microrobert
08-12-2013, 01:48 PM
Tips on How to Become a Fossil
Pick your burial spot carefully if you want future paleontologists to find you.
Earlier this summer, on a break from scraping Jurassic stone off dinosaur bones at an eastern Utah quarry, I wandered through the fantastical landscape of Arches National Park (http://www.nps.gov/arch/index.htm). While following the short Park Avenue trail (http://www.nps.gov/arch/planyourvisit/moderatetrails.htm), I noticed that the burnt orange sand running down the middle of the canyon retained the footprints of previous visitors.
Looking at the footprints, thinking about how long they might last, a peculiar question struck me: When I die, will I leave any traces behind in the fossil record?
Bury Your Coffin-Free Body in Sediment
I can enhance my chances of winding up as a skeletal remnant of my present self by employing taphonomy—the study of the long-term postmortem history of organisms—in reverse.
Taphonomy tells me two things. First, I'll have to go without a coffin. The sooner I can be buried by sediment and kept safe from the various organisms that decay a body after death, the better.
Tips on How to Become a Fossil (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/08/130810-fossil-science-paleontology-future/?google_editors_picks=true)
Pick your burial spot carefully if you want future paleontologists to find you.
Earlier this summer, on a break from scraping Jurassic stone off dinosaur bones at an eastern Utah quarry, I wandered through the fantastical landscape of Arches National Park (http://www.nps.gov/arch/index.htm). While following the short Park Avenue trail (http://www.nps.gov/arch/planyourvisit/moderatetrails.htm), I noticed that the burnt orange sand running down the middle of the canyon retained the footprints of previous visitors.
Looking at the footprints, thinking about how long they might last, a peculiar question struck me: When I die, will I leave any traces behind in the fossil record?
Bury Your Coffin-Free Body in Sediment
I can enhance my chances of winding up as a skeletal remnant of my present self by employing taphonomy—the study of the long-term postmortem history of organisms—in reverse.
Taphonomy tells me two things. First, I'll have to go without a coffin. The sooner I can be buried by sediment and kept safe from the various organisms that decay a body after death, the better.
Tips on How to Become a Fossil (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/08/130810-fossil-science-paleontology-future/?google_editors_picks=true)