fossils

One of New Zealand’s iconic moa species was almost wiped out during the last ice age according to recently published research. DNA from ancient eastern moa...

Scientists have a variety of methods to use when they try to date a rock or a rock layer. Scientists choose the method that best suits...

This Connected article explains how an ancient lake, Foulden Maar was formed by a volcanic eruption 23 million years ago and is very fossil rich. In...

This Connected article by Sophie Fern covers the discovery of Squawkzilla – a giant parrot that lived in New Zealand 19 million years ago. Two leg...

By comparing some features of fossilised plants with the same features of plants living today, scientists hope to be able to learn more about the effect...

Meet geologists James Goff and Scott Nichol as they investigate how ocean pebbles ended up on clifftops in Northland. What was it that caused the sudden...

The first human to ever visit the Ross Sea might have been Ui-te-Rangiora, who travelled there from Rarotonga in the 7th century. The first New Zealander...

An inquiry approach is a method often used in science education. The question bank provides an initial list of questions about measuring the age of rocks...

In this activity, students use different pieces of a jigsaw to work through a process of observation, discussion, collaboration and deduction to determine what the picture...

Tributes came in from around the world when Joan Wiffen died in 2009. Alongside colleague Ralph Molnar, Joan identified and published on the first dinosaur fossils...

Athol Rafter was a pioneer of radiocarbon dating – the Rafter Radiocarbon Laboratory at GNS Sciences, Lower Hutt, is named after him. Rafter played a part...

A team of fossil hunters has discovered that one of the largest known dinosaurs, a titanosaurid, almost certainly roamed New Zealand about 80 million years ago....

Dinosaur footprints, thought to be about 70 million years old, have been discovered by a geologist working in the north-west Nelson region. The discovery of the...

New Zealand scientists are using fossilised moa poo (coprolites) to study the diets and habitats of the large flightless native birds, which became extinct around 500...

Go back in time 50 million years, and Earth looked incredibly different. Crocodiles lived near the North Pole, and the Antarctic coast looked more like our...

Museums worldwide hold large collections of preserved specimens of living things. In well preserved specimens, the cell nucleus contains DNA that scientists can extract and use...

Associate Professor Fiona Petchey is using carbon-14 (C-14) to date artefacts of historical importance excavated from the Wairau Bar archaeological site in Blenheim. However, pre-1950 samples...

Old rat bones provided scientists from Landcare Research and Oxford University with clues about human settlement in New Zealand. The scientists used radiocarbon dating to work...

This timeline provides a look at some of the historical aspects in finding out the age of the Earth. Find about more the developments in how...

Learn how geologists find out the ages of rocks and fossils to help explain how New Zealand’s structure – and the life it supports – has...

In this activity, students date fossils from one site by matching them to fossils already dated somewhere else. They use real data from Mangahouanga, made famous...

Position: Paleoclimate scientist, GNS Science. Field: Paleoecology. Dr Marcus Vandergoes is a paleoecologist at GNS Science. That means that he uses the ancient remains of plants...

Position: Formerly Principal Scientist, GNS Science. Currently Professor, School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington. Field: Paleontology. Professor James Crampton is fascinated...

Position: Emeritus Scientist, GNS Science. Field: Paleontology. Dr Alan Beu has spent most of his life working with fossils. He has collected shell fossils throughout New...