1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from house 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: I'm to bring a chalko reboarding and I'm faired out 4 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:19,159 Speaker 1: and researching. This episode's topic really took me back to 5 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:24,279 Speaker 1: my childhood days digging for artifacts, fossils and the like 6 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 1: in my backyard and small town Alabama. I mean, did 7 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:30,160 Speaker 1: you ever do this, Sarah? Did you look for treasures? 8 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:32,480 Speaker 1: I did? I did, and I don't think I ever 9 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: came up with a whole lot more than old clay 10 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:38,959 Speaker 1: plumbing pipe, so I mean, at least that's something. Well, 11 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:41,239 Speaker 1: my friend Katie and I actually had a game that 12 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:42,760 Speaker 1: we made up was really a game, but we called 13 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 1: it archaeologists, and we would go to the trails behind 14 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:48,839 Speaker 1: my house and come back with these big clumps of 15 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:51,960 Speaker 1: dirt and then we would sit on my parents deck 16 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:55,240 Speaker 1: with my dad's tools and like chisel at them and 17 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,560 Speaker 1: pretend like we were finding things while we sang songs 18 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: from the movie Beaches. Oh wow, Yeah, I must have 19 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:05,000 Speaker 1: been really excited when Drastic Park came out. I was. 20 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:06,920 Speaker 1: I liked I liked the book. I read the book 21 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 1: before it came out, and I was really excited about 22 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:11,839 Speaker 1: that movie. But yeah, but of course in our little 23 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:15,160 Speaker 1: archaeologist game, we never came up with anything, just piles 24 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: of dirt, which I'm sure my parents love. But the 25 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,840 Speaker 1: subject of today's podcast, Mary Anning, also started hunting for 26 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:25,240 Speaker 1: fossils in her hometown in the early eighteen hundreds at 27 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:27,840 Speaker 1: a very young age. But she made out much better 28 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:31,920 Speaker 1: than most kids. Anning not only found many authentic fossils, 29 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:35,759 Speaker 1: she found entire skeletons of prehistoric creatures, and is often 30 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:38,959 Speaker 1: considered a key player in the development of paleontology as 31 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 1: a science. All of this happened even before the term 32 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: dinosaur even existed. She didn't even know exactly what she 33 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: was trying to find with these what we're certainly more 34 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: than games. So in fact, she's been called quote one 35 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: of the most accomplished fossil hunters of her time, and 36 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:59,240 Speaker 1: some scientists even believe her work may have contributed to 37 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: the theories of Charles Darwin himself. But Mary Anning wasn't 38 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 1: fossil hunting for the sake of science alone, and she 39 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 1: wasn't just doing it for childhood kicks either. Like like 40 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:13,240 Speaker 1: us to Blena, We're going to take a look today 41 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: at what exactly motivated this prolific paleontologist and why if 42 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: she's linked to the likes of men like Charles Darwin 43 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,800 Speaker 1: and other prominent scientists, her name isn't nearly as well 44 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:27,799 Speaker 1: known as you might expect it to be. First, though, 45 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:29,639 Speaker 1: we need to give you a little bit of background 46 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: on where Mary Annie lived, because it certainly gave her 47 00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 1: a distinct advantage as a fossil hunter. She was born 48 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:38,679 Speaker 1: and lived her entire life in a town called Lime 49 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:42,520 Speaker 1: Regis on England's Channel coast. In the late eighteenth century. 