Women of geology: Mary Anning and her marine reptiles

Not nearly as famous as the women of chemistry, like Marie Curie, or of primatology, like Jane Goodall, are the ladies who lifted a tip of the veil of our planet's long natural history. In slabs of rock they saw relics of a distant and misty past, glimpsing into long-gone ages full of creatures that are now extinct. One of those early women in geology was Mary Anning (1799-1847), the fossil hunter from Lyme Regis, Dorset, on the south coast of Britain. Without a Y-chromosome and living in times when evolution, extinction and a vast, ancient fossil world were not yet accepted notions, she faced fierce dogmatic opposition. Like a rock in the surf, she bravely weathered the storms and tides of her time. The crashing waves gave her many blows though. But sometimes, as is the case with Mary Anning, a fractured piece of rock reveals unique treasures that transform the way we see the world.

Text: Kathelijne Bonne.

Mary Anning lived in times when women could not be professional naturalists, much less a poor woman (she'd be a called a paleontologist today). Before the twentieth century, women had no access to universities, academia or scientific pantheons such as the Geological Society of London. From home, as a hobby, or as a helper to a father, husband or brother, women like Mary Anning made their contribution, the value of which was often not realized until after their death.

A passion for nature is instilled at a young age, but it also helps to grow up in a splendid environment with a rich and accessible natural history. Mary Anning had that privilege. She spent her life in the village of Lyme Regis on what is now known as the Jurassic Coast, a stretch of England's south coast where Jurassic rock strata full of fossils are exposed for all to see, in steep cliffs, the western counterparts of the better known white cliffs of Dover. As mainland Europe had become unsafe due to the French wars, wealthier Britons chose their own country to go on holiday. Lyme Regis became a popular holiday destination thanks to the healthy marine breeze and its fossil wealth.

Mary Anning happened to live at a time when fossils were just starting to be appeciated for their true worth, transforming from mere curiosities into science objects indispensable for the advance of biology and geology.  

The marine reptiles of the Jurassic Coast

The entire marine Jurassic of Britain was formed in the Tethys, the vanished global ocean the vestiges of which can be traced all the way from America to the Himalayas. The Early Jurassic 'Blue Lias' Formation is particularly rich in fossils, and a popular spot for paleontologists and fossil lovers alike.

Collecting fossils on those rugged shores is not without its dangers, because bad weather is the best time for searching. Storms and rain cause landslides on the cliffs, slabs of shale and limestone break off and fall into pieces on the beach. Fresh fossils are then exposed, which must be collected quickly before they are shattered by strong waves or washed away by incoming tides.

Mary, who came from a poor family whose eight other children died at very young ages, helped her parents (Richard and Molly Anning) and brother (Joseph) to collect and sell fossils as a side income, a necessity that grew into a full-time occupation. She had acute observation skills and learned to identify, describe and draw fossils and gained some fame as a "fossilist."

In 1811 Mary's brother Joseph Anning discovered the skull of a large sea dragon, an ichthyosaurus, an enigmatic marine predatory reptile. Mary, 11 years old at the time, found the rump and the rest of the skeleton. The animal resembled a large vicious dolphin and probably filled the ecological niche of an apex-predator. A long-necked plesiosaur followed in 1822, and she also found the first pterosaur outside of Germany. The plesiosaur exceeded all imagination. It had a reptile's head, a snake-like neck and peddles like a whale. Could this creature really have existed, scientists in London pondered in disbelief. The Annings, however, were not invited to the top level discussions attended by Georges Cuvier, who first thought the plesiosaur was a fake. But they soon admitted their mistake. 

The discovery and publications of those mighty beasts made evolution and extinction harder to deny, it must have helped Darwin towards forging his (r)evolutionary ideas.

These marine reptiles descended from land reptiles, which had returned to the water during the early Mesozoic, or even before the Permian-Triassic mass extinction. Thus, they went through a similar evolution as whales and dolphins much later on. Shifts from land to sea and vice versa happened several times in prehistory; humans and many other mammals also have traits that indicate they were once adapted to a life in and near water. But before that will be accepted as a part of human evolution, a few more ideological rocks need to be shattered, which can take decades.

