fossil Journeys

It has been a while since I last did a blog post and a lot has changed since then, so I thought I would give a little a bit of an intro about me, about Fossil Journeys and what I am all about. More importantly what I have been up to and what I hope to accomplish in the future.

About me

So, first of, about me. Hi, my name is Amalia, and I am a recent graduate. I completed my undergraduate in palaeontology (University of Portsmouth) and my master’s in museum studies (University of Leicester) in September 2023. I have since moved back home and trying to work out what’s next…

Let’s go back a bit further, how did I even get into palaeontology?

I was never a dinosaur kid growing up, I just wasn’t fussed by them, however I did enjoy science, geography and being outside. It was not till I was 13 years old that I first discovered fossils (I was just coming out of an astronomy phase), I was out shopping with my mum in the next town along and we wondered into an independent fossil shop/activity centre. It was full of interesting things, and you could get a cup of tea and a cake so of course we went back. After a few visits, I got asked if I wanted to volunteer, as a 13 yr. old with nothing else to do why not. I remember my first day, I was sat down in front of an Oxford Clay piece with belemnites and bivalves and a dental prick to remove some of the clay. I thought this is cool, I like this.

Since that day I have been on many fossil hunts, volunteered in several museums and still sit down in front of a fossil and think it is incredible this thing from millions of years ago has survived and is right in front of me.

How Fossil Journeys was founded

Fossil Journeys was officially founded about July 2022 as a Facebook page, Instagram page and blog. My housemate at university had a blog he inspired me to create my own and helped me start up my first WordPress account. My main aim at this point was just to share my collection and my interest. I had a habit of doing projects in my spare time and I wanted an output, a way of sharing them.

Over the next year I shared photos of fossils and things I had been up to in my spare time or during my master’s, as well as a few blog posts (still available), although not as many as I had planned.

I completed an 8-week placement at Lapworth Museum of Geology as part of my master’s over the summer of 2023. It was towards the end, when thinking about returning home and what’s to come I started thinking what I could do. I knew I wanted to do more with Fossil Journeys, I knew I enjoyed taking my collection out and about.

My new aim became, to share my love for palaeontology and my collection as well as helping museums to share and look after their palaeontology collections.

I successfully ran my first workshop within Rainbows beginning of October 2023 and led a Jurassic Seas themed workshop at my local museum during October half term 2023.

What I have been up to recently

Over the last year I lead public and private events within Cambridgeshire as well as further afield. I have engaged the young people of my hometown from Guide, Scout and Youth Clubs, in the palaeontology of the local area, taught them how to find fossils themselves in gravel, as well as playing games and having fun.  

I have helped small museums share their palaeontology collections through collaborating to run fossil days/events. My most recent was an ice age themed morning, sharing my local museums ice age collection, including mammoth teeth, antlers and hand axes. Along with build and 3D mammoth and add a cave drawing the cave wall.

I have also visited further afield to ThinkTank Science Museum in Birmingham as part of their Women in Science and Meet the Expert events. Which involved answering questions and sharing some of my collection with the some of the museum’s replicas.

I also presented my master’s thesis at the Geological Curators Group annual meeting as a poster.

One of the most exciting events, and a dream come true, was being apart of a mammoth dig over the summer! (a separate blog article coming on that).

What’s Next?

Well to start its to continue what I have been doing, sharing my love for palaeontology with my collection and helping small museums share their collections.

I am working on writing more blog posts and creating more videos as well as improving my website. I want to share more of my collection as well as creating resources to share. I am also working on building up my Etsy store to include more, keep an eye out.

I would like to do some more research and looking into doing a project within my local museum’s palaeontology collection, this might involve conservation and researching the palaeontological collection.

My ultimate dream would be to attend events like the Yorkshire and Lyme Regis Fossil Festival as part of Fossil Journeys one day.