Where Ghost Bones Sleep

January 22, 2026

Christian Kammerer, research curator of paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, knows more about one version of our state’s natural world than almost anyone — a version from before the ocean touched our coast, before it was even part of North America. He lives here with us, but studies life that vanished millions of years before the first human ever looked to the heavens.

“As a paleontologist, I have to think in terms of deep time,” Kammerer says. “Not over the course of years or centuries, but over millions and millions of years.”

Check out Eleanor Spicer Rice’s latest “North Carolina, Naturally” effort for Our State Magazine.

ARTICLE | VIDEO


For more information about our upcoming activities, conservation news and groundbreaking research, follow @NaturalSciences on Instagram and Facebook.

Back to the News