“An as yet undescribed species of Cretaceous frog finds itself in the middle of a three-toed dinosaur footprint. The tiniest clues, including the fragile bones of frogs, ‘gizzard stones’ of crayfish, and even the traces left behind by tiny flukes parasitizing clams, all found their way into the Judith River Formation fossil record.“
Ray Rogers
© Macalester College 2021
This illustration is one of many works resulting from a multi-year collaboration with geologist Raymond Rogers and paleobiologist Kristina Curry Rogers. The series, titled Raising the Dead: Bringing Fossil Ecosystems to Life, aimed to envision ancient environments and long-extinct species with digitally drawn “prehistoric polaroids”.
Kristi, Ray, and Jordan worked through an iterative process to bring these fossil worlds to life. They began with the hard science of published papers and ongoing research, choosing the animals and plants to feature in vignettes, small scenes that capture messages about the lives of the various animals. Once the anatomical details for an animal were in place in a sketch, the group would play with color and skin texture to settle on a ‘look’ – occasionally for juveniles, males, and females, and occasionally for just a single individual, often drawing inspiration from living relatives. Then the scene would come to life, as they considered the time of day, weather, and moment through each season season. The scientific literature along with recent discoveries by Ray and Kristi provided details on vegetation, and on interactions between animals in different scenes.
Dive into these fossil worlds, and use your imaginations to continue to bring them to life for yourselves. What would it have sounded like? What would the water temperature have been? What might it have smelled like? These are the unknowns that infuse the pieces with even more life, and more individuality.
