From Richard Fortey in Spizbergen,in the early 1960's.
Consider this while hitting a piece of rock to find a fossil,
What intervened between the Ordivician around 500 million years ago and now,three ice ages,the deaths of a dozen continents and the birth of a dozen more,earthquakes and earth movements,mountain ranges thrown up and then eroded deep into their roots,the rise of fish and dinasaurs,the dramatic demise of the latter,bombardments of the earthfrom space and all the tangled skein of life winding around the changing terrestrial world like partners in a pas de deux.Chance and the consequences of chance ruled a blow of hammer on a rock ,arranging an assignment with history