October | 2023 | University of Washington Press Blog

In the newly released Spirit Whales and Sloth Tales: Fossils of Washington State, published in partnership with the Burke Museum, renowned paleontologist Elizabeth A. Nesbitt teams up with award-winning author David B. Williams to offer a fascinating, richly illustrated tour through more than a half billion years of natural history. Ahead of their book launch at the Burke Museum on November 8, the authors share what inspired them to write the book, as well as a few fossil stories.

Washington State regularly makes the news for its geology. The eruption of Mount St. Helens, the Oso landslide, the Nisqually earthquake. We are also well-known for our mountains—the Olympics and Cascades—as well as the Missoula floods, arguably some of the greatest, most dynamic events in the planet’s 4.8 billion years of history.

We are far less famous for our fossils, and yet no matter where you wander in Washington, you are never very far from the past and the evidence of the plants and animals that came before us. You can find trilobites near the Idaho border, primitive horses on the Columbia Plateau, exquisite flowers in Republic, giant bird tracks near Bellingham, and curious bear-like beasts on the Olympic Peninsula. With abundant and well-exposed rock layers, Washington has fossils dating from ice age mammals only 12,000 years old back to marine invertebrates more than 500 million years old.

Despite the wealth of fossils, no one has ever written a guide to the state’s past life; the only exception is a small pamphlet produced in the 1960s. Certainly there were and are many paleontologists finding fossils and describing them but nearly all of the information appeared in scientific papers or, rarely, in a newspaper. In Spirit Whales and Sloth Tales, we bring years of knowledge and a deep passion for fossils to share the stories of life in Washington’s past.

At the heart of the book are twenty-four profiles. Organized chronologically with the youngest profile first, they allow the reader to dig deeper, unearthing stories, strata by strata. Each profile focuses on a specific plant, animal, or environment, often weaving in human history and geology, and always with a goal of fleshing out details necessary for a better understanding that will help make the fossils come to life. Ultimately, our goal is for you to come away with a more thorough appreciation of the state’s spectacular paleontology and geology.

We also highlight the stories of those who found the fossils. Many were discovered by paleontologists, but numerous fossils have been found by nonprofessionals, people who were simply observant and paying attention to the natural world around them. For example, Bette Willison, a schoolteacher in Clallam County, unearthed a partial skull with the roots of several teeth, that researchers determined was a carnivore new to science; in the Seattle area, many Ice Age mammal fossils have been found in the excavation for construction projects.

One of the exciting aspects of writing about paleontology is that the field is in a golden age. In particular, a diverse array of scientists are taking advantage of new technologies, such as DNA analysis, geochemistry, data modeling, X-ray computerized tomography (CT scans), and 3-D scanning and printing. This has allowed paleontologists to focus on understanding the plant’s or animal’s place in an ecosystem and how they related to other species they lived with and with other species past and present. In essence, their work helps visualize the extinct plants or animals as they were during their lives.

But paleontology is not simply about the study of the past. Researchers also have their eyes on the present and how they can help inform the issues of the future, including extinction and climate change. It is truly an exciting time to be a paleontologist and to share with the public the stories that fossils tell, particularly the stories of our state.

With more than a half billion years of history, Washington State has an enviable diversity of fossils. Each is unique. Each is interesting. Each tells a story of natural and human history. You don’t have to travel to exotic locations to find exciting fossils and do exciting science. It’s all right here.

A Million-Year-Old Migration – Oncorhynchus nerka

In August 2000, while fishing along the banks of the Skokomish River in Mason County, Jeff Heinis and Summer Burdick found a dead salmon. It had died about a million years earlier. Based on chemical analyses of the bones, pollen studies, and the abundance of other nearby fossilized salmon—full bodies and skulls, now housed at the Burke Museum—the salmon appears to have been trapped by an ice dam during its spawning migration. Based on the sedimentary evidence, salmon spawned in this river for about seventy years, leaving behind a legacy of a life history that continues to this day.

Cast of a complete sockeye salmon, *Oncorhynchu nerka*, made as a composite 28 inches (70 cm) long of four specimens of the salmon skeletons collected from the Ice Age lake beds near Shelton. The hooked jaw of the salmon and the abraded tail indicate that the fish were spawning in the lake. Individual bones and scales can be seen. Photo by Michael Rich.

