Paleontology Association of Georgia

05/18/2026

If anyone is interested in South American palaeognathous birds... this is a great resource. Some of the sites referenced in this paper have abundant phorusrhacid species too. Phorusrhacids were discussed during our Gray Fossil Site tour on Saturday. The photo below is of a Grey Tinimou. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264461369_Phylogenetic_interrelationships_of_living_and_extinct_Tinamidae_volant_palaeognathous_birds_from_the_New_World

05/17/2026

PAG had a wonderful quarterly meeting at the Gray Fossil Site in Tennessee yesterday! Thanks to all our members who made the drive up. Thanks to Collections Manager, Matthew Inabinett for a wonderful behind the scenes tour! It was well worth it!

05/13/2026

Happy almost end of the 2025/2026 school year to all teachers and students. PAG has sent out the last of the Georgia Fossil Replica Sets today.

Wow, Griffin, Georgia came in strong. We believe all of Spalding County should be covered!

Thanks to Margaret Halbrook with the Terrell County UGA Extension Service for featuring our replica set in her curriculum class yesterday at Rock Eagle 4-H Center.

We hope you do something dinofabulous this summer. PAG members will be speaking at some libraries across the state as the theme for this year's Summer Reading Program is "Dig Up a Story."
We have agreed to speak or give a program to as many public libraries as we can, but we can't cover them all. So check out your local public libraries for paleontology books (like the one seen below), programming, and information.

Our state does have faculty and staff specializing in paleontology in many of the colleges around the state. These include but aren't limited to: Georgia State University, University of Georgia, Columbus State University, University of North Georgia, Georgia Southern, and Georgia College and State University. We encourage you to reach out to those folks as well.

The following schools and communities can look forward to receiving your replica sets by the end of next week.

Clayton Elementary, Canton
Mason Elementary, Duluth
Anne Street Elementary, Griffin
Jackson Road Elementary, Griffin
Atkinson Elementary, Griffin
Boston Elementary, Woodstock
Mt. Carmel Elementary, Hampton
Hayes Elementary, Kennesaw
Nevils Elementary, Statesboro and
Portal Elementary, Portal

05/06/2026

Folks in South Georgia! You can catch us here next week!

Be sure to put this event on your calendar! We will be digging for sharks teeth and we will have a piece on display that will be representative of the prehistoric whale vertebrae that was found in Crisp County. We will also be honoring many people from Cordele who went on to be "famous".

04/30/2026

Another group of schools and communities can expect their Georgia Fossil Replica Sets to be delivered next week!

You know, if you like PAG and our mission... we do have t-shirts available, adult and kid sizes. It's easy to order one, just go to your Paypal account, search for paleoassocga and send $20 per shirt. Don't forget to update your mailing address and include which size(s) you need. Proceeds help the group to pay for field trips and to hopefully complete an overflow list for the replica sets.

Have a great weekend!

Anderson-Livsey Elementary, Snellville
Futral Road Elementary, Griffin
Lake Oconee Academy, Greensboro
Louisville Academy, Louisville
Orrs Elementary, Griffin
Ball Ground Elementary STEM Academy, Ball Ground
Carmel Elementary, Woodstock
Pelham City Elementary, Pelham
Oakland Meadow School, Lawrenceville
Parsons Elementary, Suwanee
Knight Elementary, Lilburn and
Eastside Elementary, Senoia

04/29/2026

Heyyyy!! You are welcome, Lilburn Elementary!! Thank you for participating in the fun!

The following schools and communities can look forward to receiving your Georgia Fossil Replica Set in the next few days!

Evans Elementary, Evans
Sanders Elementary, Austell
Compton Elementary, Powder Springs
Davis Elementary, Marietta
Welch Elementary, Newnan
Todd-Grant Elementary, Darien and
Folkston Elementary, Folkston

04/02/2026

Our ESS Spring 2026 Seminar Series continues next week, Tuesday, April 7th, with a presentation from one of our very own, CSU Professor of Geology, Dr. David Schwimmer.

"A Full-Body Skeletal Reconstruction of a 9m (30') Giant Crocodilian, and What We Know About the Life of Deinosuchus"

The first complete reconstruction of the eastern species of the Late Cretaceous crocodilian, Deinosuchus, has been mounted in the Tellus Museum in Cartersville, GA. Dr. Schwimmer was involved in the design and data of the reconstruction. It tells a great deal about the morphology and life of the creature. Among other data, it was the largest predator along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America during the late Age of Dinosaurs, and fed on turtles and younger tyrannosaurs. Fun fact about the Deinosuchus was that it was extraordinarily common in what is now the Chattahoochee River Valley, 40km south of Columbus, possibly at the mouth of the river at the time.

ESS seminar presentations are open to the public, so feel free to share this announcement with anyone who might be interested in attending.

When: Tuesday, April 7th, 2026 at 12:30pm
Where: Jordan Hall 213 and Microsoft Teams

For more information on joining our ESS Seminar through Microsoft Teams, please email Dr. Troy Keller: [email protected]

*Free pizza is provided to in-person attendees on a first come, first serve basis.

03/13/2026

Whew! We know it's been a long wait for many of you who have requested Georgia Fossil Replica Sets. As of today we have sent out 215 sets out of the original 311 requests... We're getting there!

With this post we would like to recognize our PAG members who have greatly assisted with this project. Any organization would be in big trouble if it weren't for their members, staff, officers, and/or volunteers. PAG is no different.

Paleoartist, Rick Spears has done much of the heavy lifting with molding and casting sets, ordering materials, packaging, labeling, hand delivering, and much of the artwork in the curriculum package. For example, the picture on this post is a preview of the mini-coloring book included in the curriculum package.

George Ruff and Michael and Gloria Hallen have also made casts and shuttled sets back and forth. Michael is also PAG's current treasurer so he makes sure we stay within the means of the Toomey Foundation's original grant amount.

Ashley Quinn has emailed and communicated with school's requests, mailed sets off, ordered materials, and kept up with the request database. Ashley also compiled and designed the curriculum package.

Anyway! Thanks to all of you and all of PAG members who keep us going! You are all special in your own way!

The following schools and communities can look forward to their fossil replica set arriving next week.

Arnold Mill Elementary, Woodstock
Ivy Creek Elementary, Buford
Bascomb Elementary, Woodstock
Tallapoosa Primary, Tallapoosa
Matt Arthur Elementary, Kathleen
Gwin Oaks Elementary, Lawrenceville
Varner Elementary, Powder Springs
Georgia School for the Deaf, Cave Spring and
Dowell Elementary, Marietta

03/10/2026

Our Georgia Fossil Replica Set comes with a PDF Curriculum Package to help students and teachers connect with Georgia's fossils.

The following elementary schools and communities can look forward to receiving their sets this week.

North Hart Elementary, Bowersville
Sterling Elementary, Brunswick
Golden Isles Elementary, Brunswick
Lyman Hall Elementary, Hinesville
Joseph Martin Elementary, Hinesville
Brandywine Elementary, Alpharetta
Claxton Elementary, Claxton and
Canongate Elementary, Sharpsburg

03/09/2026

Another group of Georgia Fossil Replica Sets are headed out to Georgia elementary schools and communities.

This project would not be possible if it were not for the funding from the Toomey Foundation for the Natural Sciences, Inc. Thank you so much!

The following schools should get their sets this week:

Dr. George Washington Carver Elementary, Richmond Hill
Holly Spring Elementary STEM Academy, Canton
Ferguson Elementary, Duluth
Richmond Hill Primary, Richmond Hill
Arnco-Sargent Elementary, Newnan and
Elm Street Elementary, Newnan.