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Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Read more: Between a Rock and a Hard PlaceThe Field Museum has an interesting post about Mary Anning. There’s a good summary about her life, her work, and her accomplishments and contributions to paleontology when women couldn’t really participate. Even today, she is inspiring to many of the many talented women in science. It’s quite a testament to her life and achievements that, 223 years after her birth, we’re still talking about Mary Anning. She discovered and collected many fossils of iconic Jurassic reptiles, including the first Plesiosaurus known to science, and the first pterosaur species found in England. Her life is a tale of struggle against poverty and misogyny—particularly…
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ESCONI Events April 2022
Read more: ESCONI Events April 2022Welcome back! Field trips require membership, but visitors are welcome at all meetings! Fri, Apr 8th ESCONI General Meeting 8:00 PM Zoom – Topic: “Devonian plants from the famous Red Hill location” by Dr. Walt Cressler of West Chester University in Pennsylvania. This meeting will be hybrid with both Zoom and in person available at the College of DuPage Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038B (Map). Zoom Link Sat, Apr 9th ESCONI Junior Meeting – 7:00 PM at College of DuPage – Topic: “Fossil and Mineral Identification” Specifics of this meeting are available from Scott Galloway, 630-670-2591, gallowayscottf@gmail.com. The meeting…
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PBS Eons: The Extreme Hyenas That Didn’t Last
Read more: PBS Eons: The Extreme Hyenas That Didn’t LastThere's a new episode of PBS Eons. This one is about how we got the modern hyenas. Did you know they are more closely related to cats than dogs?
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Fossil Friday #102: Kellibrooksia macrogaster x 3!
Read more: Fossil Friday #102: Kellibrooksia macrogaster x 3!This is the “Fossil Friday” post #102. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! This week’s Fossil Friday is three specimens of Kellibrooksia macrogaster. We spotlighted K. macrogaster in a recent Mazon Monday. K. macrogaster is an ancestor to modern day Mantis Shrimps. It was named for Harold Kelly Brooks, who published the first well-illustrated modern account of Mazon Creek crustaceans. These photos were sent in by ESCONI…
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Throwback Thursday #104: McLuckie House from 1952 Newsletter
Read more: Throwback Thursday #104: McLuckie House from 1952 NewsletterThis is Throwback Thursday #104. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! John and Lucy McLuckie were both avid collectors of Mazon Creek fossils. They sponsored yearly “combined club” field trips to collect fossils in Braidwood. They were said to be some of the finest and nicest people you’d ever meet. Check this previous edition of Throwback Thursday. From the March 1952 edition of the newsletter… How many of you would love to visit the…
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Meet ‘Horridus,’ one of the most complete Triceratops fossils ever found
Read more: Meet ‘Horridus,’ one of the most complete Triceratops fossils ever foundLiveScience has the story of a very large and nearly complete Triceratops in the land down under. A Triceratops, nicknamed “Horridus” after its species name Triceratops horridus, is now on display in a new exhibit “Triceratops: Fate of the Dinosaurs,” at the Melbourne Museum in Australia. The specimen is about 85% complete and died about 67 million years ago in what is now Montana. There is a very interesting 3D digital model of Horridus on the museum’s website. Horridus was an herbivore, or plant-eating dinosaur, that lived during the Cretaceous period (about 145 million to 66 million years ago), and it grew to…
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Nature: Snake-like limb loss in a Carboniferous amniote
Read more: Nature: Snake-like limb loss in a Carboniferous amnioteNature Ecology & Evolution has a new paper on Mazon Creek tetrapods. This paper describes snake-like limb loss in an amniote, Nagini mazonense, found in the Mazon Creek fossil deposit. The authors are Arjan Mann of the Smithsonian Institution, Jason Pardo of the Field Museum, and Hillary Maddin of Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Arjan did a great presentation on Mazon Creek tetrapods back in November 2020. There’s a nice summary of the paper in “Behind the paper” here. Abstract Among living tetrapods, many lineages have converged on a snake-like body plan, where extreme axial elongation is accompanied by reduction…
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Mazon Monday #105: Kellibrooksia macrogaster
