Member of the Month - November 2018- Max-Fossils

[Pagurus]

    

 

 

[abyssunder]

Congratulations, Max !

[Sagebrush Steve]

What?  You mean you haven’t already been named Member of the Month?  I’m surprised!  You should have been named MOTM way back in January!  Congratulations anyway, I look forward to seeing many more of your contributions in the months ahead.

[Dan 1000]

Congrats Max! 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Well done, Max my friend. 

Like Steve I was surprised you didn't already have this award. 

Congratulations, i'm very glad to have met you on this forum.

[Coco]

Hi,

 

Congrats Max ! Really well deserved !

 

 

You are a model of wisdom (on the forum anyway ) for all young people, I like your interventions and discover your beaches. Continue like that, it's cool !

 

Coco

[ricardo]

Well done Max!

[Ludwigia]

Congratulations Max 

[Natalie81]

Congrats Max! 

[Jaimin013]

Congrats @Max-fossils!

[Max-fossils]

@Mike from North Queensland @Pagurus @abyssunder @Sagebrush Steve @DanKurek @Tidgy's Dad @Coco @ricardo @Ludwigia @Natalie81 @Jaimin013

Thank you all so much for the kind comments! 

[Max-fossils]

Alright, so as promised, here is the story of my journey in paleontology thus far...

 

(This first part my parents told me, I don't actually remember it) It all started when I was but a little toddler. We were in the car, my parents, little sister and I, on our way to our holiday house in Provence (south France). Seeing that it's a very long road, we stopped at some point at a gas station to take a break. My parents went inside and bought me a small bag of little dinosaur figures to keep me occupied during the trip. As it turns out, they become my new favorite toys, I didn't let them go all summer long! The first spark for this passion had appeared!

 

Of course, my parents thought that I was just going through the dinosaur phase in my early childhood, like many other little boys. Turns out though it wasn't just a phase, because I am far from growing out of it and keep getting in further. So it was the classic case of the boy that never grew bored of dinosaurs. I'm pretty sure some of you have a very similar story. Seeing that I loved the little toys so much, my parents brought me more dinosaur toys, but also a few children dinosaur books. I also started drawing them a lot too. They were caricatures more than anything, with gigantic teeth and spikes on the back, very stocky bodies, tiny arms and legs, etc. My grandparents later took me to the Natural History Museum of Brussels (I was still living in Belgium at the time; I moved to the Netherlands when I was 6), where for the first time in my life I saw real fossils and dinosaur skeletons from my own eyes. 

 

So for several years I was spending all my free time reading about dinosaurs, drawing them, playing with them, learning about them, etc. I kept receiving more books, with more detailed info in each each time, , and more dinosaur figures. I would often create big "Jurassic Parks" with building blocks and place my dinosaurs inside, but I would always be careful to separate them in the 3 respective ages (Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous). Scientific accuracy was already important to me even in my young age  

 

The turning point for me from dinosaurs to paleontology and fossils happened when I was 9 years old, when my parents took me for my first ever fossil hunting trip: Lyme Regis! There I got the opportunity to meet a paleontologist and go on a trip with him. For the first time I was able to find fossils myself and hold some in my hand; it was really amazing! My first fossils are, as such, the small ammonite imprints and other little Dorset jewels we found that trip; including a nice partial fossil lobster, my first significant fossil find! From that point on I started focusing on paleontology as a whole, and less on dinosaurs specifically. 

 

In the following years, my collection started to grow bit by bit, either by going on more hunts or by receiving/buying fossils. Soon enough I had a nice little collection installed. I didn't really have any preference for anything, any fossil I saw that I didn't have yet seemed interesting to obtain. My collection was becoming very varied, consisting of small bones, a few shark teeth, some shells, echinoids, trilobites, mosasaur things, and more of the classic "starting pieces". One day I realized that the Zandmotor, a big artificial beach with imported sands from the North Sea beds (full of fossils) was very close to my house. First time that I went there, I went with a friend (he enjoyed fossils but didn't have a big passion for them; nonetheless it was nice to have some company) and among the few fossil shells we found we also found a very small piece of bone. It was still an exciting find for us, being the absolute beginners we were!

 

The way I found out about the Zandmotor was when I accidentally stumbled upon the site Fossiel.NET, looking for fossil locations in and around France. I joined the Community part and started sharing a little bit about my finds and asking for ID for some of the stuff in my collection. My Dutch was far from perfect (and still is), so it was very hard for me to understand everything that was going on. One day I came across a post by some (Indonesian, if my memory doesn't fail me?) man that was persuaded he had found a dinosaur embryo. The people convinced him it wasn't that, but he didn't agree. Then @LordTrilobite made a comment along the lines of "There is no point in still trying to convince him, he previously shared the same specimen on The Fossil Forum and got the same answers". As I had never heard of TFF before, I googled it and found myself on here! I made an account and was quickly surrounded by the amazing wealth of information, and kindness, enthusiasm and awesomeness of it! Finding a forum where I could share all my findings and questions with an international audience, in English too, was really exciting to me. So Olof, it is actually thanks to you that I got to this forum; thanks a lot for that!!!  

 

Having found out about the Zandmotor, I then started going there a bit more regularly, because it was nice to be able to go to a location closer to home and easily accessible to me. At first I was mostly focused on finding the more sought-after mammal material, but I did collect shells along the way too. After a few hunts I started growing more and more fond of these shells, and collected them more and more avidly. I wanted to learn more about fossil bivalves, the different species, how to recognize them , etc. I also started to become more and more interested in bivalves worldwide, and developed increasing admiration for them. I also started collecting modern shells more avidly than I did beforehand, as they are useful to compare with and almost as fun to collect. Quickly bivalves became my main focus point in paleontology. 

