project 23 on 'best of la'

Hey, we're on tv! Again! Video below features Dr. John Harris & Trevor Valle speaking, and Carrie Howard, Meena Madan, and Tara Thara excavating (and Aisling Farrell and myself for approx 2 seconds a piece, which is perfectly a-ok, because being on tv is scary). "Best of LA," check it out (email subscribers -- I think you'll have to click through to actual blog to view, sorry):

EDIT: UGH embed does not seem to be working. Here is link: http://bestoflatv.com/view/1185

weekly update/in the news: we're on basic cable!

Lab assistant Trevor Valle made a totally awesome -- personable, even -- appearance on G4's "Attack of the Show" this week. Clip is embedded below!

Trevor had a great time, Kevin was a great interviewer, and we're hoping this'll turn into a recurring thing. Their studios are across the street, after all...

Meanwhile, back at the project...

We've taken a break from the large deposit -- Box 1 -- to focus on the little crate that could -- Box 10B. It's about 5' x 5' x 4' deep, and filled with wonderfully soft and squishy asphaltic sand and dirt -- SO much easier to excavate than Box 1. Not nearly as dense a deposit as Box 1, but we have found a wide range of rodent, rabbit and bird bones (including a beak), some dermal ossicles, and the jaw of a dwarf pronghorn. We're making quick work of this deposit; it's been open for about a month, and we're already more than half way done with it. Two things to note in this picture:
1) Check out the awesome lean-to that volunteer Richard Simun rigged up out of spare parts strewn about the excavation compound. We are well-shaded and sunburn-free!
2) The box was originally 2' taller than it is in the photograph; we've been removing slats from the tree box as we dig down. We'll be doing this for all of the deposits. It makes it easier to dig, and easier for the public to get a look at what we're digging.

Things you can't see in the picture above -- Ryan sprained his left wrist! But fortunately, he is going to be...

...a-ok. He's out of town now, but will have a "Note" on that sometime next week.

And though the sediment is a lot softer than that in Box 1 (I'm sitting next to it right now, with Spencer Bronte digging -- he just found a big bird bone!), it's not without its hazards:

I broke two screwdrivers this week while chiseling. Good time to test Craftsman's warranty, eh?

weekly update: back to basics

It has been one heck of a week here at Rancho La Brea; we were on almost every local news channel, the LA Times, the NY Times, the Brisbane Times, and even a couple papers from Norway ("We can not so many of these, such as deer to tigers sword" indeed!). In light of this newfound limelight (and in light of the exponential increase of blog subscribers!) I want to take a minute to get back to basics.

So for those just joining us: I'm Andie, and I work here, along with lead excavator Kristen Brown, fellow full-time excavator and lone male Ryan Long, and part-time excavators Michelle Tabencki and Laura Tewksbury. Project 23's intial beginnings are described in this blog post and many others found on this site. To date, we've excavated at least 700 fossils (and calculated a minimum number of individual animals of at least 2 dozen). Current tally includes at least:
-3 saber-tooth cats
-1 lynx
-1 North American lion
-6 dire wolves
-2 coyotes
-1 Harlan's Ground Sloth
-1 baby bison
-1 baby horse
-2 dwarf pronghorns
-LOTS of turtle
-at least 5 birds (including a teratorn!)
-LOTS of millipedes
-LOTS of oak leaves
and much much more

And our excavation site currently looks like this:

If anyone reading this works in the Variety building, we really want to take pictures from your rooftop...

Deposit 1 (on the right) is the first one APRMI found during the salvage, the biggest box overall, and the first one we started digging in. Also, it looks like a pirate ship, which pleases us immensely.

Deposit 10A (more lifeboat sized...) is also being actively worked on.

looks like Laura found a fossilized meter stick!

It hasn't yielded nearly as many fossils as Deposit 1, but did give us an interesting piece of turtle which might be new to Rancho La Brea, so that's pretty nifty.

Box 10B -- 10A's smaller, slouchier half -- is also being worked on, but can't be seen from the fence. Part of it collapsed while APRMI was boxing it up, however, so we're not taking as much locational data as we usually do.

And finally, Box 5B. We just opened this one a couple weeks ago, mostly to get an idea of what our next area of focus will be when we finish the 10s. We won't actively begin excavation until they're done. However, we've already found some neat stuff in it...

seriously: it is NOT A FOSSIL

...like this NOT FOSSIL wasp nest. It was on the side of the box under the tarp (again, NOT A FOSSIL). A neat instance of modern life co-existing (well, until the nest was abandoned..) with the extinct.

We continue to excavate 7 days a week (except for bank holidays and whatnot) and will happily talk to you if you stop by, provided we are not lunching, operating heavy machinery, or performing particularly delicate fossil extractions, and you do not try to throw things or yell rude questions (i.e. "Did you find my lost contact yet? Hyuk hyuk hyuk.") at us. We love our jobs, and love sharing our discoveries with you, and THANK YOU for your continued interest and support of natural sciences in general, and Project 23 in particular!

Additionally, there have been a number of questions posted as blog comments over the past week, which we'll answer ASAP. But as for now, we have some serious digging to do.

In the news (again!)

Hey Angelenos -- Project 23 will be featured on the front page of the LA Times tomorrow! And be sure to check out their online photo gallery as well. And...

Hey early risers -- Project 23 will be on Good Morning, America tomorrow morning! We'll be popping up in all sorts of news outlets this week, so keep an eye out for more.

In the news

Part-time excavatrix Laura Tewksbury has been busy! She sends us this link:

Whale Fossil for Concordia Elementary School

and writes:

"This was the first fossil preparation project I ever worked on, under paleontologist Greg Seymour. During high school, my mom would drive me over to volunteer at least once a week, and I got to both chip away at his (horrible, fine-grained, concrete-like) matrix and help teach the kids about paleontology. It's pretty much one of the main reasons I'm here [i.e. at Rancho La Brea]. I originally got involved through Dave Gerhard when he first moved to Concordia, since that was my old elementary school, my little sisters were still there, and my mom was PTA President.

How time flies. Like a whale on a hoist. "

Very cool, Laura!