![\"IMG_1055\"](\"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/IMG_1055.jpg\")
<\/a>\u00a0\nThe mounted dinosaur skeletons are satisfyingly predatory: don’t let yourself be swallowed, \u00a0stomped, or spiked!
\n
![\"SONY](\"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/DSC07175.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSome of the fossils remind me a little to vividly that I’m looking at evidence of a world covered in bugs: But other carefully prepared samples evoke a wonderful underwater world: And the highly polished tablets of ammonite and orthoceratoid fossils somehow\u00a0make me think of planets and shooting stars: Or shoals of fish: Back in the workshop, we watch as samples are cleaned using dental equipment to polish away fragments of dirt and sand. Members of staff here have contributed to the relatively recent discovery that trilobites could curve themselves into extravagant shapes–and that they were among the first creatures to develop complex eyes, some of them on stalks. It’s a weird and wonderful world. \u00a0Imagine having time enough to explore all these fossils, and the piles of geodes waiting on the tables out in the back, on the edge of the desert.<\/p>\n Minerals and fossils are big business in Morocco: tourist stops across the country present them for sale. \u00a0The aridity of the landscape works to preserve specimens, I’m told, but I think the broad expanse of land not being used for other purposes plus the availability of labor also contributes to the concentration on fossils. \u00a0Online, … Continue reading Fossils!<\/span>
\n
\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"