FOSSILS AND CLAY
The Western Science Center. Photos by Brody Salazar.
By Brody Salazar @Brody_Salazar
F
rom rolling clay to gluing fossils back together, Arturo Fuerte and Kimberly Ibarra, the interns of the Western Science Center, have a variety of tasks to perform. Fuerte and Ibarra often alternate between the two tasks, depending on how busy the museum is. Much of what the interns do often involves what they describe as “floor work,” a daily activity for them. Floor work refers to work done in the museum and often requires rolling clay, speaking to guests and helping children find casts of fossils that are buried in small pits of sand. Although Ibarra is not fond of the time spent there, Fuerte claims he views the floor work as “putting in your dues.” He claims to “understand” floor work
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must be done in order for them to do lab work. “They’re a nonprofit,” says Fuerte, “and not as many people are interested in working on the floor… It would be a lot better working in the lab, but like I said, I understand.” When the interns are not busy with floor work, they spend their time in the lab going through the process of piecing together fossils. They receive fossils that are numbered based on the number of fossils there are. The interns do paperwork before, during and after piecing them back together. They must then clean them as best they can while remaining gentle, often using a brush and water for dirt that is close to the fossil.
