Maneuvering the tiny awl through the rock was a test of real patience, the layers of earth that had to gently be removed were hard and crunchy after being baked in the sun for millions of years. As the youngest team member at the Judith River Dinosaur Institute’s Snowy Mountain Dig, I learned more than I have in years of reading about dinosaurs. The act of digging is not for the weak. It requires industrial strength knee pads, brushes, knives, dental picks and awls. To sustain the long hours of crouching over the dirt, one must get creative, shifting the weight of the body to find that perfect low fatigue position. At times, I even experimented with the “lying on the belly move” arms extended in front of me, as if ground-flying toward my reward.
While there are no guarantees of discovering anything on a dig, I found it easy to keep my hope and curiosity alive. Dig sites are charged with possibility. We all felt it. And after four days of digging in the 110 degree weather, I heard that hollow sound and knew I hit something. Patiently, I brushed away the dirt and saw that beautiful brown/purple bone. While some team members had already found bones or bone fragments on the first few days, I had not. This was my moment, and my first fossil was not just any fossil. It was a Stegosaurus back plate. I looked down at the bone with pride and wonder, knowing I had uncovered an animal that hadn’t seen daylight in 150 million years.
My fascination with dinosaurs started when I was a little boy. Mornings watching Barney the dinosaur made me curious about other facets of ancient life. As I grew older, I moved beyond children’s shows, and my favorite documentary was Walking with Monsters, where I became enthralled with evolution. I was drawn to how organisms change, how they behave, and how they operate within their ecosystem. It is amazing to think about how different organisms today evolved from ones from the past.
My interest led me to search online for a dig in which I could participate, and when I found it, I jumped at the chance to experience the life of a paleontologist. This dig taught me that TV does not reflect what really happens on these digs and the different types of paleontologists. Some professionals specialize in geology, others lean more into the evolutionary biology aspect, but all of them play pivotal roles in the excavation of animals and the growth of scientific knowledge. I learned there are three types of paleontologists, the “hands-on” individuals who go out into the field, the lab paleontologists who then reconstruct and study the bones that come from the excavation, and the PhD paleontologists who take the evidence found in the fossils to create theories and publish their ideas. The most interesting thing that I learned on this dig was that as a paleontologist, you don’t have to have a formal education to make a discovery! The man leading the dig, Nate Murphy, is a well-known paleontologist who didn’t go to college! Instead, he honed his skills in the field and supported it by reading widely on the topic.
While my friends spent their summers on the beach, I am so grateful for the experience to dig in the dirt in Montana on a quest for discovery. Paleontology is difficult, tedious work but each person has the opportunity to make a discovery and contribute to the team effort.
Henry “Banks” Bourtin has had a life long fascination with paleontology. He had the opportunity this summer to go on his first dinosaur dig, where he unearthed a stegosaurus backplate. He is a 10th grader from Texas, and will earn Eagle Scout rank in May, 2025.