Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

Yorkshire, Palaeontology and the Yorkshire Museum

Stuart Ogilvy, Yorkshire Museum

Yorkshire and palaeontology are indelibly linked. The history of collecting and research go back to the earliest origins of geology as a science. The vertebrate faunas of Yorkshire are well known for their diversity and the collections of the Yorkshire Museum reflect this rich history. The vertebrate collections in particular have been an important resource, from providing evidence for Buckland’s Reliquiae Diluvianae in 1823 to modern research on the biodynamics of marine reptiles.

A special pre-session lecture with the delegates of the annual Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy, an international conference organised this year by the Hull York Medical School.

 Report

Though aimed at specialists, this lecture had special interest for the Society as its foundation and history are inextricably linked with the history of geological studies. The analysis by William Buckland of what were first thought to be pre-diluvial bones in the Kirkdale Cave in 1821 led to the establishment of the Society and then to the building of a special Yorkshire Museum to house growing collections of geological and other specimens; and of course to the careers of the founding fathers of geology, William Smith and his nephew John Phillips.

The Museum’s collections are of national importance and their conservation and problems of display hold significance for all museum curators of such material. They form an essential research resource in both the history of the subject as a science, as well as the reinterpretation of the biodynamics of ancient creatures. The recent refurbishment allowed more detailed study of, in particular, the fossil remains of huge and heavy reptiles found in Yorkshire. The geological strata of Yorkshire contain a great diversity of vertebrate fauna, including hyena, crocodiles, hippopotamus, elephant, plesiosaurs, and ichthyosaurs; and its coast remains a source of new discoveries.

Carole Smith