In addition to dinosaurs, Mary Anning found thousands of smaller sea creatures such as ammonites, of which there are many species, all subtly different from one another. Going upward across the rock layers, and thus time, the different ammonite species succeeded one another, indicating that species arise, evolve and die out. That idea had already germinated then, but was far from widely accepted. It wasn't until twelve years after Mary's death that Darwin published his Origin of Species (1859), which threw the theory of evolution into the public arena (not forgetting that Alfred Russell Wallace came up with the theory of evolution at the same time as Darwin, but received less credit for it because of his generous personality and lesser need of self-promotion).

A few good men

Scientists who sought Mary's advice and bought fossils from her little store in Lyme Regis published the descriptions without mentioning her, much to her dismay. As often happened, real recognition came only at the end of one's life and after death. Dying sometimes seems necessary to gain recognition and shape the myth.

Mary was never admitted to the Geological Society of London, but when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and got ill, her income decreased. She eventually received a grant for her contributions and to help paying the usual and medical bills. Friend Anna Pinney said:

"The world has misused her ... these men of learning have sucked her brains, and made a great deal by publishing works of which she furnished the contents, while she derived none of the advantages..."

Of course, not all men stole the credit. She received support from a friend, geologist and illustrator Henry de la Beche, who painted one of the first paleo-landscapes based on Mary's finds and expertise. It became very popular and he donated the income from the copies to her. Among her correspondents, buyers and men who asked advice were well-known naturalists, such as Louis Agassiz, Roderich Murchison, Charles Lyell, Adam Sedgwick, and Gideon Mantell. The latter was the discoverer of the iguanodon; a big dino for which my small home country Belgium later received some paleontological allure. We're no giants like the US and China with their tyrannosaurs, but we've got our very own Iguanodon bernissartensis.

Anningasaura lymense

Mary Anning's existence is now forever linked to the community of Lyme Regis, where everything is brimming with paleontological references. Street lanterns have the elegant curl of ammonites, and there is a museum dedicated to Jurassic fauna. A plesiosaur, the Anningasaura lymense was named after Mary in 2012.

But one question will always remain unanswered: Of what magnitude would Mary Anning's influence on paleontology and worldview have been, had the doors that were unlocked to men, also opened to her? Perhaps an equal of Darwin? Or of Jane Goodall? Mary Anning is usually described as a saleswoman, with money on her mind. But it couldn't have been otherwise. Unlike Darwin who was from a rich family, able to follow his passions and in possession of a Y chromosome, Mary could not fully blossom as a woman of science. 

But her efforts did bore fruit, she gifted humanity an unmatched paleontological legacy.

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One small anecdote: Legend has it that when Mary was very young (just over one year old), she was being watched by three women, who were attending a horse event. They stood under a tree. Lighting hit and the three women were killed. Baby Mary survived miraculously. Her health even grew better than ever before. This little anecdote just reminds me of how lightning, while deadly, randomly choosing its victims and utterly destructive, is crucial for life. I wrote about how lightning played a role in providing the earth with elements without which life could not have emerged. 

Read more on the Tethys Ocean that covered large swaths of Britain in Mesosoic times. Or on plate tectonics and how the idea of drifting continents formed, also in the 19th century, and how it took over a century and the deaths of its discoverers to gain public acceptance. Another Tethyan continent is Adria, partly vanished but with its last vestiges in wonderful Puglia (heel of Italy). Michelangelo's David can also be called a 'son' of Tethys. The marble of marine origin he's made of is of Jurassic age. More on the sea and its wonders is in my post the Ocean Planet, one of my favourite pieces. 

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Fun but controversial (just like the ideas of Mary Anning, Darwin, Galileo, Wegener, and others in the past):  

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Sources

Peggy Vincent pvincent@mnhn.fr & Roger B. J. Benson (2012) Anningasaura, a basal plesiosaurian (Reptilia, Plesiosauria) from the Lower Jurassic of Lyme Regis, United Kingdom, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 32:5, 1049-1063, DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2012.686467.

Rhys Charles, 2021, Frozen in Time: Fossils of the United Kingdom and Where to Find Them, Trapeze, 256 p.

Mary-Claire Eylott, Natural History Museum, Mary Anning: the unsung hero of fossil discovery. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/mary-anning-unsung-hero.html.

Wikipdia: Mary Anning, Jurassic Coast, women in geology, Ichtyosaurus, Plesiosaurus, Lyme Regis, enz...

Keywords: women of geology, women in geology, women in science, lyme regis, plesiosaur, ichtyosaur, jurassic coast, jurassic britain, fossil hunter, joseph anning, mary anning

Kathelijne: I am intrigued by how earth, life, air, ocean and societies interact on geological and human timescales.

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