She sells seashells on the seashoreThe shells she sells are seashells, I’m sure
So if she sells seashells on the seashore
Then I’m sure she sells seashore shells.
I've missed her birthday by months, but let's talk about Mary Anning, who is thought to have been the inspiration for the poem above.
I first read about her last year, and considering I'm a woman with a (un)healthy interest in paleontology, that's something of a tragedy. I picked up a copy of The Fossil Hunter by Shelley Emling on a lark and was subsequently consumed with anger that I'd never heard of Mary Anning before. I had been obsessed with natural history since childhood - how had all mention of her completely escaped my notice?
In hindsight, it isn't very surprising. Mary Anning was a 19th century fossil hunter and paleontologist who is perhaps most famous for her discovery of several Icthyosaurus skeletons, and the first plesiosaur. Born in 1799 in Lyme Regis to an impoverished family, Mary Anning collected curiosities on the beaches surrounding her home. She had an amazing eye for fossils and took great care to collect them on the dangerous outcrops of Regis, risking life and limb in the pursuit of science.
Unfortunately, if predictably, Mary did not receive the recognition she deserved during her lifetime, and was shunned by the male-dominated scientific community in London. Her part in her own discoveries was left out of the scientific papers publishing her work. While there was a resurgence of interest after her death, she is often forgotten about in the modern public consciousness.
If we're going to talk about paleontology to young kids, then we owe it to them to discuss the women in the field, past and present. It would have done a world of good to me as a young girl to know more about female paleontologists, and female paleontologists deserve to have their work recognized.
I'm hoping the next time I'm back in England I can take a detour to the Lyme Regis Museum, which was built on the site of Mary Anning's home. You should also check out Mary Anning's Revenge, an awesomely named website run by two awesome women working to bring awareness to women's issues in STEM fields.
(an interesting aside - I share my birthday with Mary Anning's death day. Creepy).
