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2001 season results - summary


In 2001, palaeontological excavations in Krasiejów were conducted from June 18 to September 30. All in all, 74 university students took part in the works.




Spring course

On May 18-20, 2001, a field course on "Methods of palaeontological sampling of geological profiles" was held in Nowa Ruda near Wałbrzych, south-western Poland. The programme was prepared by Prof. Jerzy Dzik and the course was organised by mgr Mariusz Lubka (Wrocław University) and dr Błażej Berkowski (Poznań University) and co-ordinated by mgr Tomasz Sulej (Institute of Palaeobiology). Other lecturers included doc. Danuta Zdebska, and Sławomir Florjan (Jagiellonian Univeristy). The course had been conceived as an introduction for students and young researchers participating in palaeontological works in Krasiejów to principles of surveying fossils on geological sites. An issue containing descriptions of introduced geological sites and summaries of classes and seminars had been published for the participants of the course.


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Excavations

The main area of fossils' accumulation was exposed in 2000 throughout works supervised by mgr inż. Janusz Gnyra from Górażdże Cement Co. Primary task of palaeontological excavations in 2001 was an identification of a place most abundant with bones, suitable for a future museum exposition in situ. The works, supervised by Prof. Dzik, were led by assistants: Tomasz Sulej (Institute of Palaeobiology), Mariusz Lubka (Wrocław University) and Dorota Majer (Opole University).

Started in the west part of the site, the works were conducted with help of a group of students (usually about 10 persons at a time, a total of 74 students throughout the entire season). Similarly as in the previous year, one-meter wide and about one-meter deep ditches were dug in the bone-bearing layer. Northern-south orientated trenches perpendicular to the edge of the quarry were led each fourth meter, then connected with an east-west ditch parallel to the edge.

Fossil abundance varied; the more eastwards, the less metoposaur crania. An area 8 m wide and 20 m long was demarcated in a place of the greatest fossil accumulation, bordered with a ditch, and left for a future museum exhibition. Then, the full removal of the bone-bearing layer started outside that area. The works were hindered by heavy rains, so portable cover, enabling work during bad weather, was purchased.

The following months of field works brought about discoveries of various fossils. Among the most spectacular findings were large skulls of capitosaurs, which, in Krasiejów, had been found only in fragments till then. From the scientific point of view the most interesting are single bones of lizard ancestors. Another important discovery is an evidence for presence of dinosaurs in the lower bone-bearing layer. An earlier finding of a sacral vertebra came from a rubble and it was not known if this bone had belonged to the lower or upper level.

June: -Numerous metoposaur skulls and single phytosaur bones were found in the very first ditches. They were left in situ till the demarcation of the exhibition area.

July: - - Cyclotosaur's skull with a mandible, numerous vertebrae, ribs and a few limb bones were uncovered. Shoulder and pelvic girdle bones co-occured with them. It is the first in the world finding of a complete mandible and limb bones of a cyclotosaur, till then known only from other genera of the Capitosauridae. A toothed, 2 cm long jaw bone, probably belonging to a lizard ancestor (Prolacertilia) was found. The area of the museum exhibition was demarcated and bordered with ditches.

August: - The first dinosaur fossils (vertebrae and ischium) on the lower level as well as three small (6-9 mm long) vertebrae probably of a lizard ancestor (Prolacertilia) were found. Furthemore, the first on the lower bed fragment of an aetosaur skull (left frontale) and the first in Krasiejów shoulder girdle bones of a metoposaur preserved in their original position, were uncovered. Extraction of previously found fossils from the ditches around the exhibition area and the ditches' deepening was completed. A portable anti-rain cover was purchased.

September: - .A part of a metoposaur's tail with vertebrae in original position was found. A heavy accumulation of metoposaur bones was extracted. In the lower part of the bone-bearing stratum a sub-layer abundant in plant remains, among them a few fragments of twigs and leaves suitable for species identification, was spotted. Well preserved head of a ganoid fish was found in a concretion. Preparations of the exhibition site were completed.