50 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: This became a really fashionable resort area and has been 51 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:50,000 Speaker 1: featured in books including Jane Austen's Persuasion and John fouls 52 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 1: The French Lieutenants Woman. But according to an article by 53 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:56,520 Speaker 1: Michael A. Taylor and U. S. Torrens in Natural History, 54 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:00,679 Speaker 1: way before it became a resort town two years ago, 55 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:04,079 Speaker 1: in fact, Lime Regis, along with the rest of southern Britain, 56 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:08,600 Speaker 1: was submerged under tropical sea near the equator, so animals 57 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:12,080 Speaker 1: that died in those waters often ended up embedded and 58 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: preserved in the mud of that submerged land. And that's 59 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 1: why this region, the English Channel coast of southern England, 60 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:23,000 Speaker 1: known as the Jurassic Coast, has been so abundant in 61 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: fossils it just seems to have an almost never ending 62 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: supply of them. And Lime Regius in particular is surrounded 63 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: by cliffs composed of alternating bands of limestone and slate 64 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: which are constantly being eroded by the elements, and every 65 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: time they are eroded a little bit more they reveal 66 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:45,160 Speaker 1: all kinds of fossilized treasures. And according to Encyclopedia Britannica, 67 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: the cliffs date from the late Jurassic to Early Jurassic period, 68 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,000 Speaker 1: so about two hundred twenty nine million to one hundred 69 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: and seventy six million years ago, so there's plenty of 70 00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 1: time to have stored up lots of fossils. So that's 71 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 1: just a basic, not to science snapshot of the area 72 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 1: where Mary Annie was born May one, and she was 73 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: one of somewhere around ten kids of a poor cabinet 74 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: maker named Richard Anning and his wife Mary Moore, now 75 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:17,840 Speaker 1: the Annie, and which is part of why we don't 76 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:20,400 Speaker 1: exactly know how many kids they had. They had it 77 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:23,159 Speaker 1: pretty rough as far as their kids were concerned, only 78 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:25,760 Speaker 1: two children and that was Mary and her older brother 79 00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: Joseph managed to survive. All the other children were lost 80 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:33,240 Speaker 1: to illness or accident along the way, and there was 81 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: even another child called Mary. Before the Mary we're focusing 82 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 1: on in this episode came around and according to a 83 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: two thousand five article in British Heritage are Mary covered 84 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 1: in this podcast had a narrow escape of her own 85 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:49,480 Speaker 1: of a child when she was only about a year old, 86 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:53,120 Speaker 1: She and her nursemaid got caught out in a pretty 87 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 1: bad thunderstorm, and when the nursemaid took Mary and thought 88 00:04:56,960 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 1: shelter along with a couple of other people underneath a 89 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 1: big tree, the tree got struck by lightning and killed 90 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:06,960 Speaker 1: all the three adults underneath the tree and burned Mary 91 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:09,720 Speaker 1: pretty badly too. When Mary was found, in fact, everyone 92 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 1: thought that she was dead too, but they managed to 93 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 1: revive her, and according to her family, this event really 94 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:21,160 Speaker 1: changed their child somehow. She was considered quote dull before, 95 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:23,840 Speaker 1: but after I mean for a one year old, I'm 96 00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:28,680 Speaker 1: not but after this event she became really intelligent and 97 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 1: lively and grew up that way too. So to her family, 98 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:35,720 Speaker 1: it seemed like the lightning had changed the course of 99 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:38,960 Speaker 1: Mary's life, being struck by lightning. And as we mentioned earlier, 100 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: around the time that Mary was born, Limeary just started 101 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 1: becoming a hotspot for vacationers and that created a market 102 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 1: for what we're known as local curios or curiosities. Local 103 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: townspeople would collect and pedal fossils for cash, and this 104 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: included fossil shells which they called lady fingers, and stones 105 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:01,360 Speaker 1: that looked like pieces of backbone, which they called vertebarries. Yum, 106 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:05,520 Speaker 1: sounds like a new cereal, it does. Most people involved 107 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:08,120 Speaker 1: in these sorts of transactions, of course, had no idea 108 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:11,480 Speaker 1: that the items were fossils. Tourists were just mainly buying 109 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 1: them as souvenirs chats kind of exactly. And Mary's father, Richard, 110 00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: was one of these amateur fossil collectors, and he would 111 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:22,320 Speaker 1: sell these curiosities to tourists and it became a major 112 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:25,919 Speaker 1: source of income for his entire family, and Mary of 113 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:29,640 Speaker 1: course became pretty interested in these curious too. She'd go 114 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:33,600 Speaker 1: along with her father sometimes collecting fossils, collecting shells along 115 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: the shores and even climbing around the cliffs looking for things. 