also joined us. After we got tired of finding nothing (and our backs told us it was time to quit), we took a walk along the beach to watch the sunset. Romeo followed us there, too, until I took pity on him and picked him up. It looked like the volcanic rock was hard on his paws.

Silbana, Romeo and me digging in the excavation pit.
The Paleontology Center (and Becca's shadow).
Sunset on the beach.
The goofy cat who accompanied us on our walk.
The golden sunset as seen from the center.
The next day Becca and I weren't quite sure what to expect, since it seemed like we had already done just about everything there was to do on the site. However, Jorge took a group of us on a small hike on the hills behind the center. He was very intent, always looking at the ground to see if he could see and signs of skeletons. Jorge filled us in on the geological history of the area, and showed us the extinct volcano that last errupted 100,000 years ago. We looked at the lines in the cliffs made by the different layers of dirt and he explained the geological implications of those layers to his research. He talked about wanting to compare the flora and fauna on the top of the hill with what he was finding down in the excavation pit. Becca and I were on point and started the day with an energetic photo shoot. That's one of the great things about having Becca around. She always has crazy ideas for random photo ops, and we always end up being really silly and giggly together. It was nice to have the security of my best friend with me, so that I could just let go and be strange. Those are some of my favorite moments with Becca--I love her and she always makes things more fun and interesting! The surrounding countryside was phenomenal and provided an excellent backdrop for our inspired poses.

Becca and me with "the mushroom."

The Paleontology Center as seen from our hike.
Tough girls on top of the mountain--it kind of looks like we are on the beach but we're not.

After our hike, we went to the lab and made replicas of some dinosaur teeth and claws to take home. After another huge lunch, we walked back to the pit to see how things were coming and found that my bone had been extracted and appeared to be a part of a rib! It was unclear what dinosaur it came from...but I found a dinosaur rib!

After lunch, we spent the afternoon involved in a very intricate and delicate project. We participated in "preparing" a fossil. Most fossils are too delicate to remove straight from the ground, so you have to cut around the rock that contains the fossil and cover it in plaster to protect the bone. The bones are then moved to another tented area where the plaster is removed and the rock can be more carefully chipped away. When we arrived under the tent, there was a huge pile of fossils waiting to be processed. Jorge found one for us to work on together (unfortunately, all the processing photos are on my camera in Chillan!), and man, was it a tedious project! I was feeling a little bit nervous about breaking yet another fossil, so I made Becca do the hard parts. Her primary tools were super glue and a push pin! She used the push pin to carefully scrape away the rock, and when the rock got really hard, she could only lightly tap the push pin with another small tool or the entire bone would crumble. We made very little progress, and I could finally appreciate what a painstaking process paleontology is. The shape of the bone gradually emerged, and Jorge suggested it was a dinosaur pubis. At one point, a piece of rock came off and part of the fossil underneath essentially turned to dust. Jorge assisted us--or rather, we assisted him--in repairing the damage because he needed to retain the shape of the bone. He called for "glue" and the "thumb tack" and, realizing he sounded like a medical doctor in surgery, began to horse around. He pronounced the dinosaur dead at 4 pm and said it was a tough case and he didn't know if he was going to make it but we would have to do our best to see if he could pull through. Again, I was struck by what a unique experience we were having, and wholly impressed that Jorge had such a great personality. I'm not gonna lie, I fell in love with him a little bit. He was so accessible and attentive, always coming up to us with ideas for new projects and seeing what we wanted to do. Becca and I were both impressed with the wide variety of activities we participated in during our short stay at the center. I have always been fascinated by dinosaurs, but never did I think I would actually be able to touch real fossils, excavate and prepare them. Ever since I was Dr. Elle Satler for Halloween in 5th grade, my secret dream was to become a paleontologist. This is probably the closest I will ever get, and you know, it was pretty damn satisfying!

Making molds if dinosaur teeth to show our friends. Me with my discovery (after a more skilled worker extracted it from the ground).

The sparkling bay next to the excavation site where Becca and I walked after our afternoon of processing.
It was really, really hard to leave that place. I hope to be able to go back someday with my brother, and anyone else who can come!