Pioneers of Paleontology

Pioneers of Paleontology. Petrified Forest. , In the summer of 1921, heiress and explorer Annie Montague Alexander and her research partner Louise Kellogg set off into the badlands in front of you. Intrigued by fossils discovered by John Muir fifteen years earlier, Annie and Louise unearthed numerous specimens including phytosaurs and metoposaurs. The work of these women pioneered the science of vertebrate paleontology in Petrified Forest National Park. They were assisted by Dr. Charles Camp from the University of California's Museum of Paleontology, a museum that was founded by Alexander in 1921. Camp went on to work in the area for nearly a decade. , Since that time, research teams from organizations such as the American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution have worked in the Blue Forest collecting fossil vertebrates. Annie Alexander's legacy lives on through the work of scientists who continue to make discoveries here about life in the Late Triassic. , [Captions:] , Charles L. Camp exploring the petrified wood deposits in 1923., Alexander and Kellogg's campsite in the Blue Forest in 1921 (above); Skull of a reptile found by Camp (left) and the skull of an amphibian (above )., Annie Alexander exploring badlands in 1921 in what is now Petrified Forest National Park.