Research and Excavation

The tracks were examined by Robert Grantham (Curator of Geology with the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History), Dr. David Mossman from the Geoscience Department at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, and John Calder and Robert Naylor, geologists with the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources.

The team made detailed measurements of the tracks and trackways and collected loose material from the site. A "map" of the find was created by taking photographs and slides showing the relative locations of the footprints, trackways and fern stems and frond impressions. Due to the fragility of the site and the continuing erosion by the powerful Fundy tides, some of the fossils were not expected to survive the winter. The field team obtained a Nova Scotia Heritage Research Permit to excavate the panel of rock containing the five remarkable trackways before it could be destroyed by the elements.

The excavation was a delicate operation. First, a latex peel was made, producing a lighter weight replica of the panel. Then, the 150-200 individual blocks of sandstone were numbered and their positions mapped onto a larger scale photograph of the site. Finally, the blocks were painstakingly removed from the cliff and transported to the Fundy Geological Museum for storage and reassembly.

The latex peel and initial photographs provided a guide to the re-assembly of the panel.

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