{"id":201,"date":"2020-11-20T21:55:40","date_gmt":"2020-11-21T04:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grad.biology.ualberta.ca\/currie\/?page_id=201"},"modified":"2024-12-09T19:46:15","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T02:46:15","slug":"fieldwork","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/grad.biology.ualberta.ca\/currie\/fieldwork\/","title":{"rendered":"Fieldwork"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fossils are the raw data of palaeontology and new discoveries continue to refine our interpretation of ancient ecosystems. The Currie Lab actively undertakes fieldwork to prospect, excavate, and recover new fossils in collaboration with a number of colleagues and institutions across the world. This provides opportunities for research that contributes to long-term lab goals, and improves public awareness and understanding of fossil resources. Current efforts are concentrated on Cretaceous localities in Alberta and Mongolia, but past expeditions include stints on every continent. Selected publications are listed alongside associated fieldwork but more can be found under Publications<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Jump to:<\/p>\n

Dinosaur Provincial Park<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Edmonton<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Student-led fieldwork<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Mongolia<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

All expeditions<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"\"Designed by M. Rhodes (2021).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Alberta<\/h1>\n

<\/a>Dinosaur Provincial Park<\/h2>\n

\"\"Photo by M. Rhodes (2018).<\/span><\/p>\n

The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Dinosaur Provincial Park is world-renowned for its rich fossil deposits and picturesque landscape. The Currie Lab holds regular expeditions to this area to prospect for new finds and continue quarry excavations. Notable highlights include exceptionally well-preserved skulls and skeletons of various dinosaurs.<\/p>\n

One of these specimens is a juvenile skeleton of the ceratopsid Chasmosaurus <\/em>(Currie et al., 2016). Missing only the forelimbs, it clarified several aspects of how anatomy changed throughout growth in these horned dinosaurs\u2014especially pertaining to cranial features\u2014and even included skin impressions. More recently, operating from the University of Alberta Mattheis Research Ranch, a large skull of another ceratopsid, Styracosaurus<\/em>, was discovered that has unexpected morphological variation and asymmetry (Holmes et al., 2020). Beyond refining the diagnostic features of Styracosaurus<\/em> and the related ceratopsid Centrosaurus<\/em>, it offered insight into supposed evolutionary sequences between these two dinosaurs. Yet another remarkable specimen belongs to the dromaeosaurid Saurornitholestes<\/em>, comprising a fully articulated and virtually complete skeleton lacking only the end of the tail (Currie and Evans, 2020). Originally discovered and masterfully prepared by Clive Coy, this specimen preserves clear anatomical details previously unknown from fragmentary or incomplete material. It also shed light on potential behaviours and has implications for palaeoecology and Cretaceous faunal interchanges between Asia and North America.<\/p>\n

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