Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 04/00) - John Alexander likes his bones -- the older the better.

Judging by the multitude of fossils, including an almost intact dendroolithus egg (a veggie-eating dinosaur from what is now China), cluttering the shelves of his apartment, there could be little doubt that the junior paleontologist in John Alexander is still very much alive.

Recently, Alexander returned from his fourth fossil dig at Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park, Alta., which is located in the northern third of Canada's Badlands. He spent three weeks (June 7-29) searching out his one true passion.

According to Alexander, contending with the constant flow of perspiration emitting from his brow was the least of his worries.

"Last year's dig we only had to go down a few inches," Alexander said.

"This year, it took us eight days to get to the bone level."

In the past, Alexander had been a paying customer -- shelving out big bucks for a chance at uncovering a tooth, a claw, or maybe a rib of some creature that walked the earth millions of years before himself.

This year, however, he was the invited guest of world famous paleontologist Dr. Phil Curry, director of the Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alta. Of course, this only meant Alexander had to get his hands even more dirty than before.

"Usually, I'm there for the middle or the end of the dig," Alexander said, "but this time, I purposely volunteered for the beginning of the dig to help out Phil and Eva (Phil's wife) with all the grunt work."

Besides contending with an ever-present flow of journalists and film crews wandering through camp, Alexander found himself filling the role of a graduate student, making lunches, carrying gear and, if he was lucky, find a bone or two.

"Every day you get up at 7 a.m., have a communal breakfast, load up the day packs and gear, and make the two-and-a-half kilometre hike into the Badlands," Alexander said.

"That was the day -- dig, dig, dig -- using anything from a miner's shovel to a dental pick."

Even though the Badlands carries the appearance of an arid place, Alexander contends that this is a misguided preconception.

"We got rained on every day," Alexander said.

"When the soil gets wet, it's like axel grease. It's hard enough to stand on when it's flat, let alone when you're on a hill."

Of course there must be some reward to all this toil and slipping through mud. All it takes, Alexander said, is that one cool find.

"I found an Albertasaurus rib this year, one-metre long," Alexander said.

"That was awesome."