This article is part of a monthly series of articles celebrating 100 Years of Discovery at Dinosaur National Monument. The series will feature original articles, historic articles, and historic photos to highlight various discoveries made over the past 100 years.

Start talking paleontology, dinosaurs and other fossils, and often certain images pop up: men in laughably clean khakis and pith helmets removing bones with paintbrushes at digs in remote and exotic desert locations.

Scientists tell us that a paleontologist is someone who studies fossils, the remains of long-dead animals.

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology defines a paleontologist as “a person who studies fossils … Fossils are any naturally occurring objects that tell us about ancient life. They can be bones, teeth, shells, leaf impressions, footprints, insects trapped in amber, or any number of other sorts of things.”

However, what does it really mean to be a paleontologist?

Paleontology, like many other sciences, is a combination of skills and disciplines. Geology, chemistry, biology, botany, math and engineering are among the dominant disciplines.

Fossils are a large and very important chapter in the history of Earth, telling us about different environments and changes that have occurred. Paleontologists use these disciplines to help read fossils and ancient landscapes – read the stories and information they hold, and interpret them and what they mean.

One of, if not the most well known fossil that paleontologists study are dinosaurs. Dinosaurs can be considered a gateway fossil: They have unparalleled power to capture imaginations, especially the imaginations of children, and lead to interest in and study of other sciences.

Think back to when you were young – did dinosaurs not evoke some kind of response? Totally change what you thought is possible in the world? Maybe give you a nightmare or two?

Those connections made you, even if for only a moment, a paleontologist. Dinosaurs are very powerful creatures – even when they have been dead for millions of years and have turned to stone. Paleontologists harness and channel that power to other scientists and the public.

Different paleontologists get that kind of power from different fossils, such as insects, leaf impressions, mammal, and other fossils. These fossils help teach us about ancient landscapes and what the environment was like. How these landscapes changed and adapted to changes on Earth can help humans do the same.

Dinosaurs were not the only animals living in their environment. The dinosaurs that once roamed the Uintah Basin shared their living space with frogs, turtles, crocodiles, and a variety of plants and other animals.

Paleontologist Earl Douglass was a very devout man, and thought that studying fossils was the key to answering some of the most profound questions that humans ask about their origins. His energies were directed to dinosaurs, and in the course of that work, he introduced paleontology to many people for whom the science was foreign.

Douglass directed the quarrying operations at what is now Dinosaur National Monument. He devised groundbreaking (pun intended) methods of removing fossils from the ground and tracking them. Some of these methods are still used today.

One hundred years ago, it was standard practice to wrap fossils in plaster and that practice is still used today. This protects the fossil and keeps it from breaking apart during shipment to the preparation lab. The work of a paleontologist is not finished in the least at this point.

The next step is preparing the fossil. This involves removing the fossil from the surrounding rock. Remember a movie that shows a paleontologist using paintbrushes to remove rock away from the fossil? If only it were that easy. Tools more commonly used include dental scrapers, pneumatic drills, hammers, chisels, awls, and other assorted utensils. Chemicals and water are occasionally used to dissolve the rock around the fossil. Glues and adhesives may be used to keep fossils piece together and from further breaking apart.

If you were buried under hundreds of feet of rock for a few million years, you might get a crack or two, also. Time to prepare a fossil can vary greatly, from several days to years. An Allosaurus skull found in the monument took incredible skill and care to prepare over the course of two years.

Once the fossil is prepared, it can be studied. This is arguably the point where years of classes and reading technical paleontology papers are needed most. Shape, texture, size, and other factors help determine what can be learned from a fossil.

Measurements are taken, details noted, and comparisons made to other known fossils. From the time a fossil is pulled from the ground, prepared, and studied, it may take a paleontologist years to determine the dinosaur species. In the case of one skull found in southern Utah, after three years of fossil preparation and study, paleontologists determine the skull found in southern Utah was from a new, unknown species of dinosaur.

Does it sound like it is almost impossible to know everything about paleontology and become a paleontologist? It is easier than you might think - anyone can be a paleontologist. All that is required is a desire to keep learning.

After decades of work as a paleontologist, Earl Douglass said, “I am a student because that is all that satisfies me.” An advanced college degree is certainly helpful but by no means required.

Start studying fossils - online, reading books, in museums, in the field, and talking to paleontologists. Dinosaur paleontology is an easier type of paleontology to get into because so many new things are being discovered, unearthed, and learned about every day.

The type of fossil that intrigues you most, however, will be the easiest and fun to study.

If you go to a museum to look and learn about fossils huge or small, you might want to be a paleontologist. If you study the fossilized remains of some dead plant or animal you stumble across, you might want to be a paleontologist. If you read books or take classes focused on the study of fossils, you might want to be a paleontologist.

If you use your knowledge of fossils to answer questions about the past, present, and future, you might want to be a paleontologist.

If you visit fossils in-situ, still in the rock that formed after the plant or animal died, you might want to be a paleontologist.

If you get a warm feeling when pondering fossilized remains and profound questions they pose, you might want to be a paleontologist. Then you are well on your way to discovering what paleontology and being a paleontologist means to you.