Just Finished Reading: Jurassic Mary – Mary Anning and the Primeval Monsters by Patricia Pierce (FP: 2006) [196pp] 

For some at least, fossils were a problem. For others, like Mary Anning, they were both a source of wonder and speculation and a much need way to earn some money. Born in the coastal village of Lyme Regis in 1799 she was forced, after her father died, to turn her ‘hobby’ of fossil hunting into a full-time profession to help feed her mother and brother. Luckily for her, and for posterity, she was very good at her job with a keen eye for the unusual and exotic. Whilst fossilised sea shells and small ammonites could bring in a few pennies her larger finds changed hands for the equivalent of hundreds or even thousands of Pounds in today’s money. Whilst such finds kept a roof over their heads and food on her table, what they didn’t do was bring her anything like the reputation and recognition she deserved. Although the great geologists and paleontologists of the day presented her finds at scientific meetings, the name of the finder was rarely mentioned. After all, not only was she an uneducated woman she was also ‘in trade’ and had merely sold her skill to her ‘betters’ - so why would they mention her in polite and educated circles? 

But the ‘problem’ of who procured the fossils was the least of their problems. The biggest problem, for the great and the good in the new disciplines of Geology and Paleontology, was explaining them. Most people recognised the fact that the finds were of creatures previously unknown to mankind. Most even recognised the fact that these creatures had not been seen before because they were extinct but this caused a larger problem and more questions. It was still, largely, believed at the time that the Bible correctly set out the origins of life on Earth and that, it followed, God’s special creation resulted in all species of animal in their fixed and eternal forms. But here was seeming evidence of species extinction. So why would God create a species only to extinguish it later? Then there was the problem of the age of the fossils. It was generally agreed that the Earth was created less than ten thousand years previously. But the fossils discovered so far appeared to be from a much earlier age. Not only before Man but, impossibly, before the existence of Earth itself. If they could not be dismissed as fakes and could not be identified as casualties of the Biblical Flood then the inescapable conclusion, disturbing as it was, was that the Earth was MUCH older than the Bible seemed to indicate. If that was true, then what else had we been wrong about for so long? Where would such questions lead and should they be allowed to lead there? 

Fortunately for Mary, a devout non-Conformist, such conundrums were rarely asked of her. She found her fossils, identified them, often reasoned her way to placing them in biological context with their living ancestors and, very occasionally, published her considered musings (though not, of course, in recognised Scientific journals!). With her findings over decades of beachcombing, Mary presented the world with some of the first irrefutable evidence of Evolution. Later used by Darwin and others to revolutionary effect it changed forever our perception of our place in the world. Told with a passion for the subject and a desire to ensure that Mary herself is not forgotten, this is an excellent insight into both the importance of her discoveries and Mary herself. Definitely recommended.