List of excavated fossils

A total of over 500 identifiable fossils were found throughout the season.

     Flora:

Accumulations of unidentifiable plant debris and wood fragments; a leaf of a gymnospermous plant; a few twig fragments of a coniferous plant (Voltzia).

     Water invertebrates:

A few dozens of freshwater crustaceans - conchostracans. Bivalve shells substituted by ferruginous minerals and numerous moulds.

     Insects:

Coleopteran wing.

     Ganoid fishes:

Three specimens with scales preserved in original position.

     Dipnoan fishes:

Three crushing teeth.

     Labyrinthodontid amphibians:

Most fossils were left in the exhibition area, only specimens found in the surrounding ditches were extracted.

Metoposaurs - Metoposaurus

A few dozens skulls, mandibles, clavicles, interclavicles and limb bones. A few hundreds vertebrae.

Capitosaurs - Capitosaurus

* skulls - 2
* mandibles - 3
* inteclavicles - 2
* vertebrae - over a dozen
* limb bones - a few

     Archosaurid reptiles:

Phytosaurs - Paleorhinus

* limb bones - a few
* ribs - a few
* mandibles - 2 incomplete


Aetosaurs - Stagonolepis

* plates - over a dozen
* isolated teeth
* skull fragment


Rauisuchia - Teratosaurus

* a tooth


Dinosaur ancestor

* vertebrae - 6, three of them joined together
* ischial bone



Preparations and scientific description of fossils


Immediately after the end of the field works the fossils were brought to the Institute of Palaeobiology in Warsaw, where preparation of the specimens began. This work was done by a technician and students from Warsaw University under a supervision of Prof. Jerzy Dzik and Tomasz Sulej. Phytosaur fossils were transported to Wrocław, where Mariusz Lubka, a PhD student, works on them. Some metoposaur skulls, being subjects of MSc theses, were prepared in Opole and Kraków.



Autumn course


On November 24, 2001, a course on "Taxonomical nomenclature in palaeontology" was held in the Institute of Palaeobiology in Warsaw. The course was organised by Prof. Jerzy Dzik and mgr Tomasz Sulej. Other lecturers included mgr Mariusz Lubka (Wrocław University), dr Wojciech Majewski (Institute of Palaeobiology), doc. Danuta Zdebska (Jagiellonian University), dr Maria Ziembińska-Tworzydło (Warsaw University) and dr Michał Złotnik (Warsaw University). The course had been conceived as an introduction for students and young researchers to principles of palaeontological nomenclature employed in identifying or introducing new species and higher-level taxons. An issue containing summaries of lectures had been published. The course was open for all interested in the subject and 21 persons participated.


