Checking curated fossils
One of the most crucial parts of Marc’s work is to regularly check the specimens in his care. He looks after thousands of amphibian and reptile fossils, each of which has its own needs. The sheer size of the collection means this is a never-ending process of opening cabinets and checking the contents within.
“The collection has been built up over centuries, and a lot of long-term issues can develop in that time,” Marc explains. “The way a fossil is being stored might be putting pressure on its weak points, or the decay of a historical display case might be harming its contents.”
“So, I’m regularly opening cabinets, peering into drawers and investigating specimens to identify any issues. I then work with other curators and the conservation team to prioritise the most urgent fixes and gradually work through the rest as time allows.”
Many of the specimens Marc looks after, for example, contain pyrite – a group of minerals that are often found in fossils that formed in low-oxygen conditions. Pyrite breaks down in the presence of oxygen, damaging the fossils.
To slow down their decay, these specimens are stored in airtight bags. Inside are moisture-absorbing packets a bit like the ones that come inside the packaging of electronics. These packets help to slow the breakdown further, so Marc regularly checks the bags to ensure they’re still working as intended.
Not all specimens are as easy to check up on as others, however. Many ichthyosaur and plesiosaur skeletons are kept behind glass on the walls of our Fossil Marine Reptiles Gallery, making it much harder to inspect them. They can only be checked occasionally, but it’s not a job for the faint hearted.
“Some of the specimens are just below the roof, metres above the ground,” explains Marc. “I’ve got to go up in a small lift to get to them, which was a bit daunting the first time around.”
One of the most important specimens that Marc looks after is here – Mary Anning’s plesiosaur. She discovered this Plesiosaurus skeleton in 1823, and it arrived at the Museum 25 years later after revolutionising scientific understanding of the past.
“This was the first known articulated skeleton of a plesiosaur, giving scientists a complete picture of what these animals looked like,” Marc says. “It reshaped our understanding of the entire group and demonstrated just how different ocean life used to be.”
