Discoveries

The Anning family had no skills, except for fossil-finding, passed onto us by our father.  I , Mary Anning and my brother Joseph would go underneath the cliffs, and find small fossils, while our mother ran a small stall selling the fossils to wealthy tourists. This is how the discoveries started.

Ichthyosaur

My first discovery was when I was aged 12, along with my brother Joseph. Near the end of 1811, Joseph found an ichthyosaur skull. A few months later, I found the rest of the skeleton. This turned out to be the most complete ichthyosaur at the time!

This was a highly significant discovery and we were well-paid for it, although not enough to get out of the financial trouble we had gotten in after our father passed away.

I and Joseph’s discovery was used as the basis for the first ever scientific paper written about the ichthyosaur, published in 1814 by Everard Home. (Unfortunately, this article cannot be found anywhere right now.)

Us young fossil finders received no acknowledgement in the paper. “Science is an activity for gentlemen,” they said; Joseph, me, and our mother were lower-class. The gentlemen of science believed the only acknowledgement the Annings were due was payment. Most of my later discoveries described in scientific papers were not credited either…

Plesiosaur

In December 1823, aged 24, I made the first ever discovery of a fully complete Plesiosaurus skeleton.

 This was a truly amazing discovery – so striking that many scientists refused to believe such a creature had ever existed. Georges Cuvier, whose works I had even learned French to study, declared it to be a fake. “The head is much too tiny ever to have belonged to the body!” he said. 

Inkbag

First there was the ink bag of Belemnoidea fossils. Belemnoidea were 10-armed creatures that could eject ink into the water, similar to modern squid, or cuttlefish. The fact that they possessed ink bags and were capable of squirting ink was discovered by me!

Remarkably, I found that the ink in the bags had survived fossilization and could still be used in pens. People even started turning up to see this ancient natural wonder. Artists in the town even began using Belemnoidea ink to draw pictures of fossils found in the area.

Fossilized Feces

I found examples of fossilized animal feces in 1824, although I was unsure of what I had found.

In 1828, I  found more of these objects in the abdomens of ichthyosaurs. Breaking some open, bones and fish scales could be found. I deduced finally that I had been finding fossilized feces. Although it may sound disgusting, studying the contents of fossilized feces give scientists a window on the diets of animals hundreds of millions of years ago.

Flying Reptile

My next discovery further boosted my fame, and brought even more visitors to see me.

In 1828, I discovered the first pterosaur (flying reptile) found outside Germany. This find was the first ever discovery of the Dimorphodon genus. The species discovered, more accurately, was Dimorphodon macronyx.

 

Squaloraja

 

The discovery of Squaloraja – an extinct fish that seemed to be part shark, part ray proved very interesting indeed. Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution (by natural selection) lay 30 years in the future, and scientists were still trying to make sense of what these kinds of fossils were telling them about natural history.

 

Plesiosaurus Macrocephalus

In 1830, I discovered one of my most complete and beautiful fossilized creatures – Plesiosaurus macrocephalus. A cast of this fossil is on display at the Natural History Museum in Paris, France.

The world has used me ill but I do not care for it, according to my account these men of learning have sucked my brains, and made a great deal by publishing works of which I furnished the contents, while I derived none of the advantages. But at the very least, my name was not forgotten, and it is a honor to know that I inspired many girls aspiring to work in the field of science.