Image: Mary Anning, pictured pointing at a fossil on the ground
next to her dog, Tray - Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons
Say “She Sells Seashells By The Seashore” quickly, three times in a row.
Now, try the more historically accurate version: Mary Anning peddles dinosaur parts on the Jurassic Coast as one of the world’s first, unheralded fossil hunters.
Born in 1799, Anning ran a fossil stand on England’s Dorset Beach, also known as Jurassic Coast, according to atlasobscura.com, and it’s often said that she was the real-life inspiration behind the famous tongue twister. At age 12, she dug up a 200 million year-old marine reptile—the first complete ichthyosaurus skeleton to be acknowledged by the Geological Society in London. Over the following years, Anning continued to discover some of the first dinosaur fossils unearthed in Great Britain, as well as helped to clarify that coprolites, known as bezoar stones at the time, were actually fossilized poop. It was only a matter of time before Anning became what some call “the greatest fossilist the world ever knew.” And did we mention she was struck by lightning as an infant?
Growing up in Lyme Regis, England, on the southern shores of Great Britain, Anning had great access to the sea. Her father, Richard, was a cabinetmaker and avid fossil collector, and he showed Mary and her brother how to wade below the cliffs at low tide to search for fossil specimens. He also taught his kids the fundamentals of fossil collection and identification, skills that became crucial when he died in 1810, leaving his family dependent on charity—and fossil sales—to survive.
next to her dog, Tray - Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons
Say “She Sells Seashells By The Seashore” quickly, three times in a row.
Now, try the more historically accurate version: Mary Anning peddles dinosaur parts on the Jurassic Coast as one of the world’s first, unheralded fossil hunters.
Born in 1799, Anning ran a fossil stand on England’s Dorset Beach, also known as Jurassic Coast, according to atlasobscura.com, and it’s often said that she was the real-life inspiration behind the famous tongue twister. At age 12, she dug up a 200 million year-old marine reptile—the first complete ichthyosaurus skeleton to be acknowledged by the Geological Society in London. Over the following years, Anning continued to discover some of the first dinosaur fossils unearthed in Great Britain, as well as helped to clarify that coprolites, known as bezoar stones at the time, were actually fossilized poop. It was only a matter of time before Anning became what some call “the greatest fossilist the world ever knew.” And did we mention she was struck by lightning as an infant?
Growing up in Lyme Regis, England, on the southern shores of Great Britain, Anning had great access to the sea. Her father, Richard, was a cabinetmaker and avid fossil collector, and he showed Mary and her brother how to wade below the cliffs at low tide to search for fossil specimens. He also taught his kids the fundamentals of fossil collection and identification, skills that became crucial when he died in 1810, leaving his family dependent on charity—and fossil sales—to survive.