Foot Soldiers of Paleontology

Director: Kim Mavromatis
Country: Australia
Duration: 52’ and 90’
Shooting Gauge: XDCam 1920x1080 50i
Producers: Kim Mavromatis and Carlos Alperin

Since the first dinosaur fossil discovery, the world has been fascinated with Dinosaurs. 95% of all new fossil discoveries are made by the fossil foot soldiers of paleontology. Call them dinosaur hunters, fossil collectors or amateur paleos - they are the modern day Indiana Jones's of the paleontology world. Adventure seekers, obsessed with fossils.

This film is about 3 of Australia's most prolific fossil foot soldiers - Fossil Collectors Tom and Sharon Hurley, and Dinosaur Expert Dick Suter. You haven't heard of these people before because fossil foot soldiers have little voice in the paleontology world - they do the hard yards, while scientists get most of the glory.

After record rains and floods, the centre of Australia is transformed into a savannah grassland. We have already shot Tom, Sharon and Dick excavating 9 fossils that are 100 million years old. Two are exceptional specimens, an ichthyosaur and plesiosaur, which Tom describes as probably the third most complete plesiosaur fossil found in Australia (they believe they discovered the 1st and 2nd most complete plesiosaur fossil - on a previous dig). That takes their tally to 170 ichthyosaurs, 47 plesiosaurs, 170 turtles, 350 plus fish, 2 flying pterosaurs and 3 dinosaurs. Fossil foot soldiers are the unsung heroes of paleontology - and in this film they share their secrets, knowledge and lifelong fascination with fossils.