Mary Anning

3  Reasons Mary Anning was an “unsung hero” of women’s history.

Mary Anning (aka: The Princess of Paleontology) made many contributions to the field of paleontology even when women, at the time, were barred from scientific societies. She succeeded regardless of her gender, low social status, and lack of education and is now being recognized for her achievements as a female scientist (something that has been lacking in the classroom). She is definitely a victim of unsung success, but here are three reasons why she is classified a hero.

Always a fossil huntress, but never a fossil herself. 

1.  She discovered dinosaurs.

            Back in the early 1800s, before eBay and Amazon, if you were a fossil or seashell collector and wanted to buy some interesting “curiosities,” you had only to look in the small seaside town of Lyme Regis. Mary was born into a low income family with an even lower social status. Her father was a poor carpenter with a knack for fossil hunting. Mary’s father, Richard Anning, taught his family basic archeological skills. They spent most of their lives scouring cliffs for ancient artifacts to sell to tourists and collectors for a little extra buck (or shilling rather). When young Mary sold a snake stone to a tourist for half a crown ($2.50) her entrepreneuric endeavors began. She really got the Lyme Regis economy booming when she used fossilized ink contained in belemenite fossils, or thunderstones, to draw pictures of ancient animals.  

            It was this drive for the financial success of her family that led to her greater discoveries. When her brother recounted the spotting of what seemed like a crocodile’s skull, Mary investigated and discovered not only a skull, but also “the bones of an ancient sea creature that must have stretched 17 feet long.” Later the British Museum purchased the fossil and named it ichthyosaurus, meaning “fish lizard.” Years later she made another discovery. This time is was the remains of a creature called Plesiosaurus giganteus.

The Plesiosaurus skeleton

           

2.   She has her own nursery rhyme.

            So it is more of a tongue-twister than a rhyme, but more importantly in 1908 British songwriter Terry Sullivan was so inspired by Anning’s achievements that he immortalized her with these words:

            “She sells seashells on the seashore
            The shells she sells are seashells, I'm sure
            So if she sells seashells on the seashore
            Then I'm sure she sells seashore shells.”

            There are many unsung heroes of women’s history, but Mary is maybe one of the few that actually was sung about.

If you hold it to you ear and listen closely, you can hear money.

3. She was struck by lightning and lived.

            Most of us were learning our first word or beginning to recognize shapes when we were one year old, but that like most things was never enough for Mary. She and her nurse were caught in a storm and took refuge beneath a towering tree, when suddenly a bolt of lightning crashed down, killing the nurse and two others. Mary was revived and lived to be 47, meeting her final fate to breast cancer. 

She came into this world like a literal bolt from the blue.

Works Cited

Clary, Renee M., and James H. Wandersee. “mary Anning: She’s More Than “Seller of Sea Shells At The Seashore..” American Biology Teacher 68.3 (2006): 153-157. Academic Search Premier Web. 3 Mar. 2012. 

“MEETING: Mary Anning At 200.” Geology Today 14.4 (1998): 129. Academic Search Premier.Web.3 Mar. 2012.

“The PRINCESS OF PALEONTOLOGY.” British Heritage 26.2 (2005): 44-59. Academic Search Premier.Web.3 Mar. 2012

Johnathan Crabtree