Paleo in Pop Culture - Lottie the Fossil Hunter Doll

I had been alerted to what was called a Lottie doll that was part of a special line called "TrowelBlazers: Celebrating women in archaeology, palaeontology & geology - past & present" from TrowelBlazers.com.

The Lottie doll in question was a Fossil Hunter Lottie. You can buy your own fossil Lottie doll HERE.  

So I get it in the mail and it's pretty awesome. It comes with a whole bunch of stuff not only celebrating paleontology, but women in paleontology specifically. 

I'll cut to the chase right now, I recommend any paleontologist to get this awesome toy. I got one for myself, but then my daughter saw it. So now apparently I need to get one for myself ... again.

 View of the front of the box. You can see some of the stuff laid out pretty well with pictures of various Mesozoic animals across the cover.

 Window side with "She sells sea shells by the seashore" written below the window.

 Back of the box with the writing:

It’s the summer holidays and Lottie can’t wait to go to Lincoln Cliff Beach to look for fossils. With her special rock hammer and backpack full of useful gear, Lottie is ready for an adventure at the cliffs by the sea. It is so exciting to think that she might make her own scientific discovery! What will she find? An ammonite? A bone from a plesiosaur? Or maybe even a dinosaur…!

 And after taking her out of the box, we find that not only does she stand pretty easily, she also looks like a young girl. No disproportionate features to deal with, but a well proportioned body. She also has an ammonite T-shirt on, so I'm guessing I know where her collection bias lies. For people that know about this sort of thing (of which I am far from an expert) she has 5 points of articulation and is made of a rubber sort of material, allowing most of her body the ability to bend (often in unnatural positions) but she always goes back to normal).

 Back view of the doll.

 And a side view. Notice the great, sturdy, hiking boots, striped socks (perfect for tick prevention), cargo shorts, and utility vest. She's clearly ready to do some fossil hunting!

 I think the best part of the doll is all the toys that it comes with. They all fit within the backpack too! Not only do you get a magnifying glass (that's a big hand lense!), a rock hammer, a trowel, a backpack, and a hat, but it also comes with four ammonite fossils. See I told you I knew her collection bias!

 Everything packed up, put on her hat and backpack, and she's ready to go.

 Not only does the doll come with the toy components, it also has a sizable sheet with information about women in paleontology including Susan Hendrickson, Dorothea Bate, Marie Carmichael Stopes, Helena Walcott, Helen Walcott, Mary Leakey, and Beth Shapiro.

 On the back of that sheet is general information about paleontology, like what is the purpose of paleontology, and how do we do it safely. Clearly we are looking the European spelling of 'palaeontology' here as it is manufactured in Ireland.

And to top it off, we have a set of 10 cards (really tiny cards) about one of the earliest paleontologists (not just early female paleontologists, she was one of the first paleontologists of any gender) Mary Anning. Mary lived most of her life before the word 'dinosaur' was even coined!


To finish this off, here is the official list of stuff that comes with Lottie (from the website):

• Olive coloured gilet puffa vest
• Turquoise blue polo short with an ammonite shell design print
• Cargo shorts
• Orange and white stripe socks
• Sturdy boots
• Baseball cap
• A rucksack 
• Fossil hunting tools (magnifying glass, trowel and geology hammer)
• Four ammonite fossils
• Special collector cards about the British female fossil hunter Mary Anning
• Notable women in paleontology additional sheet

Like I said, I highly recommend you go out and get this. Especially if you have a young daughter who is showing an interest in paleontology. It's a great toy and one I will gladly put my money towards.