116 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:40,279 Speaker 1: And on these outings, Mary learned how to feel out 117 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: her fines and carefully remove items that were lodged into 118 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:45,880 Speaker 1: the cliffs. And to believe it something you already know 119 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:49,279 Speaker 1: how to do this with your with your mud, fine carefully. 120 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:51,440 Speaker 1: I don't know about the cliffs part of it, though, Sarah, 121 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: I don't like hyatts had probably just stay on the ground. 122 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:57,279 Speaker 1: But I mean, even then, climbing around cliffs wasn't exactly 123 00:06:57,279 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: the safest hobby you could have after all. In an 124 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:02,919 Speaker 1: eighteen ten Richard Annie actually had an accident while he 125 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:05,840 Speaker 1: was hunting for fossils. Some sources say that he fell 126 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:07,680 Speaker 1: from a cliff, others say that he was caught in 127 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:10,840 Speaker 1: a rock slide, but either way, he died soon afterward. 128 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: Mary was of course devastated, but she kept hunting for 129 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: fossils like she would have anyway with her father, perhaps 130 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: as a way to remember him. And then one day 131 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:23,800 Speaker 1: she sold a fossil, this kind of coiled shell known 132 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:26,960 Speaker 1: as the snake stone, to a taurist, and it's sort 133 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 1: of lit a fire under her. She realized that her 134 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: hobby could be lucrative, you know, she could help supplement 135 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:35,560 Speaker 1: some of that income her family had lost with the 136 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: death of her father. They really needed money now, more 137 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:41,840 Speaker 1: than ever, so she started to hit the beach even harder, 138 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 1: looking for fossil fines in order to help support her family. 139 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:49,360 Speaker 1: And then in eighteen eleven, the year after her father's death, 140 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 1: her brother Joseph found this huge skull on the beach 141 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: and he wasn't sure what it was exactly. It appeared 142 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 1: to be kind of similar to a crocodile skull, and 143 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:01,360 Speaker 1: he showed it to me Or, who was twelve years 144 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: old at the time. But according to that British Heritage 145 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: article that we mentioned earlier, a month slide covered their 146 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: find before they could really do anything about it. About 147 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:14,000 Speaker 1: a year later, though, Mary rediscovered fossils in that area 148 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:16,320 Speaker 1: and excavated them, and it turned out to be the 149 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:21,440 Speaker 1: entire seventeen foot long skeleton of an Ichtheosaurus, a prehistoric 150 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:23,720 Speaker 1: marine reptile that's kind of similar in the way it 151 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:27,920 Speaker 1: looks to a dolphin the source translates to fish lizard. 152 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:31,000 Speaker 1: According to Taylor and Torren's article, this wasn't the first 153 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: iosaur to be discovered, but it did become the quote 154 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: type specimen of the Athosaurus, the scientifically described specimen for 155 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:42,719 Speaker 1: which the genus was officially named. And as you can 156 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:46,600 Speaker 1: imagine a fine like that would command better prices than 157 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:49,320 Speaker 1: what you get from your average tourists, better than shells 158 00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:53,600 Speaker 1: that Mary ended up selling this to Henry host Henley, 159 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: who was the chief property owner in the area, for 160 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:00,120 Speaker 1: twenty three pounds, which was a huge amount of the 161 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:05,200 Speaker 1: equivalent of several thousand pounds today, So for Mary's poor family, 162 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:09,320 Speaker 1: this was a huge deal. It took years of study 163 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:13,120 