Congratulations to Holly Martin,
awarded the first Prize for the Best Talk!
At the 4th Virtual Conference for Women Archaeologists and Paleontologists (VCWAP), early-career women researchers delivered 41 high-quality talks. Holly Martin‘s presentation particularly impressed the jury, earning her the First Prize for the Best Talk. This grants Holly access to a course of her choosing from our sponsor Transmitting Science‘s catalog. Congratulations, Holly, on this well-deserved recognition!
The talk: «Cretaceous Crocs Crunch: an integrated approach of bone taphonomy and dental morphology in the Angeac-Charente crocodylians (Lower Cretaceous, Charente, France)” by Holly Martin, Bisrat Araya, Lloyd Courtenay, Frédéric Santos, Stephanie Drumheller, Antoine Souron, Lee Rozada, Ronan Allain.
This research delves into crocodylian bite marks as crucial evidence for understanding past ecosystems. By analyzing bite marks and tooth apices from four extant crocodylian species and one extinct species (Goniopholis, Angeac-Charente), they aim to correlate biological characteristics with mark morphology. Using confocal microscopy, they digitize these features and employ Elliptic Fourier Analyses to quantify shape and size. Their study reveals the influence of biting animal size, dental morphology, and environmental conditions on mark morphology. Variability in tooth apex micromorphology suggests multiple factors, including bite force and tooth orientation, contribute to mark variability. These findings provide important information about extinct crocodilian characteristics and ecology.
The presenter: Holly Martin
Holly Martin graduated from Sorbonne University and the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN) in Paris with a masters degree in paleontology. She also has an undergraduate degree in earth sciences from the University of Bordeaux. During her masters, she mostly studied anatomy and taphonomy, with a focus on mesozoic reptiles, notably mosasaurs and crocodilians. She is currently working with her colleagues to publish a series of articles on crocodile bite marks. She frequently participates at dig sites around France, including Angeac-Charente and Canjuers.
As well as her passion for paleontology, Holly’s other passion is language. She has dual French and British citizenship, as she was brought up by English parents but has lived in France since she was just a year old.
Fully immersed in French culture throughout her life, she has a native level in both French and English. To combine these two passions, Holly started working as a freelance scientific translator. Her business is called TraductoLab. She provides translation, proofreading and subtitling services. Her aim is to make scientific content more accessible to a wider audience, and to contribute her linguistic skills to the scientific community.
To find out more, follow the news on Holly Martin’s work on social media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-martin-652867268/
Website: https://traductolab.fr/en/home/
Instagram: @miss.anomalocaris