Mary Anning: The Dinosaur Lady
"She sells sea shells on the sea shore", a tongue twister that we have all stumbled upon at some point, is said to be based on the life of a woman, Mary Anning. Known as the 'princess of paleontology', she was a pioneering fossil collector and an amateur anatomist. Although self-taught, she was an expert in anatomy and laid the groundwork for the entire field of paleontology. She willingly risked her life to explore the rocky shores of Lyme Regis, a town in the southwest of England, to discover several specimens. She was fueled not just by passion, but also hardship, hunger, and survival.
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| Portrait of Mary Anning by Benjamin John Merifield Donne, 1850 copyrights @ https://www.geolsoc.org.uk |
Mary Anning was born on 21st May 1799 to Richard Anning and Molly (Mary Moore), and her life was off to a rough start. She was one of the two surviving children out of ten, at a time when infant mortality was high due to prevalent poverty, hunger and diseases. She was named after one of her sisters, who had died in a fire. She was 15 months old when she miraculously survived a lightning strike while the woman holding her was killed. Her father was a cabinetmaker who earned extra money by selling fossils he found along the cliffside to passing tourists. It was wartime, and civilians were encouraged to vacation near home rather than go abroad, and so tourists flocked to coastal towns like Lyme Regis and fossil collecting was in vogue. As a child, she loved strolling across the beaches of Lyme Regis with her father. At first a pastime, later an income supplement, it gradually transformed into science as its importance was understood. As the fossil fever took hold, Mary Anning grew alongside, learning the skills from her father.
She was only eight when her father fell off the treacherous cliffs of Lyme Regis. He died from the injuries suffered and tuberculosis, leaving Mary's mother and the two children with debts to pay. Both children responded with resilience, doing what they could to support the family. The family continued collecting and selling fossils together. One day, as they scoured the cliffs for fossils, Mary's brother spotted an unusual skull. Twelve-year-old Mary searched and painstakingly dug up the remaining bones to obtain the first complete fossil of an ichthyosaur — a bizarre-looking, extinct ancient marine reptile. She sold the collection for a good price to a wealthy collector. It was later displayed in a museum. During a time when the theory of extinction was new and highly controversial, Mary's fossil served as evidence of a creature that once swam the seas 194 million years ago. Geologists spent years studying and debating the existence of this unrecognizable, mysterious creature. Some even went in search of the source of the find to discover a woman who was skilled in carefully excavating fossils.
Mary's reputation for fossil excavations grew, drawing collectors and tourists to Lyme Regis. Her most famous find occurred in 1824 when she uncovered the first intact Plesiosaurus (long-necked, fat-bodied, flippered sea creature from the early Jurassic period) skeleton. So strange was the specimen that the experts claimed that her new find was fake. A special meeting was scheduled at the Geological Society of London, where experts gathered to discuss it. Mary was not invited, as women were not allowed to become members or even attend meetings as guests. Close examinations proved that the bones were real, and Mary's good name was upheld in the scientific community, but they failed to give her credit for the find. Their society had no place for women. Especially not a poor, uneducated woman who seemed to have merely made a lucky find. She began to resent these people, as she puts it, "The world has used me so unkindly, I fear it has made me suspicious of everyone". She was determined not to be an accidental genius who found fossils by pure chance.
But, like many women and girls of the time, Mary had little formal education. In addition, the Anning family were religious dissenters- not followers of the Church of England. At the time, those who refused to subscribe to the Articles of the Church of England were not allowed to study at Oxford or Cambridge and were excluded from several professions. But Mary was able to attend a Congregationalist Sunday school, where she learned to read and write. Unlike the Church, Congregationalists emphasized the importance of education for the poor. Equipped with the ability to read, she spent a lot of time reading books on rocks and animals, which she got from some wealthy people who encouraged her quest to learn. She even collected dead creatures from the beach and dissected them on her kitchen table, learning everything she could. Mary taught herself geology, anatomy, paleontology, and scientific illustration. She earned recognition among the educated geologists, who started to come to her for advice.
As time passed, Mary's confidence in her knowledge and skill grew. In 1828, the fierce ocean storms wore down the cliffs enough for Mary to uncover a strange collection of bones. This was no sea creature, it had wings. She had found the first remains of a pterosaur, believed to be the earliest vertebrates known to have powered flight. The first specimen that was complete enough to confirm that, yes, some reptiles could fly. Many were fascinated by this discovery. The next time, Mary found a fossil, experts rushed to argue that it was another flying reptile. Mary, who had dissected a Ray fish, insisted that it was a fish. Four years later, the experts agreed that it was a fish. Mary was among the first to realize that coprolites—fossilized droppings—could offer clues about the diets of ancient creatures, opening up a new avenue of paleontological research. Her friend went on to publish a paper about it, yet again giving her zero credit.
Mary had no time to complain. Unlike her male contemporaries, Mary had to sell her discoveries to survive, and by doing so, she also had to relinquish credit for her work.. For almost two decades, she ran a successful business that supported her and her family. Soon her fossil-rich shores ran dry, and she couldn't afford to travel to other places for research. Her savings slowly depleted, her mother died, and she was diagnosed with breast cancer. People misinterpreted the effects of the medicine she was taking as a drinking problem. Anning’s standing in the geological community became evident in 1846. Upon learning of her cancer diagnosis, the men who so often took credit for her discoveries came through for her in some small ways. They raised money for a small pension that she could live on. When she died at the age of 47, members of the Geological Society contributed to a stained-glass window in Anning's memory, but it was too little, too late.
Mary Anning, whose lifetime was a constellation of firsts, whose discoveries paved the way for understanding fossils and the history of Earth, will go on to be remembered as the princess of paleontology. In 2010 she was recognized by the Royal Society as one of the 10 most influential women scientists in British history.
Written by Parvathy Ramachandran and edited by Janaky S. @ThinkHer
References:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
2. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/
3. https://www.britannica.com/
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
5. https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/the-library/online-exhibitions/Women-and-Geology/Mary-Anning
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