Did you know D.C. is home to some of the first fossils ever recorded in Earth’s history?
In today’s episode of “Matt About Town,” WTOP’s Matt Kaufax found there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to the steps of the iconic Lincoln Memorial.
You heard that right: in addition to representing a towering presidential figure of U.S. history, the Lincoln Memorial contains fragments that go back much further than the history of the U.S. — further than the history of any country — or all of humanity.
Matt traveled to the steps of the Lincoln with D.C.’s resident fossil hunter and friend of the show, Christopher Barr. By day, Chris is a lawyer in the District, but he also has a background in paleontology. For years, Chris has been cataloging all the locations of hidden fossils in the D.C. area on his website.
While he’s currently in the process of getting his website back up and running, check the archived version of Chris’ old fossil blog.
During their exploration, Chris told Matt all about how little pebbles containing some of earth’s first fossils (which are more than 500 million years old) came to wash up in D.C. and eventually were integrated into the construction of the Lincoln Memorial and its surrounding parts.
Watch Matt’s video to see the full journey!
“Matt About Town” airs every Tuesday and Thursday on WTOP at 7:45 a.m., and runs throughout the rest of the day on 103.5 FM. His video pieces are always posted on wtop.com.
You can also find Matt’s videos on Instagram (@wtopnews and @mkaufax) and TikTok (@wtopnews and @mattabouttown_).
If you’ve got an idea for a feature story Matt should cover, reach out via the WTOP “contact us” page to submit your idea.
You can also contact Matt directly. His contact information is listed below.
