The Mystery of Trace Fossils Web Site

The Museum of Natural History and the Virtual Museum of Canada have launched a new Web site that allows visitors to follow a trail of clues that go back 550 million years. The site appears at www.virtualmuseum.ca/English/index_flash.html .

The bilingual Web site offers a view of world-class specimens from the touring Mystery of Trace Fossils exhibit. The exhibit will be featured at the Museum of Natural History beginning in June 2002.

"Trace fossils are moments of time that have been captured forever in the rock record," said Deborah Skilliter, geologist and creator of the Fossil Mystery Web site. "They are a celebration of life."

The fossils that appear on the Mystery of Trace Fossils site include the world's smallest dinosaur footprints, evidence of the seaside flirtation of two ancient crabs and burrows.

"The Mystery of Trace Fossils Web site is a significant accomplishment," said David Newlands, executive director of the Nova Scotia Museum. "Few Internet sites deal with trace fossils; fewer offer Canadian content. Eastern Canada is blessed with an extraordinarily rich and diverse paleontological history, and it gives me great pleasure to share this treasure with the world."

The site is fun and, at times, irreverent. There is a Scientific BooBoos page and instructions for children to make their own fossils.

The Department of Canadian Heritage has invested financially in the creation of the Web site for the Virtual Museum of Canada. The Mystery of Trace Fossils site can be accessed through the Virtual Museum of Canada's site.