Read more: Mazon Monday #105: Kellibrooksia macrogasterThis is Mazon Monday post #105. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Kellibrooksia macrogaster is a species of mantis shrimp (stomatopods). It was described by Frederick Schram in 1973. Frederick Schram described many of the shrimp of Mazon Creek. We had a nice one for sale at the ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil show in March 2022. Kellibrooksia is named in honor of Harold Kelly Brooks, who published the first well-illustrated modern account of Mazon Creek crustaceans. A pdf of his work is available. Have a look as it has some amazing illustrations! K. macrogaster appears…
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Graves of dozens of kings from the time of King Arthur uncovered in Britain
Read more: Graves of dozens of kings from the time of King Arthur uncovered in BritainLiveScience has an interesting piece about the discovery of the graves of early British royalty. The graves date to the period between the fifth and seventh centuries and provide archaeological evidence from a little-understood period of British history. The new study by Ken Dark, an emeritus professor of archaeology and history at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, identifies what may be up to 65 graves of post-Roman British kings and their families at about 20 burial sites across the west of England and Wales, including the modern English counties of Somerset and Cornwall. The British continued to…
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PBS Eons: The Sudden Rise of the First Colossal Animal
Read more: PBS Eons: The Sudden Rise of the First Colossal AnimalThere's a new episode of PBS Eons. This one is about ichthyosaurs, how and why they arose.
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Fossil Friday #101: Mazon Creek Aquatic Plants
Read more: Fossil Friday #101: Mazon Creek Aquatic PlantsThis is the “Fossil Friday” post #101. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! The last section of “A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flora of Mazon Creek” is called “Possible Aquatic Plant” on Page 249. There’s a couple of species of Rhacophyllum are shown. They are categorized due to traits common to aquatic plants. Pit 11 is mostly known for the animal fossils found there,…
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Throwback Thursday #103: Field Trip to Jacob’s Geodes 2007
Read more: Throwback Thursday #103: Field Trip to Jacob’s Geodes 2007This is Throwback Thursday #103. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! Back when the MAPS show was at Western Illinois University in Macomb, IL, there would be an annual field trip to Jacob’s Geodes. They are still there and you can still collect geodes on their property. Back then, they charged you by the bucket… $10 if I remember correctly, might be more now. Today’s Throwback Thursday is a look back at the spring…
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Trip Full: ESCONI Field Trip to Danville Shale Pile Fossils – Saturday, April 23rd, 2022
Read more: Trip Full: ESCONI Field Trip to Danville Shale Pile Fossils – Saturday, April 23rd, 2022The trip is full! It filled up in about 8 hours! We are still accepting requests, which will place you on the waiting list. Please let us know if you can’t make it, as it makes room for those on the waiting list. Thanks! Danville Field Trip Rules April 23, 2022 An ESCONI field trip to the Danville Shale Pile for Pennsylvanian fossils is scheduled for April 23, 2022 starting at 10 AM. This is on private property and there is an attendance limit of 25 people. The gate will be secured once we are in and locked when we…
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ESCONI Field Trip to Danville Shale Pile Fossils – Saturday, April 23rd, 2022
Read more: ESCONI Field Trip to Danville Shale Pile Fossils – Saturday, April 23rd, 2022We are pleased to announce the first field trip of the season! Danville Field Trip Rules April 23, 2022 An ESCONI field trip to the Danville Shale Pile for Pennsylvanian fossils is scheduled for April 23, 2022 starting at 10 AM. This is on private property and there is an attendance limit of 25 people. The gate will be secured once we are in and locked when we leave. Plan on being off the hill at 3 PM to give time for specimen identification and pictures. You must register to go on this trip. See rule 6 below for instructions.…
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2022 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Show Report
Read more: 2022 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Show ReportSo, the 2022 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show is in the books…. it was a great weekend. We hope everyone enjoyed it! The turnout was excellent both days. Thanks to all the were able to attend and hope the others can make it next time! For the auction, we had quite a few excellent specimens, including Tully Monsters, fossilized fish fins, fern fossils, books, and even plastic dinosaurs! Here are a couple more random pictures from the show…
