What the colourful archives of William and Mary Buckland reveal about science, status and society

Through the expansive finding of fossils and development of new techniques and methods, the 19th century transformed our understanding of the history of Earth. Breaking Ground explores these themes through William Buckland, geologist and palaeontologist, and Mary Buckland (née Morland), a scientific illustrator, the couple at the heart of this exhibition. They both helped to establish new scientific methods and ideas, which led to fascinating discoveries in palaeontology, including the first ever dinosaur to be named to science.

This exhibition showcases important specimens and fossils along with drawings, prints and paintings made by Mary Buckland and others, which helped spread the understanding of extinct groups of animals and plants among the 19th-century scientific community. These archives challenged any literal interpretations of the Bible. A much older planet was revealed, one that had undergone periods of glaciation – a controversial idea at the time – and in which hyaenas once populated the caves of Britain.

However, history remembers those powerful people associated with certain institutions and publications; lost to history are workers in colonised countries who dug for specimens, lower-status miners and quarriers around the UK, and most women regardless of class or wealth. Breaking Ground aims to shed a light on these hidden contributions and their role in shaping our understanding of the history of life on Earth.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

Ichthyosaur with stomach contents
Exceptionally preserved, this is one of Mary Anning’s finds of an Ichthyosaur with fish bones and scales still visible inside the ribcage –highlighting what this marine reptile would have eaten.

Megalosaurus Jaw
This is the iconic fossilised jaw found in Stonesfield, Oxfordshire that William Buckland used to describe the first ever dinosaur known to science, Megalosaurus.

Cave Hyaena Jaw
This is one of the specimens found in Kirkdale cave, North Yorkshire. Initially William Buckland thought the fossil specimens showed evidence of the Great Flood, but through careful analysis he realised the evidence showed the cave to be a hyaena den at a time when Yorkshire would have been a lot warmer, the Late Pleistocene.

Professor and Mrs. Buckland and Frank
Silhouette of the Bucklands created by Auguste Edouart in 1829. This silhouette celebrates how the whole family was involved in the study of palaeontology.

Hippopotamus
A watercolour by Mary Buckland (née Morland), possibly in 1817. Mary was a gifted scientific illustrator whose drawings were used in scientific publications for William Buckland and others like Georges Cuvier. This watercolour is signed ‘MM’, one of the few drawings signed with Mary’s maiden name.

Synoptic view of the leading phenomena of Geology
This is the first plate in William Buckland’s Bridgewater Treatise VI: Geology and mineralogy considered with reference to natural theology. The Bridgewater Treatises was a series of eight volumes highlighting how science and faith could co-exist. Buckland’s Treatise argued that geology and palaeontology was consistent with the Bible and natural theology.

Torus of Time, by Scottish artist Angela Palmer, represents a time period of 3 billion years, featuring rocks collected from across the UK. At the base are the oldest; moving clockwise around the ring, each segment was formed more recently than the last. In this way, we travel through the geological life of the land we now call the United Kingdom.

The sculpture is on display as part of the Breaking Ground exhibition.