Cue the Jurassic Park theme, Whitehorse residents, because a dinosaur-focused lecture is being held at the Beringia Interpretive Centre Jan. 20. The presenter for the event, the third lecture in Long Ago Yukon’s 2023-2024 speaker series, is Gregory Wilson Mantilla, curator of paleontology at the Burke Museum in Washington.
Wilson Mantilla’s work sees him focusing on terrestrial ecosystems — all the land-based plants and animals — at the time of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, when non-avian dinosaurs disappeared. He is involved in ongoing work at the famous Hell Creek formation in Montana, where the remains of many prehistoric animals, including dinosaurs, have been found.
His presentation at Beringia, which will be done via video link, will focus on some of the discoveries that have resulted from the work done by Wilson Mantilla and his research partners.
“I’m going to present on some of our recent fieldwork, and how that fieldwork has led to some new discoveries, some new fossils, and how that fits into our broader research. In particular, I’ll highlight four dinosaurs that we’ve collected over the past couple of years,” Wilson Mantilla tells the News.
He adds that he hopes his presentation will give attendees a sense of what fieldwork is like and “why it is important to keep looking, even in places that we’ve looked for more than 100 years.”
Wilson Mantilla says he has presented to groups in Canada before, although this will be his first time lecturing to an audience in the Yukon — something he is “looking forward to.”
Mantilla’s lecture will kick off at 1 p.m. on Jan. 20 in the Beringia Interpretive Centre’s auditorium. It will also be livestreamed on Facebook, and those interested in watching online can do so on Long Ago Yukon’s Facebook page.
Long Ago Yukon is a Whitehorse-based group that works to generate interest in anthropology, paleontology and archaeology through expert lectures and other events.
Contact Matthew Bossons at matthew.bossons@yukon-news.com