You may already know that this summer we’ve been unearthing all kinds of stories for Summer Reading 2026.
(If you somehow didn’t know Summer Reading has been happening, as perhaps you have been living under a rock and intentionally not unearthing anything whatsoever 🪨🙃, never fear! You have until August 2nd to finish your tracker to redeem a free mini planter and a chance to win big in our grand prize drawing. 📚📝🤓🆓🪴🎇🎁)
For many of us in #libraryland, we have been taking this year’s theme quite literally, focusing our decor and programming on what lies unseen beneath our feet. In particular, we have been focused on the fossil record and the awe-inspiring remnants of our world’s ancient past — like DINOSAURS!!! — although the geologic past holds tiny treasures, too, many of which you can find in the creeks, rivers and bluffs of Missouri’s own state parks system.
Encountering the fossil of a creature that lived millions of years before humans existed can be a contemplative and humbling experience. Not only have you found the proverbial needle in the haystack of history, which takes mindful focus and dedication (or sheer luck!), but you might also wonder far into the future what will be left of humanity’s record to who or whatever comes after? One answer to that ultimately unanswerable question, for me at least, is urban fossils.
What is an urban fossil? Very generally, an urban fossil is an imprint of an object or being in a human-made geologic layer such as concrete or cement. I had never thought about urban fossils (though I’m sure I’d encountered them absentmindedly before) until I moved into my current home, which has a pretty adorable set of urban fossils right out front:
Urban fossils are truly everywhere around us, like little rogue art installations that instill wonder, curiosity &/or delight in the otherwise plain canvas of sidewalks and roads in our hyper-industrialized world. They also might make really incredible entries to our annual Summer Reading Teen Photo Contest, which runs through July 20th!
Where, oh where, do you find these local remnants of the not-so-distant past? I’ve found lots of whimsical urban fossils in my own neighborhood, as well as on parts of the Grindstone Creek Trail:
But I bet there are plenty more out there waiting to be seen beneath your own feet!!! Let us know in the comments where you’ve uncovered a trove of treasured urban fossils — or keep the secret to yourself to savor. 🤫😏😎
Either way, I hope you unearth™️ a wonderful rest of your summer and, most importantly, HAVE FUN while finishing Summer Reading! 🌞📔🌱