Speaker 1: for scientists to settle on exactly what Mary's find was, 164 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:15,480 Speaker 1: but it caused a lot of buzz in the scientific 165 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:18,240 Speaker 1: community and the religious community as well, because around this 166 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:21,720 Speaker 1: time religions still had a very big influence on science, 167 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:25,640 Speaker 1: and scientists really tried to fit their findings into the 168 00:09:25,679 --> 00:09:29,719 Speaker 1: Bible story of creation. So basically, the belief was that 169 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:32,920 Speaker 1: God had created the Earth only about six thousand years 170 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 1: prior to this time, and everything had remained essentially unchanged 171 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:40,600 Speaker 1: since Noah and the flood. So there were all these animals, 172 00:09:40,679 --> 00:09:43,160 Speaker 1: and they all appeared on Earth at the same time, 173 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:46,520 Speaker 1: and they were all as they were, And as a result, 174 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:49,560 Speaker 1: for some time, people believed that fossils such as even 175 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: things like masted on bones, were the remains of animals 176 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: that still existed somewhere on the planet. But of course, 177 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 1: as more fossil finds like Mary's came to life and 178 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:03,040 Speaker 1: the fossils cre chers became more and more exotic, like 179 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:07,679 Speaker 1: an Acosaurus, people finally had to start accepting the possibility 180 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:10,720 Speaker 1: that creatures could become extinct. And this is the part 181 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:13,560 Speaker 1: that many believe helped Charles Darwin make the case for 182 00:10:13,679 --> 00:10:17,640 Speaker 1: natural selection by introducing the idea that some species could 183 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:21,720 Speaker 1: really disappear forever. Mary, though, wasn't coming at her work 184 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:24,440 Speaker 1: from the position of a scientist or even what was 185 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:28,840 Speaker 1: known as a quote gentleman collector. Her family largely depended 186 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:31,599 Speaker 1: on her finds to live, and so she continued to 187 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:34,720 Speaker 1: hunt for fossils pretty much every single day, but it 188 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:38,000 Speaker 1: was many years before she had another big find, and 189 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:41,679 Speaker 1: in the meantime business was pretty spotty. Sometimes she wouldn't 190 00:10:41,679 --> 00:10:44,839 Speaker 1: find much besides souvenir level kind of stuff, and her 191 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:47,360 Speaker 1: family struggled, and at other times she made sales to 192 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:50,440 Speaker 1: private collectors into museums and had a little bit of money. 193 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:52,439 Speaker 1: A lot of her best finds were in the winter, 194 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:55,599 Speaker 1: because that's when the erosion made the most difference in 195 00:10:55,679 --> 00:10:59,160 Speaker 1: what she could find. Probably not as many tourists around too, 196 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 1: I bet picking up all the good stuff. True. In 197 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:04,679 Speaker 1: the years before eighteen twenty, though, things really got so 198 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:07,520 Speaker 1: bad for the Innings. At one point they were apparently 199 00:11:07,679 --> 00:11:10,920 Speaker 1: selling furniture to pay their rent that a collector named 200 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:14,040 Speaker 1: Thomas Burch, who had purchased things for Mary, auctioned his 201 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:17,920 Speaker 1: collection and donated the proceeds to the Inning family, And 202 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:21,080 Speaker 1: this started a rumor that the fifty two year old 203 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:23,320 Speaker 1: Birch and the twenty one year old Mary had a 204 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 1: sexual relationship. But around eighteen one, things finally started to 205 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:32,840 Speaker 1: turn around for Mary. She found a twenty ftthsur and 206 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:37,560 Speaker 1: a couple additional smaller ones over the following year. Then 207 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:43,560 Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty four she made what considered her most 208 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:48,840 Speaker 1: famous find. Yeah, she discovered the first intact Plesiosaurus skeleton. 