Welcome,
to my website


Welcome to my website. My name is Yale Goldman and I live in Connecticut (USA). I am an amateur fossil collector whose hobby has run out of control. The result is
THE DEAD BUG IN AMBER CLUB .
The photographs in this website are also my effort. I hope they are enjoyed.
Photo of me
Here I am at the New Jersey amber locality in Sayreville, New Jersey




I began collecting fossils while living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I was working at the University of Pennsylvania and took a class in paleobotany. I found paleobotany combined my childhood love of plants and my interest in geology. I ventured off to the anthracite coal mine dumps about 100 miles from Philadelphia and began my plant fossil collection.

Several years later in 1990, I took my first of many cross-country fossil collecting trips to the western US. It was during this first western trip that I collected my first insect fossils from the Green River formation in western Colorado.

My introduction to amber with inclusions was a Smithsonian magazine cover of a piece of amber loaded with insects. In Dec. 1993, I discovered the Sayreville, NJ site of cretaceous amber. During 1994, I traveled to Sayreville about twenty times. I was able to recover 20 pounds of amber.

I would return home after a day's digging, wash the dirt from the pieces of amber and quickly scan them for possible inclusions. If I saw something, I would take a piece of sandpaper and carefully grind and polish a window into the amber to get a better look. I identified about 200 pieces of amber with inclusions.

Barklouse in New Jersey amber
Look at the insect to the left. It is a barklouse. I look upon it with awe. It looks as if it were trapped only yesterday and not 90 million years ago. You can count the hairs on the wings and the number of lenses in the eyes. IT WAS THIS INSECT THAT HOOKED ME ON AMBER!
I took my first trip to the Dominican Republic in 1995 and have been returning ever since. I visit the amber dealers to see what new treasures they have. Most of the inclusions I see are common ones like certain beetles and flies. Once in a while I see things like lizards, frogs, feathers, damselflies, and once a mushroom. Although I am an amateur, I have been able to contribute new species of insects to science.

I want to encourage the explorers of my website regardless of your age to pursue your interests and see what you can discover for science.



Wing it back to
The Dead Bug in Amber Club



e-mail address of:
Yale Goldman
Snakefly99@hotmail.com



NedStat Counter