The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Youngsters create, find fossils
Although no dinosaur bones or footprints were found on the shores of the Vermilion River, youngsters and their relatives still found ancient life hidden in fossils Aug. 17 during the Kid’s Fossil Fun Day.
The event was held for the first time in the Carriage Barn at Vermilion River Reservation, 51211 North Ridge Road, and hit its 30-person preregistration capacity.
Emily Dunegan, the event’s supervisor, said dinosaurs always prove to be popular with young people.
“I think that kids just love fossils and to experience dinosaurs and animals that they’ve never seen before,” Dunegan said.
She first gave a crash course on fossils and showed examples of fossils found around the state, including trilobites and shells.
Since Ohio’s region previously was an ocean hundreds of millions of years ago, ancient fossils found in the state are predominantly marine life, Dunegan said.
“Lots of the fossils that we find in Ohio, you can find by the Vermilion River,” she said.
Other samples of fossils also were shown around the room, including wood, plant and the pseudo-fossil turtle rock, which is a 350 million-year-old natural rock formation.
One of the few places in the world that the rock can be found is at Vermilion River.
Children then pressed trilobites, shells and other organisms to clay to create their own fossils to take home with them.
Robby Camp, 6, of Lorain, said the T-Rex fossil he was making was “one that was very special,” since “nobody ever found the bones for tens of thousands of years.”
Fossil enthusiast Gabby Keller, 10, of Sandusky, created a presentation about fossils for school last year, and searches for fossils when on vacation at the beach.
Gabby used trilobites for her fossils.
“I really like fossils and dinosaurs,” she said. “When (my step-mom) sent me the picture, I was really interested.”
The youngsters then were led to the river where they were equipped with shovels to find real fossils.
“I wanna find a really, really big dinosaur bone,” Robby said, who dug up two slate rocks.
Although the reservation’s wildlife usually is left where it is found, Dunegan said that those that found turtle rocks could take one home.
Dunegan’s nephew Max Nackowicz, 5 ,of Harrisburg found one of 12 turtle rocks that were discovered in total.