 

I've recently started getting more and more involved in the professional aspect of paleontology. Last year in June-July, the school required each student of the year to do two weeks of "work experience". Pretty much, you choose a workplace, send an application letter, have an interview, and work there (without getting paid) for 2 weeks. I did my work experience at het Natuurhistorisch Rotterdam. The first week I was busy with Henry vd Es, who taught me everything as to what life is like to maintain a museum collection. The second week it was Bram Langeveld, whom I had met a few times earlier, that gave me the task to organize a huge old collection of fossil shells from the Miste layer (from several locations: Miste, Beeringen, Dingden, and some others). I had to pick all the shells apart, sort them through species, ID them, and store them. It was tough work, but definitely a lot of fun and super interesting! 

Then this summer, in August, I spent another 2 weeks doing volunteer work at the Naturalis in Leiden, where Ronald Pouwer made me organize, sort and ID several old collections of fossil beach shells from several beaches in Zeeland. Super informative, Pouwer taught me a lot on shell ID and other things. I also got to briefly meet Frank Wesselingh and Arie Janssen during the stage, which was great too. 

 

And this pretty much concludes my journey so far: a 16-year old guy, very avid on all things paleontological, especially bivalves, and that is still wishing to continue further, and hopefully make a job out of it soon! 

 

Hopefully this short/long story will let you know a bit more about me and my story till now. 

 

Thank you all so much by the way for making this forum such a wonderful place. I really really enjoy being a part of it, because not only do I learn an incredible amount of stuff about fossils, but I also have a very fun time talking to all of you. So being chosen as MOTM really feels great! Thank you all!!! 

[Ludwigia]

Thanks for the vita, Max. Now I feel I know you even better.

[JohnJ]

49 minutes ago, Max-fossils said:

And this pretty much concludes my journey so far: a 16-year old guy, very avid on all things paleontological, especially bivalves, and that is still wishing to continue further, and hopefully make a job out of it soon! 

 

You are well on your way!  Congratulations, again, Max; and thank you for your continued contributions to TFF.  

[Innocentx]

Thanks for telling this good story of yourself. Your opportunity to work at museum must have been a turning point with all the knowledgeable people you got to meet.

I appreciate having you here and joining in discussions.  Also good to know of your major interest in bivalves as I may need your advice sometime.

Best of luck in all your future endeavors.

Patty

[Auspex]

Max, your innate sense of wonder has led to an intellectual curiosity that is rare these days, and it is wonderful. The Forum is better for your example.

Thank you!

[Max-fossils]

11 minutes ago, Innocentx said:

Thanks for telling this good story of yourself. Your opportunity to work at museum must have been a turning point with all the knowledgeable people you got to meet.

I appreciate having you here and joining in discussions.  Also good to know of your major interest in bivalves as I may need your advice sometime.

Best of luck in all your future endeavors.

Patty

Thanks Patty! 

It definitely was a turning point. 

I am in no means an expert (yet ) when it comes to bivalves, but I'll always be happy to help you in any way possible!

 

16 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

 

You are well on your way!  Congratulations, again, Max; and thank you for your continued contributions to TFF.  

 

4 minutes ago, Auspex said:

Max, your innate sense of wonder has led to an intellectual curiosity that is rare these days, and it is wonderful. The Forum is better for your example.

Thank you!

Thank you both for the nice comments, and making this forum possible!  

 

52 minutes ago, Ludwigia said:

Thanks for the vita, Max. Now I feel I know you even better.

 

[LordTrilobite]

2 hours ago, Max-fossils said:

The way I found out about the Zandmotor was when I accidentally stumbled upon the site Fossiel.NET, looking for fossil locations in and around France. I joined the Community part and started sharing a little bit about my finds and asking for ID for some of the stuff in my collection. My Dutch was far from perfect (and still is), so it was very hard for me to understand everything that was going on. One day I came across a post by some (Indonesian, if my memory doesn't fail me?) man that was persuaded he had found a dinosaur embryo. The people convinced him it wasn't that, but he didn't agree. Then @LordTrilobite made a comment along the lines of "There is no point in still trying to convince him, he previously shared the same specimen on The Fossil Forum and got the same answers". As I had never heard of TFF before, I googled it and found myself on here! I made an account and was quickly surrounded by the amazing wealth of information, and kindness, enthusiasm and awesomeness of it! Finding a forum where I could share all my findings and questions with an international audience, in English too, was really exciting to me. So Olof, it is actually thanks to you that I got to this forum; thanks a lot for that!!!

Hah! You're welcome! You're an asset to both forums. Your Member of the Month award is well deserved.

[Max-fossils]

1 hour ago, LordTrilobite said:

Hah! You're welcome! You're an asset to both forums. Your Member of the Month award is well deserved.

Thank you!

I haven't been on the Community part of Fossiel.NET for a LONG time...

I used to be pretty active but that was before I encountered TFF.

[izak_]

Huge congrats Max!! (sorry i'm late to comment) 

[Max-fossils]

2 minutes ago, Foozil said:

Huge congrats Max!! (sorry i'm late to comment) 

Thanks Izak! No worries about being late, it really doesn't matter  

[Monica]

Hip Hip Hooray for Max!!!  Congrats!!!

[Nimravis]

Congrats Max- well deserved.

[Max-fossils]

21 hours ago, Monica said:

Hip Hip Hooray for Max!!!  Congrats!!!

 

10 hours ago, Nimravis said:

Congrats Max- well deserved.

Thanks both  

[Vieira]

Congratulations Max

 

Thanks for your contributions