Fieldwork
The Beard Lab conducts paleontological fieldwork all over the world. Below are brief synopses of four ongoing field projects. Projects in other parts of the world are also in development.
Wyoming
The state of Wyoming has an exceptionally rich history of paleontological research. The Beard Lab regularly conducts fieldwork to uncover Paleocene and Eocene fossils from the state’s exceptionally rich strata. Current projects aim to determine the affinities of enigmatic taxa and uncover the effects of global climate change on ancient North American ecosystems.
Anatolia
The Beard lab is leading cutting edge research into a unique Eocene island ecosystem in Turkey. Fossils provide essential clues into the ways animals dispersed across Eurasia and Africa and have distinct implications for the effects of Eocene biogeography on mammalian evolution.
Texas
The Black Peaks Formation in Big Bend National Park preserves the only low latitude localities dating to the late Paleocene in North America. Members of the Beard Lab have begun the first efforts to collect fossil mammals from these localities in almost five decades. Discoveries from the Black Peaks Formation help us understand how changes in latitude impacted ancient mammalian communities across North America.
Montana
The Eocene-aged Kishenehn Formation in northern Montana preserves one of the world’s only montane prehistoric ecosystems. Members of the Beard Lab are leading field efforts to collect fossil mammals from the Kishenehn Formation and discover the ways that high-relief environments structured prehistoric diversity.
Not all those who wander are lost.
J. R. R. TOLKIEN
Beard Lab 