The 69th Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology has come to an end. Presentations are now finished. The days were spent attending talks; most of which were at the University of Bristol Wills Memorial Hall, and the afternoons were spent at the University of Bristol Victoria Rooms.

On Friday, I, along with two of my co-authors presented on late Cretaceous lizard skull bones that we collected in Montana. We think it may be a previously undescribed species.

On Saturday, Josh presented on the Hanksville-Burpee Quarry, which is our late Jurassic bonebed from Utah. You can read about our summer adventures out there in our previous blog entries. Both presentations were well-received and there was a lot of interest from our colleagues.

Once all the presentations were done, we did a lot of networking. The Burpee Museum has many potential projects in the works with many well known paleontologists. Some of these projects may be presented at the 70th Annual Meeting of SVP in 2010, which will be in Pittsburgh, PA.
All and all it was a very successful conference, and the Burpee has been “introduced” to the U.K. and European scientific communities. I know I’m already looking forward to next year! …of course, Josh and I still have more time in the UK to enjoy before heading home. Just because SVP has ended doesn’t mean our trip has!

After everything was wrapped up for SVP, Josh and I spent Sunday visiting more of Bristol and the town of Bath.
We visited the St. Mary’s Redcliff Cathedral, which has been a place of worship for about 800 years. We also walked the Christmas Steps, a street which was built in the mid 1600′s. Another highlight of the day was the Foster House. It was built in 1483, and later belonged to a physician to Henry VIII!

Dr. Matt Bonnan and Josh at Christmas Steps.

At the end of the day we took the train to the town of Bath. Bath has a lot of history as well. It was given city status in 1590, and is known for its antiquity. Located near the center is the Roman Bath house. It was constructed around 50-60 AD!
Next to the bathhouse is the Bath Abbey. This cathedral was originally built in 973, and was where Edgar was crowned King of England. Over the centuries it has been nearly destroyed, caught on fire, and rebuilt by the late 1400′s. Bath is another amazing English town where the past comes alive.

Bath Abbey

Tomorrow we travel to Stonehenge! Josh and I are really looking forward to seeing one of the Seven Greatest Wonders of the Medieval World.

Cheers,
Scott

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