Our July NPA Meeting is generally a low key affair on the patio at The Burke Museum. Many folks are in the field during the mid-summer months, but we still like to meet up. Bring a fossil to talk about, some snacks to share and ideas for NPA to pursue.
Prospective members are always welcome!
Burke patio
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
With instruction from Brody Hovatter, NPA members sorted microfossils under microscopes for storage in the Burke collection.
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We will begin our May 21, 2017 NPA Meeting a bit differently…
Brody Hovatter will provide a tour of the Burke collections at 1 p.m. on the 21st. The tour should only take 30 to 40 minutes, and a class from UW will be in on the tour too.
1:00 pm: Burke Collections Tour
1:35 pm: NPA Meeting starts in Burke Room
1:50 pm: Presentation by Brody Hovatter
Brody will be our speaker addressing:
Mammal Diversity and Ecology Across the KT Boundary
(and up to 1.2 million years afterwards)
Brody Hovatter is the Assistant Director of the DIG Field School and manager of the Wilson Paleontology Lab at the University of Washington. In addition to serving as Assistant Director, he has been an instructor for the program since 2014. He graduated with his Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Washington in 2014. His research in the Wilson Lab focuses on fossil mammals from northeastern Montana, for which he has received funding from the Mary Gates Endowment as well as departmental awards within the Biology Department. He has presented his research at numerous conferences, including the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology and Undergraduate Research Symposium at the University of Washington. Brody has loved teaching since an early age, and has served as a research mentor or co-mentor for numerous undergraduate students at the University of Washington. He also enjoys participating in local scientific outreach, and has served as a tutor for many middle school and high school students in the Seattle area.
Looking forward to seeing everyone at the May 21st meeting!
(Also: Another reminder about our Hands-On Activity in the Burke Room this Sunday, May 7th 10-2pm)
Drop by the Burke Room from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
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Since 2011, our own Jim Chatters has been the scientific lead on a most fascinating paleontological project in Mexico. The site, called Hoyo Negro, is an immense pit in an underwater cave on the Yucatan Peninsula. 40,000 to 10,000 years ago, when much of the world’s water was bound up in glaciers, tunnels leading to Hoyo Negro were dry and the site was a natural trap. An ephemeral pool in the bottom of the 100-foot deep pit drew at least 14 species of thirsty large mammals, including a human, to their deaths. Seven of the species are now extinct, including a new form of ground sloth and two carnivores never before documented north of Venezuela. The preservation of the bones is phenomenal and the crystal clear water makes for stunning photography.
Jim Chatters is an archaeologist and paleontologist who owns the consulting firm Applied Paleoscience. He formerly managed contract paleontological and cultural resources research for the University of Washington, Central Washington University, Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Foster Wheeler Environmental, and AMEC. Officially “retired” he is actively involved in research and publishing on the Pacific Northwest and Mexico, and consults to the commercial radiocarbon dating laboratory DirectAMS. In 1996, Chatters recovered, and was the first scientist to study, the PaleoIndian skeleton now known as Kennewick Man. He is the author of numerous scientific articles and monographs and the public-oriented book Ancient Encounters: Kennewick Man and the First Americans (Simon & Schuster, 2001).
Talk: “Animals of the Arizona Petrified Forest in the earliest days of the dinosaurs.”
Speaker: Dr. Christian Sidor, Vertebrate Paleontologist:
Next Meeting: Sunday, January 24
Time: 1:00 pm
Location: Burke room