209 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:52,320 Speaker 1: This animal had never been seen before. It was also 210 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:55,800 Speaker 1: a marine animal, but totally different from an ichthyosaurus. The 211 00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:58,360 Speaker 1: poles store had a long neck and a fat body, 212 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:00,640 Speaker 1: and looked more like a lizard of ben a fish. 213 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:04,280 Speaker 1: British geologist William Buckland described it thus, he said, quote 214 00:12:04,559 --> 00:12:06,920 Speaker 1: to the head of the wizard united the teeth of 215 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:10,559 Speaker 1: the crocodile, a neck of enormous length, resembling the body 216 00:12:10,559 --> 00:12:13,600 Speaker 1: of a serpent, a trunk and tail having the proportions 217 00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:16,719 Speaker 1: of an ordinary quadruped, and the ribs of a chameleon 218 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:19,040 Speaker 1: and the paddles of a whale. So it sounds like 219 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:22,160 Speaker 1: quite a creature. And she sold the skeleton to the 220 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:25,040 Speaker 1: Duke of Buckingham for two hundred pounds. And it was 221 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:28,240 Speaker 1: really so weird looking that some people, including the renowned 222 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:33,240 Speaker 1: French zoologist George Qubier, doubted it was real. Kuber thought 223 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:36,240 Speaker 1: that Mary had faked the whole thing, but upon further 224 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:40,040 Speaker 1: study he realized it was in fact a real specimen, 225 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:44,440 Speaker 1: and after QBA authenticated the find, many people started to 226 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:47,600 Speaker 1: take Mary's fossil findings a little more seriously. You know, 227 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:50,520 Speaker 1: this lady actually knew what was going on, and she 228 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:54,920 Speaker 1: did continue to make discoveries too. In December, she found 229 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,439 Speaker 1: the fossil of a flying reptile. It was a raven 230 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:01,559 Speaker 1: sized skeleton that, according to some sources, represented the first 231 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:05,160 Speaker 1: evidence of a prehistoric winged creature, even though according to 232 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 1: Encyclopedia Britannica, it was the pterosaur specimen found first outside 233 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:15,199 Speaker 1: of Germany, so the first one found somewhere besides Germany. 234 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:17,760 Speaker 1: So Buckland bought the skeleton for Mary and gave it 235 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:21,960 Speaker 1: the name Pterodactylus macronics, meaning winged fingers, and just a 236 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:25,280 Speaker 1: year later, in eighty nine, Mary found the skeleton of 237 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,400 Speaker 1: a fish like creature called a school Lauri ja, which 238 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:33,360 Speaker 1: many many believed was an evolutionary intermediary between sharks and rays. 239 00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:36,720 Speaker 1: So ultimately, with all these fossils coming up in her hands, 240 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:39,920 Speaker 1: Mary became something of a local celebrity. She was called 241 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: the fossil Woman and the Princess of paleontology, a nickname 242 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:47,360 Speaker 1: given to her by a German scientist, and she really 243 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:50,280 Speaker 1: put her hometown on the map too for the scientific community. 244 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:53,120 Speaker 1: People had known that this area was rich in fossils before, 245 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:56,720 Speaker 1: but Mary's discovery started to attract scientists who wanted to 246 00:13:56,760 --> 00:13:59,680 Speaker 1: work with her, a really big deal because at the 247 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:02,679 Speaker 1: time and women in science were still pretty rare. So 248 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:06,520 Speaker 1: she'd go on bossil hunting expeditions with famous scientists like 249 00:14:06,559 --> 00:14:11,200 Speaker 1: Buckland and paleontologist Richard Owen, who's credited with coining the 250 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:15,839 Speaker 1: term dinosauria in eighteen forty two. So um getting out 251 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:18,640 Speaker 1: there with the major players in the field at the time, 252 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:22,880 Speaker 1: and though Mary lacked any sort of formal scientific training, 253 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:27,480 Speaker 1: she managed to impress these rather impressive science guys, not 254 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:29,600 Speaker 1: just because of her knowledge of the local area in 255 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:32,960 Speaker 1: which she was fossil hunting, but she seemed to understand 256 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:35,480 Speaker 1: the anatomy of the creatures that she was excavating, and 257 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:39,800 Speaker 1: would even argue with established researchers on certain points. Non 258 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:42,320 Speaker 1: scientists would often come just to check Mary out, too, 259 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:44,960 Speaker 1: because she was kind of a character. Some described her 260 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:49,240 Speaker 1: as a quote prim pedantic vinegar looking thin female and no. 261 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:53,640 Speaker 1: Others described her as a quote strong, energetic spinster. Still 262 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:57,600 Speaker 1: others as a quote clever, funny creature. So she herself 263 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:01,880 Speaker 1: was kind of a curiosity, for better or worse. It's so. Unfortunately, though, 264 00:15:02,120 --> 00:15:05,600 Speaker 1: Mary often didn't get credit for these fossil fines, and 265 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:08,600 Speaker 1: this is