This fascinating account of Mary Anning’s life will have a lot of appeal to both dinosaur lovers and students looking for a biography of a woman in a role that is typically filled by a male. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll catalog it in the 560’s under dinosaurs and fossils, or in the biography section.
Young Mary was only thirteen when she uncovered the first complete skeleton of a prehistoric creature later named the Ichthyosaur. Mary came by her fascination with fossils naturally, working alongside her father in the cliffs near Lyme Regis in England. Conditions were perfect for unearthing fossils as the wet weather loosened the soil on the cliffs, sending muddy avalanches sliding to the beach below. However, this was very dangerous work. Mary’s own father died on site of a rockfall resulting from an avalanche.
Following her father’s death, the family was thrown into poverty, so Mary helped in the one way she know how to make money — she sold fossils to tourists. In these days (the early 1800’s), it became quite fashionable for wealthy families to buy “curiosity cabinets” to display collections of interesting objects. Soon, Mary was selling her fossils for much more money. By the age of 29, Mary had already made four momentous fossil finds: (1) the world’s most complete ichthyosaurs, (2) the world’s first complete plesiosaur, (3) the first pterodactyl found in Britain, and (4) the world’s first squaloraja.
Self-educated in the field of paleontology and geology, Mary contributed to these fields through her tireless discoveries and research in libraries. But it was always a male that received the credit for her scientific contributions. Born in 1799, females were not allowed to go to college or join the British Society for the Advancement of Science. Without her due credit, Mary struggles financially for much of her life.
This book is beautifully illustrated, provides drawings and log entries by Mary Anning, is contains quotes by famous scientists who knew her, a Timeline, and a Glossary.