In all kinds of weather, and across all kinds of terrain, the Florida Museum has excavated fossils from Central Florida’s Bone Valley Formation for the past 60 years. The sites of the formation are among the most prolific in Florida for vertebrate fauna and remain an important resource for our understanding of Floridian fossil history. That said, they are not designed for off-roading.

Crew member posing with a field truck that had become stuck in mud on the road, circa 1980s
Crew member posing with a field truck that had become stuck in mud on the road, circa 1980s

Shown here is a crew member posing with a truck that decided it was time to call it a day. A classic story when it comes to fieldwork, paleontologist William A. Akerston once quipped in a news bulletin, “Axiom: The probability of a field vehicle breakdown increases as the square of the distance from the nearest mechanic divided by the number of vehicles in the party.” The more you need it, the more likely it is to break!

We’re glad this critical piece of our fieldwork history was caught on film.

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Quoting William A. Akerston’s “Coparsh’s Laws of Disunified Field Theory, as applied to Vertebrate Paleontology.” Society of Vertebrate Paleontology News Bulletin. No. 116, June 1979, page 72. This bulletin is contained within archival item S1.NB.11 (Society of Vertebrate Paleontology News Bulletin, 115-120, 1979-80).

Photograph: Vertebrate Paleontology Archives, item S7.3.6.21