September 2011

Monthly Archive: September 2011

Of Quilts and Quilting

Posted: September 13, 2011 - 09:09 , by royal

By Joan Schiff, Chair of the Programs and Events Committee, Friends of Textiles and Costume.

Left: A blue overcoad modeled over the quilted pink petticoat.  Right: Red and yellow flowers quilted on a white background.

Summerasaurus Part VI: Un-jacketing dino bones in the Vertebrate Palaeontology Lab

Posted: September 9, 2011 - 08:52 , by royal

Today, we thought we’d offer you a behind-the-scenes look at the Vertebrate Palaeontology Lab to see what happens to dino bones between being excavated and being put on display or used for research.

Unopened plaster field jackets stored on metal shelves.

From the Field: Ancient Sea Scorpion Fossil Found

Posted: September 7, 2011 - 08:39 , by royal

July 23

Clear skies at last! Down to the coast to catch good morning lighting and a fortuitously low tide, so we can see in detail how fossil-bearing Upper Ordovician carbonate deposits (445 million years old) at our main locality “lap” against the elevated flanks of a much more ancient rock mass. This highly resistant Proterozoic (about 2500 million-year-old) quartzite body is the remnant of a small island that formed part of an archipelago in shallow Ordovician subtropical seas.

Summerasaurus Part V: The Badlands

Posted: September 2, 2011 - 09:10 , by royal

Walking through the badlands is like walking through a western novel: canyons cut through the prairie, exposing layers of brown, gold, black and white sediment. Clichés keep popping up: tumbleweeds roll by, cactus pop out from unexpected places, and cattle skulls bleach in the sun. Scorpions hide in coal seams, soaking up the sun’s heat from the black rock that camouflages them. It’s a bit overwhelming at first, but once you accept the fact that you’re in a place unlike anywhere else in Canada, it all becomes simple and beautiful.