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List of participants


Kierownik wykopalisk    
Jerzy Dzik Instytut Paleobiologii Polska Akademia Nauk
Zastępca kierownika    
Tomasz Sulej Instytut Paleobiologii Polska Akademia Nauk
Kadra    
Dorota Majer Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet Opolski
Mariusz Lubka Wydział Biologii i Nauk o Ziemi Uniwersytet Wrocławski
Uczestnicy    
Agata Buszka Biotechnologia Akademia Rolnicza w Poznaniu
Małgorzata Kuklińska Archeologia Uniwersytet Łódzki
Ewa Barycka Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet Opolski
Małgorzata Bednarz Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet Jagielloński
Bartłomiej Karczewski Archeologia Uniwersytet Łódzki
Michał Brodacki Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet Warszawski
Joanna Pawlak Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet Warszawski
Wojciech Dzik   Uniwersytet Warszawski
Sylwia Gawlik Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet Opolski
Magdalena Gierszewska Wydział Biotechnologii Uniwersytet Gdański
Olga Osińska Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet Warszawski
Małgorzata Wrona Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet Warszawski
Aleksandra Mużyło Wydział Geografii Uniwersytet Toruński
Halina Jarzyna Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet ¦l±ski
Magdalena Knap Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet Warszawski
Agnieszka Sadowska Wydział Geografii Uniwersytet Warszawski
Jacek Markowicz Wydział Geografii Uniwersytet Warszawski
Agnieszka Błędowska Wydział Archeologii Uniwersytet Łódzki
Kinga Macherzyńska Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet Jagielloński
Krzysztof Ksi±żkiewicz Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet Opolski
Sławomir Sobotka Wydział Geografii Uniwersytet Toruński
Joanna Gibowicz Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet ¦l±ski
Bożena Zapadka Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet ¦l±ski
Patrycja Góralska Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet w Białymstoku
Adam Nawrot Wydział Geografii Uniwersytet im. A.Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
Magdalena Natorff Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet Warszawski
Aleksandra Manios Wydział Geografii Uniwersytet Toruński
Joanna Orzechowska Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet w Białymstoku
Ewelina Mazurek Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet ¦l±ski
Patrycja Borkowska Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet w Białymstoku
Ewa Baraniewicz Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet Wrocławski
Dariusz Wojciechowski Wydział Geologii Politechnika ¦l±ska
Janusz Krzystanek Paleontologia ze stratygrafi± Uniwersytet ¦l±ski
Joanna Pułka Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet ¦l±ski
Daniel Wojtalak Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet ¦l±ski
Emil Zieliński Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet ¦l±ski
Tomasz Stępień Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet Warszawski
Patrycja Czerniak Wydział Geografii Uniwersytet Szczeciński
Aleksandra Stypa Wydział Geologii Politechnika ¦l±ska
Adam Kubicki Wydział Geografii Uniwersytet Szczeciński
Jadwiga Ulczycka Wydział Teologii Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski
Kornelia Staneczko Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet ¦l±ski
Agata Juraszczyk Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet ¦l±ski
Jarosław Szulik Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet ¦l±ski
Wiesława Król Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet Jagielloński
Ryszard Raczykowski Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet ¦l±ski
Bartosz Kotrys Wydział Geografii Morza Uniwerstytet Szczeciński
Krzysztof Flis   Instytut Biochemii i Biofizyki PAN, Warszawa
Katarzyna Olczak   Instytut Biochemii i Biofizyki PAN, Warszawa
Sławomir Głuszek mgr biologii Uniwersytet Łódzki
Małgorzata Kry¶cio Wydział Geografii Morza Uniwerstytet Szczeciński
Przemysław Sztajner Wydział Architektury Politechnika Szczecińska
Tatiana Łuszkowska Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
Marta Komorowska Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
Karolina Koralewska Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
Sylwia Szulc mgr archeologii Uniwersytet Warszawski
Urszula Iwaszczuk mgr archeologii Uniwersytet Warszawski
Anna Domżalska Wydział Ochrony ¦rodowiska SGGW w Warszawie
Paweł Mazurek Wydział Zarządzania WSHiP
Dominika Prochot Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet Opolski
Izabela Grela Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet Opolski
Jan Seidler Wydział Geografii Morza Uniwerstytet Szczeciński
Piotr Dobosz Międzywydziałowe Studium Informatyki i Ekonomiki SGGW
Szymon Skowyrski Wydział Architektury i urbanistyki WSEIZ
Katarzyna Czmielewska Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet Opolski
Dorota Karpińska Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet Warszawski
Barbara Lewandowska Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet Warszawski
Olga Klimaszewska Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet Warszawski
Marcin Filipiak Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet Warszawski
Anna Sowa Wydział Geologii Uniwersytet ¦l±ski
Katarzyna Wawro Medycyna Weterynaryjna, Biologia i Hodowla Zwierz±t Akademia Rolnicza
Aleksandra Sabał Wydział Archeologii Uniwersytet Jagielloński
Krzysztof Żółtański Wydział Biologii Uniwersytet Opolski

Written by Jerzy Dzik & Tomasz Sulej. English translation by Michał Brodacki
(acknowledgements to Anna Kondarewicz for stylistic advice).
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Agnieszka Kapu¶cińska