partly because many scientists didn't give her credit 266 00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 1: in books and papers they published on her discoveries, and 267 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:15,600 Speaker 1: then partly because her role in the whole fossil collecting 268 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:18,920 Speaker 1: business was in the trade aspect of it. She wasn't 269 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:22,080 Speaker 1: writing the papers, she wasn't holding them in collections, and 270 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:26,080 Speaker 1: according to Encyclopedia Britannica, it was the collectors who would 271 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:30,440 Speaker 1: donate these specimens to institutions like museums, and who would 272 00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:34,160 Speaker 1: usually get credited with their discovery. A few scientists did 273 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:36,520 Speaker 1: give her credit in their work, but not as many 274 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:39,840 Speaker 1: as should have. According to that British Heritage article we 275 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:43,000 Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, she knew that too. Apparently a friend once 276 00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:46,000 Speaker 1: said quote she says, the world has used her ill. 277 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:49,680 Speaker 1: These men of learning have sucked her brains and made 278 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:52,800 Speaker 1: a great deal by publishing works of which she furnished 279 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:56,360 Speaker 1: the contents, while she derived none of the advantages. She 280 00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:59,800 Speaker 1: was even denied admission to the Geological Society of London 281 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:02,440 Speaker 1: to spite her accomplishments, because they didn't allow women in 282 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:05,560 Speaker 1: the organization at that time, though they finally made her 283 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:08,400 Speaker 1: an honorary member, not an official member, but an honorary 284 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:11,200 Speaker 1: member in eighty seven. She didn't let any of that 285 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:14,640 Speaker 1: resentment stop her from practicing her trade though, right up 286 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:17,600 Speaker 1: until the end. According to a profile on Mary Anning 287 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 1: by Alex k Rich, she bought a house for herself 288 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:22,840 Speaker 1: and her mother, and they ran a store out of 289 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:25,880 Speaker 1: it from which they sold fossils, and they called the 290 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:30,160 Speaker 1: whole thing fossil depot, which is rather charming. Mary died 291 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:35,280 Speaker 1: of breast cancer on March nine, and to commemorate her achievements, 292 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: the townspeople installed a stained glass window depicting her image 293 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:42,200 Speaker 1: and the town's church and a plaque too near the 294 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:46,000 Speaker 1: cliffs where she had first discovered that original any sur 295 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:49,480 Speaker 1: And of course you can still see her finds around 296 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:52,680 Speaker 1: the head of the first aneur she discovered can be found. 297 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:54,520 Speaker 1: I think I believe it can still be found in 298 00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:59,280 Speaker 1: a natural history museum in London. And there's another way 299 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:03,280 Speaker 1: that you may have unwittingly remembered her throughout the years 300 00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:06,399 Speaker 1: of your life. Mary may have been the inspiration for 301 00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:10,280 Speaker 1: the well known tongue twister. She sells sea shells by 302 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:13,000 Speaker 1: the sea shore. So if you sort of remember back 303 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:14,720 Speaker 1: to the beginning of the podcast when we're talking about 304 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:17,200 Speaker 1: how she used to try to sell those shells to tourists, 305 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:20,320 Speaker 1: those fossilized shells, that's where that could have come from. 306 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:22,760 Speaker 1: And it was written by English songwriter Terry Sullivan in 307 00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:25,719 Speaker 1: Night and actually go something like this. I'm gonna say 308 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:29,800 Speaker 1: it really slow because it is a tongue twister. After all, 309 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:35,040 Speaker 1: she sells seashells on the sea shore. The shells she 310 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:39,680 Speaker 1: sells are seashells. I'm sure for if she sells sea 311 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:43,640 Speaker 1: shells on the seashore, then I'm sure she sells sea 312 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:47,359 Speaker 1: shore shells. Almost. I kind of fell a parthur at 313 00:17:47,359 --> 00:17:49,800 Speaker 1: the end. I was I was testing the thought before 314 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:52,360 Speaker 1: we went into recording, and I was thinking, like, you know, 315 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:55,560 Speaker 1: the she sells sea shells by the sea shore, because 316 