Stonerose – Florissantia quilchenesis

Venture up to the Okanagan Highlands, in north-central Washington and adjacent British Columbia, and you can find leaves, fruit, and insects from plants and animals that lived 50 million years ago. They are some of the state’s most beautiful and exquisite fossils. At the time, this area was a high-elevation region dotted with active volcanoes, lakes, and forests of conifer and deciduous trees and shrubs. The stunning preservation occurs because volcanic rocks and ash accumulated in the lakes trapping layer upon layer of plants, fish, and insects, some so detailed that they look as if the animal or plant had only recently died.

This fossil flower, *Florissantia quilchenensis*, the size of a nickel, is an extinct member of the extensive Malvaceae family of plants that also includes hollyhocks, hibiscus, okra, and cotton. Paleobotanists propose that the flowers hung down from the stalk and were pollinated by insects or birds. Photo by Michael Rich.

Spirit Whales – Sitsqwayk cornishorum

Washington State is famous for its whales, fourteen species of which spend part of the year along the coast, in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, or in Puget Sound. All are members of one of two groups of living whales: the odontocetes, or toothed whales, and the mysticetes, or baleen whales. Paleontologists have long sought to understand the evolutionary relationship between the groups. Only in recent years have they found the fossils to help them tell the story, in part because of fossils found in Washington including Sitsqwayk cornishorum, a named derived from the Klallam word that means “a powerful spirit from across the water said to bring wealth.”

Reconstruction of the oldest mysticete whale, *Sitsqwayk cornishorum*. Illustration by Gabriel Ugueto commissioned for the Burke Museum, used with permission.

Plotopterids of the Past – Tonsala hildegardae

Penguins in Washington? Doesn’t seem possible but it was 25 million years ago. Technically, they were penguin look-alikes but the state’s large, flightless fossil birds did have a common ancestry with penguins. First discovered in 1977 on the northern edge of the Olympic Peninsula, Tonsala hildegardae (the specific epithet honors pioneer avian paleontologist Hildegarde Howard) was a strong, two-meter-tall diving bird related to gannets and booby birds. They are just one of at least five species of extinct plotopterids (swimming wing) fossilized in Washington rocks.

Reconstruction of numerous plotopterid birds on the beach. These large flightless birds had an upright gait and swimming style similar to that of penguins, but they are more closely related to cormorants and darters. The fossils have been found only in the North Pacific. Artwork by Mark Witton.

Elizabeth A. Nesbitt is curator emerita of invertebrate and micropaleontology at the Burke Museum and associate professor of earth science at the University of Washington. Her distinguished scientific contributions to the paleontology of the Pacific Northwest have earned many awards and honors, including having a whale named for her, the Maiabalaena nesbittae.

David B. Williams is a naturalist, author, and educator. His many books include the award-winning Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound and Too High and Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle’s Topography.

Elizabeth A. Nesbitt. Photo by Tim Kenney

Upcoming Events

Book Launch. Wednesday, November 8, 2023, 7:00 PM at the Burke Museum, Seattle. At the kick-off event, coauthors Nesbitt and Williams will give a lively presentation complete with a slideshow and fossil specimens, followed by audience questions and a book signing. Books will be available from the Burke Store. Space is limited so registration is required.

Author Talk with Quimper Geological Society. Saturday, November 11, 2023, 4:00 PM at First Baptist Church, Port Townsend and via Zoom. Nesbitt and Williams will provide background on the process of writing the book and share some of the new science that has allowed paleontologists to tease out the 500-million-year-long story of life in the Pacific Northwest.

Author Talk with Port Townsend Marine Science Center. Sunday, November 12, 2023, 3:00 PM at Fort Warden Chapel, Port Townsend. As part of The Future of Oceans lecture series, the coauthors will discuss the book and highlight some of the marine organisms featured, including several unusual whales, a six-foot-tall bird that resembled a penguin, and the state’s oldest fossils, trilobites and archaeocyaths.

Holiday Bookfest with Phinney Books. Saturday, November 18, 2023, 2:00–4:00 PM at Phinney Center, Seattle. The annual Holiday Bookfest is an opportunity to meet and mingle with twenty-six celebrated local authors—including Nesbitt and Williams—and get their latest books signed. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Bureau of Fearless Ideas and the Phinney Neighborhood Association.

Visit our events calendar regularly for details on more upcoming events.