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Mazon Monday #104: Mid-century Mazon Creek
Read more: Mazon Monday #104: Mid-century Mazon CreekThis is Mazon Monday post #104. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. We recently received an interesting link from ESCONI member Kristi Overgaard of a post on the Geology World group on Facebook. The post was by James Anderson and it described an transaction with Dr. Wilbur Hoff’s son. Dr. Hoff was a long time fossil hunter, who collected just about everything. He was instrumental in the founding of ESCONI way back in 1949. He served as President of ESCONI in 1959. Here he is with his wife, Donnafred in 1958. Here he is presiding over…
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2022 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – March 19th – 20th, 2022 – People and Photos from the Show
Read more: 2022 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – March 19th – 20th, 2022 – People and Photos from the ShowTo all the people that came out to day 1 of the 2022 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show, thank you for coming! There was tons of fun for all. We enjoyed having the opportunity to catch up with old friends and make some new ones! All of that was sadly missing during the pandemic. Ralph Jewell, ESCONI member and all around great guy, has started an interesting thread about the show over on the Fossil Forum. You can find it here. If you aren’t a member of the Fossil Forum, what are you waiting for?!?! It’s free and chock…
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2022 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – March 19th – 20th, 2022 – Today is the day!!!
Read more: 2022 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – March 19th – 20th, 2022 – Today is the day!!!Set up for the show was Friday night. We are ready for everyone on Saturday and Sunday! Here are some photos. More auction specimens at the end. Dealers, Demonstrators, Displays, Live and Silent Auctions,Book Sales, Kid’s Korner, Geode Splitting Free Parking! Free Admission! DuPage County Fairgrounds2015 Manchester Rd.Wheaton, IllinoisSaturday 10 AM to 5 PMSunday 10 AM to 4 PMwww.esconi.org Download Show Flyer Auction specimens
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2022 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – March 19th – 20th, 2022 – Preview #11, Prehistoric Animals
Read more: 2022 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – March 19th – 20th, 2022 – Preview #11, Prehistoric AnimalsThis is the preview post #11 for the 2022 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show Live Auction. The show is on March 19th and 20th, 2022 at the DuPage County Fairgrounds in Wheaton, IL. All details can be found here. Today is the day! Here is another preview of auction material… high quality plastic prehistoric animals. There’s dinosaurs a Dunkleosteus, a Mosasaur, and more!
ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show
Most Recent Post
- Throwback Thursday #313: Who Was DuPage? How the River and County Were Named
The BeHistoric channel on Youtube has a fascinating video about the history behind the name of the DuPage River and DuPage County.
- About ESCONI
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- Calendar of Events
- Code of Ethics and Conduct
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- ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show
- ESCONI in the News
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- Flashback Friday
- Fossil Friday
- Mazon Creek
- Mazon Monday
- Member Spotlight
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- Reference Material
- Throwback Thursday
- Trilobite Tuesday
Field trips require membership, but visitors are welcome at all meetings!
| Friday, April 10th | General Meeting – 8:00 PM via Zoom. Jessica Hull will present “Life in the Devonian Period, The Age of Fishes.” |
| Saturday, April 11th | Junior Study Group Meeting – 2:00 PM, in person at the College of DuPage Technical Education Center (TEC) Building – Room 1038A (Map). Katherine Howard will present on Sand and Sediment Collecting. Specifics of this meeting are available from Scott Galloway, 630-670-2591, gallowayscottf@gmail.com. |
| Saturday, April 18th | Paleontology Study Group – 7:30 PM via Zoom and in person at the College of DuPage, TEC, Room 1038B (Map). Keith Robitschek will present “Digging the Marl of the Lance Formation.” |
| Friday, April 24th | MAPS Expo XLVII – Springfield, IL. |
| Saturday, April 25th | MAPS Expo XLVII – Springfield, IL. |
| Sunday, April 26th | MAPS Expo XLVII – Springfield, IL. |
| No meeting this month | Mineralogy Study Group |