Mary Anning.

1799-1847

Mary Anning was a famous fossil finder (also known as an archaeologist) as she searched high and low for fossils.

Childhood.

Mary Anning was born in Lyme Regis, in Dorset, England, where she lived for her whole life. Mary's father was a furniture maker and fossil collector, who took his children fossil hunting along the shore. He died when Mary was 11, leaving his family with no money. But they still didn’t stop. Mary and her brother (Joseph) carried on selling the fossils they collected (which where, back then, called curiosities).

The Find.

When Mary’s father died, they were heart broken, but they still didn’t give up. In 1810 (when Mary was about 12) Mary and her brother found their 1^st major find:

After that Mary was thrilled for what to come next. But in the books that the science men wrote, didn’t mention Mary at all. In those days’ women didn’t have a lot of rights to do things, so they basically forgot about her. But after a few years women’s rights got better and they here able to do more things. So, they added her to their books and now she’s known for fining one of the first major fossils.

Later Life.

Mary had stopped collecting fossils (as they were called now) when she became too ill to do things. She sadly died in 1847 when she was 47. Her finds changed the way we looked at animals and nature. She was the fossil hunter who never gave up.

Some facts about Mary.

1. Mary was one of 9 or 10 children but sadly only Mary and her brother Joseph made it to adulthood.
2. Mary surprisingly got her name from one of her sisters that had earlier on died in a house fire.

Glossary.

Fossil- A fossil is a remain of an animal that lived millions of years ago. They can come as skeletons bones or just an imprint of the animal in a rock, or bolder.