History of the Paleontological Expeditions to Ischigualasto
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Ischigualasto is one of the most complete, documented collections of
Triassic rocks in the Southern Hemisphere, and possibly in the world. In
these rocks, scientists have found the fossil remains of vertebrates,
which provide the only information about the origin of important groups of
animals, such as dinosaurs, crocodiles, and reptiles among others. The
first paleontological expeditions to this region took place towards the
end of the decade of the 1950’s.
These expeditions were integrated by paleontologists from Harvard
University and La Plata University.
Later, during the 1960’s, Tucumán University continued the studies and
extraction of fossils, which were stored among the collections of Miguel
Lillo Institute in the city of San Miguel, Tucumán.
During the decade of the
1970’s, the San Juan National University initiated its first expeditions
for collection. The specimens were deposited in a depository within the
Province of San Juan in what was the recently-created Museum of Natural
Sciences of the San Juan National University. Since then and until the end
of the 1980’s decade, the explorations and extraction of fossils from
Ischigualasto were sporadic and disorganized.
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EXPEDITIONS FINANCED
BY EARTHWATCH FOUNDATION VOLUNTEERS
In 1995, we initiated our project known as
“Triassic Park”, focusing our study on the paleontological deposit of
Ischigualasto.
This annual project is funded through the “Earthwatch Foundation”.
Though it may seem hard to believe that after nearly ten years of work and
hundreds of volunteers, everything began quite coincidentally in May of
1992. We, being Ricardo Martinez y Oscar Alcober, traveled to U.S.A. to
study fossils collected in Ischigualasto during the 1988 & 1991
expeditions in the University of Chicago.(It may be necessary to explain
that in the past, our Museum was ill-equipped to clean and preserve these
specimens in our rather poor laboratory.) On this trip, during a visit to
his colleague Michael Parrish at the University of Northern Illinois,
Alcober made his first contact with the work of the “Earthwatch Foundation”
curiously by coincidence.
On a typical working day, Alcober found himself taking a stroll through
the halls of the Natural Science Department when he noticed an unusual
sight, an American professor drinking yerba mate. Naturally, unable to
contain his curiosty, Alcober inquired if he were Argentine, knowing that
this custom is popular in South America. The professor turned out to be an
American ornithologist, who had studied in Paraguay many years, where he
acquired the custom of drinking yerba mate. After a brief conservation,
this professor commented that this project was financed by a foundation
known as“Earthwatch “ and he personally was more than satisfied by the
years of support his investigation received.
Naturally, Alcober immediately thought this could be the ideal way to
finance our research project in Ischigualasto.
It wasn’t until the following year when together with Dr. Sill, we
presented our humble proposal to the foundation. Our project was accepted
and inaugurated in the fall of 1994.
Since the beginning of our project, we have carried out seven campaigns,
involving over 120 volunteer participants, primarily coming from U.S.A.,
although we’ve received volunteers from Japan, Great Britain, Belgium,
Spain, Germany and Australia.
Many of these have participated in more than one campaign becoming true
veterans who have not only contributed scientifically but also personally,
establishing strong friendships.
Throughout the development of these campaigns we have rescued over three
hundred fossil specimens. Among those specimens, we include new forms and
exceptional material, which have become part of the Triassic
paleovertabrate collection of the Institute of the Natural Science Museum
of the National University of San Juan., elevating our collection to the
status of the largest and most important in the world.
To participle in the 2003 Campaign,
click here
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