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Dig among the Dinosaurs with DinoTours'99Compiled by Richard Pennick
The closest international airport to Dinosaur Provincial Park is Calgary. Calgary is around 200 km west of Dinosaur Park. Participants coming to Dinosaur Provincial Park are responsible for getting to the town Brooks, (about a 2 ½ hour trip). Field staff will provide transportation to and from Brooks and Dinosaur Provincial Park. Greyhound buses run daily from downtown Calgary to Brooks. Background
For more information: If you have further questions about the Field Experience program, please contact Becky Kowalchuk at the: Royal Tyrrell Museum. Box 7500, Drumheller, Alberta. Canada T0J 0Y0 Phone (403) 823-7707 Fax (403) 823-7131 Email: www.rtmp@dns.magtech.ab.ca Or preview all the programs at: www.tyrrellmuseum.com |
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TM
Roll up your sleeves and hunker down in the dust to unearth the
mysteries of an earlier age 75 million years ago - the age of the Dinosaurs!
Join scientists from Alberta’s Tyrrell Dinosaur Museum at Drummheller, for a
week long tour of the various dinosaur beds in the beauty of historic western
Canada - one of the richest fossil regions in the world. Find out what the
scientist believe caused the extinction of these monsters! Do they support the
asteroid theory, supernova radiation or just periodic extinction? Ask them
yourself on Field Experience '99
The seven day tour program allows visitors to observe and take part in
dinosaur digs and participate in an integrated field research program alongside
scientists from the museum. Visitors
will work with a team of scientists who prospect for, collect and prepare
dinosaurs, dinosaur nests, turtles, crocodiles, and other fossils, expanding
their knowledge about the ancient dinosaur and its environments. 
Field Experience '99 runs from June
06 - August 29 1999. Weekly sessions run from Sunday through Sunday, with
Sunday as the arrival/departure day. Participants are required to register for
a minimum of one week, however, priority will be given to those who choose to
stay for two or more weeks. The program costs approx CDN800. This program
includes accommodation, transportation, entrance to all facilities, dig sites,
Provincial and National Parks, guidebook, lectures, and all meals. 
Field Experience '99 takes place at
Dinosaur Provincial Park, 40 kilometres north-east of Brooks, Alberta, as well
as two other important fossil localities in southern Alberta. Participants in
all sites will help to excavate dinosaurs and prospect for new finds. You will
be working in dinosaur bonebeds and quarries where fossil bones are plentiful
and can be uncovered using hammers, chisels, brushes and small dental tools.
You will also have the opportunity to work in the lab preparing recently
collected specimens. Although work in a bonebed or quarry is easier on the feet
than prospecting, it takes patience and attention to detail under a variety of
weather conditions. The program is rigorous and the work can be difficult, but
it is the closest you can get to paleontology without being a paleontologist.
Best of all, there is no need for previous experience, as you will be trained
on site! Accommodation is in traditional field camp trailers with semiprivate rooms,
men’s and women’s bathrooms, and dining room. All meals are provide and
breakfasts and dinners are substantial. 
The world's best fossil beds are in and around the Drumheller badlands
of Alberta! This mysterious terrain has the look of an alien or ancient world,
but is only a few hours drive from Calgary. The elements have eroded the shale
over the millennia revealing remarkable fossils only inches from the surface.
In the spring of 1884, Joseph Tyrrell, leading an expedition for the Geological
Survey of Canada, found these rich dinosaur sites while searching for coal
deposits in the Red Deer River Valley. 
Paleontologists from around the world have made this their Mecca,
eager to claim the finest specimens. In 1985 The Royal Tyrrell Museum and
research centre opened its doors to both scientists and the curious public
alike. This large, modern museum has put the fossils on display, many complete
skeletons have been found intact and are on view. In the dinosaur gallery, there are life-sized, fleshed-out
reconstruction’s of the animals in their natural settings, and you will tour
behind the scenes with research staff to examine the largest collection of
dinosaur fossils in the world.