00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 1: you probably have been practicing that one, I mean, not 317 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:00,679 Speaker 1: practicing like getting ready for this moment. It. You know, 318 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:04,520 Speaker 1: you've known it since you're early fossil hunting, right, you 319 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:06,399 Speaker 1: kind of get the cadence of it. But when you 320 00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:09,240 Speaker 1: get these other ones thrown in, it's sort of, oh 321 00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:13,760 Speaker 1: my god. The shopper. I'm imagining that are our listeners 322 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:16,760 Speaker 1: who listen to the podcast to practice their English are 323 00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:21,200 Speaker 1: probably wondering what on earth has happened right now? That's true. 324 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:24,560 Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know how ubiquitous these tongue twisters are, 325 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:29,960 Speaker 1: but yeah, for novice English speakers, maybe the ultimate Maybe 326 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:32,200 Speaker 1: wait a while before you try to tackle this one. 327 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:34,280 Speaker 1: It's tough. So anyway, I thought that would be a 328 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:36,679 Speaker 1: fun way to kind of end off this podcast about 329 00:18:37,119 --> 00:18:40,280 Speaker 1: Mary anning Um with this tongue twister that I didn't 330 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:42,880 Speaker 1: even realize there was an inspiration for it. I thought 331 00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:44,920 Speaker 1: people just kind of pulled these things out of the air. 332 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:49,120 Speaker 1: I know, is there a Peter Piper to Chuck Chuck, 333 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:53,240 Speaker 1: rubber Baby, buggy Bumper, I don't know. I mean, I'm 334 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:56,000 Speaker 1: gonna have to go start googling tongue twisters now and 335 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:58,439 Speaker 1: find out if it could be a series stories. Fine, 336 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:01,760 Speaker 1: so if all of you guys aren't just practicing your 337 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:05,360 Speaker 1: tongue twisters now that you've gotten this in your head, um, 338 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:09,800 Speaker 1: definitely let us know what you think about Mary Anning 339 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:12,760 Speaker 1: and other paleontology topics too. It was fun. I don't know, 340 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:16,320 Speaker 1: hopingap we've ever talked about dinosaurs, not since I've been 341 00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:19,120 Speaker 1: on the podcast. I mean, I know, dinosaurs on their 342 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:23,720 Speaker 1: own don't really qualify as a history topic, but the 343 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:27,199 Speaker 1: people who study them certainly do. Yeah, maybe that's what 344 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 1: we'll ask people to write in about. If you have 345 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:34,879 Speaker 1: a favorite paleontologist or some other related scientist or researcher 346 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:37,679 Speaker 1: that you would like for us to focus on in 347 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:40,119 Speaker 1: the future podcast, please write to us. We're at History 348 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:43,080 Speaker 1: Podcast at Discovery dot com. You can also look us 349 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:45,520 Speaker 1: up on Twitter at Myston History and we're on Facebook 350 00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:48,679 Speaker 1: and we have loads of articles about dinosaurs, so if 351 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:51,040 Speaker 1: you do want to take a deeper look at some 352 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:54,720 Speaker 1: of the more scientific aspect. Although interestingly we were talking 353 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:57,200 Speaker 1: about this before, we should point out that the Athneosaurus 354 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:01,240 Speaker 1: that Marianne discovered is not technically I don't think it is. 355 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:03,399 Speaker 1: I could be wrong. I'm I'm not really clear on 356 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:06,719 Speaker 1: my dinosaur knowledge, but I don't think it's technically considered 357 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:10,360 Speaker 1: a dinosaurs could get that on record before we find sure. 358 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:12,880 Speaker 1: We'll get lots of emails about that. Um well, so 359 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:16,680 Speaker 1: if you want to just read about ancient creatures, maybe 360 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:18,520 Speaker 1: I'll put it that way. We do have a lot 361 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:22,399 Speaker 1: of articles about dinosaurs on our website, it's how Stuff 362 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:28,280 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Be sure to check out our new 363 00:20:28,359 --> 00:20:31,680 Speaker 1: video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join House to Work 364 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:35,320 Speaker 1: staff as we explore the most promising and perplexing possibilities 365 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:38,840 Speaker 1: of tomorrow. The House Stuff Works iPhone app has a rise. 366 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:40,960 Speaker 1: Download it today on iTunes.