The Passionate Collector - George Rae FossilsAn exhibition of fossils collected by
George Rae and bequeathed to the Hunterian Museum
11th September - 20th December 2003 
Swept to their deaths in South Ayrshire The area around Girvan is well known as trilobite hunters’
paradise. Collectors and scientists have been visiting Girvan for
over a century. An early collector, Mrs Elizabeth Gray (1831-1924),
would picnic with her family on Sunday after church and collect fossils only from south facing sides of
hills (the sunny side).
George Rae spent a lot of time collecting from one particular 447 million year old (Ordovician) rock exposure near Girvan called the Lady Burn Starfish Beds. The rocks revealed the remains of animals caught up in submarine slides that had dragged them into the murky depths of an ocean and entombed them in sand and sediment. As a result many of the fossils are complete and particularly well preserved.
He has researched in great detail the animals he has uncovered and has grouped them ecologically. A record of the exact position of each fossil, both vertically and horizontally within the exposed sedimentary rocks, was logged. All this information helps us to understand better the ecological interactions of life in the ancient Iapetus Ocean.
George was first drawn to
these rocks because of his interest in trilobites. His endeavours have resulted
in the discovery of animals new to Science. Some of these are still
to be described as, sadly, George died before he was able to complete
his work. Many of the specimens in his collection are of such great
beauty, or so well prepared, that there is nothing in the older collections
that can compare.
Many of the specimens from
the Lady Burn Starfish Beds are professionally prepared. George
would carefully collect all parts of the fossil, glue them together
again and mark out where the fossil
was before sending it off for preparation.
Measurements are of the fossil not the field of view unless otherwise stated
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