Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Just how did I get trapped in the building housing these fabled and controversial
dinosaur tracks? In July 2007, I was in Queensland teaching a study-abroad pro-
gram through my university that was hosted by James Cook University in Towns-
ville. One day, after looking at a map and realizing that Lark Quarry was a mere
seven-hour drive from my location, I decided to make a pilgrimage there. So once I
was done with teaching my part of the program, I rented a car and drove west from
TownsvilletoWinton.OnceinWinton,Itookaleft,anddroveanotherhourtoLark
Quarry, most of it on a dirt road, braking and swerving madly whenever kangaroos
bounded across the road. (Please don't tell the car-rental agency.)
Having successfully made it to the last afternoon tour of the day, many other
visitors and I were met by a tour guide in the main lobby of the building. After a
brief introduction, she unlocked a door and led us inside a vestibule. With one turn
aroundacorner,wewere inaverylargeroomandonanelevated walkway,looking
down on thousands of dinosaur tracks. Once there, our guide told the familiar, tra-
ditionalyarnofLarkQuarrytoalargeandeagercrowdofAustraliansrangingfrom
children to grandparents. It was warmly reassuring for me to see so many people
there, all admiring these trace fossils and marveling at the gripping narrative they
inspired.
During this time, I kept quiet, a stealth paleontologist not wanting to affect
the tour or otherwise call attention to myself. Once the tour ended, I purposefully
dawdled, waiting for other people in the tour to leave so I could soak in the beauty
of these traces alone and in silence. I took many photographs and otherwise gazed
longingly at the tracks, beheld at long last after reading about them for more than
twenty years. It was a lovely moment, one that needed savoring.
Nonetheless,whileinthisichnologicallyinducednirvanicstateofmind,Ineg-
lected to hear the clicking of the door—locked by the tour guide who had not
bothered to check whether anyone was still inside with the tracks. The immoveable
door invoked a panic akin to what might have been experienced by the small di-
nosaurs there about 98 million years ago. After all, I was about 110 km (60 miles)
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