Miedary, Poland

In 2015 and 2016, in Miedary near Tarnowskie Góry, the Institute of Paleobiology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, together with the Faculty of Biology of the University of Warsaw, conducted month-long paleontological excavations. They were attended by students from all over Poland divided into two-week periods. During the excavations, students and staff searched the rocks of the Middle Triassic (240 million years ago) hoping to find terrestrial and marine fossils.

This is because the Czerwonka pit exposes layers of shell limestone, in which fish teeth, clams and bones of marine reptiles such as notosaurs can be found. A few meters lower in the profile is the main bone-bearing layer discovered only in 2013. It is in it that the greatest accumulation of bones is found. Remains of amphibians such as mastodonosaurs and plagiosaurs have been excavated from it, as well as reptiles of the genus Tanystrophus, Notosaurus and new ones not yet marked.

During the excavations, the students live in a common room rented from the municipality, work for about 7 hours and spend the rest of their time on student life. The excavations were partially funded by the NCN grant "Początki ssaków w zapisie kopalnym z nowych stanowisk paleontologicznych" (UMO-2012/07/B/NZ8/02707) and the grant "Zmierzch ery gadów ssakokształtnych" (UMO-2017/27/B/NZ8/01543).

Group photo of excavation participants