Fossils are one of the best ways we have to help us recreate how our planet looked in the past. They can tell us if our landscape used to be an ocean or a river floodplain, a tidal flat or a swamp. This interactive presentation will use a large collection of plant and animal fossils and the audience’s own ideas to help us understand how fossils can help us learn about our past. After the discussion, people will be able to handle the fossils and see how amazing they are up close!

Christa Sadler is a paleontologist and educator from Flagstaff, Arizona. She is the author of Dawn of the Dinosaurs, about the beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs in the American Southwest, and Where Dinosaurs Roamed, about the extraordinary fossils of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. She thinks there is nothing more amazing than seeing creatures and plants that used to live millions of years ago.