2023 Katherine Palmer Award to Lee Cone

October 26, 2023

Each year, the Paleontological Research Institution recognizes an individual who is not a professional paleontologist for the excellence of their contributions to the field. This award is named for PRI's second Director, Katherine Palmer, who was an avid supporter of avocational paleontology.

PRI is pleased to announce that Mr. Lee Cone has been selected by PRI’s Science Committee as the recipient of the 2023 Katherine Palmer Award. Mr. Cone was nominated for this award by Dr. Sandra Carlson (University of California, Davis) and Dr. Bruce MacFadden (Florida Museum of Natural History). Edited excerpts from their nomination letter follow:

We have both worked with Mr. Cone for nearly ten years and can attest to his sincere and unwavering commitment to the field of paleontology, in particular fostering valuable and respectful partnerships among avocational and professional paleontologists. Just a few of Mr. Cone’s accomplishments and activities in paleontology include:

• Very active in leadership of local paleontological museums and fossil clubs for 25 years.

• Played a significant role as avocational/professional liaison in numerous aspects of University of Florida paleontology.

• Served as a key figure in the NSF-funded FOSSIL Project, a national network of “social paleontology” connecting amateurs and professionals.

• Conducted extensive field collecting, including excavation of a Pliocene whale skeleton.

• Donated many fossils and fossil displays to museums and schools for research and teaching (including the entire excavated whale).

• Holds membership in both the Geological Society of America and Paleontological Society.

• Gave oral presentations at four professional paleontology conferences, one as an invited presentation, and attended at least four additional professional conferences.

• Has written over 25 articles on fossils in various non-professional venues.

• Volunteered field work on at least five significant professional research projects.

• Is conducting research now on morphological evolution in two species of Miocene sharks.

Mr. Cone is currently collaborating with Dr. MacFadden on a research project on early Miocene land mammals and other (marine) fossils collected from the Belgrade Quarry in North Carolina. He worked with the mine foreman to obtain access to the quarry to collect fossils, without which this project would not go forward. Along with other volunteers under his leadership, he is collaborating with professional paleontologists to collect thousands of mostly marine fossils for research and teaching.

Mr. Cone has served on the Paleontological Society Collections Subcommittee of the Governmental Affairs Committee since 2020. He is a committed and active participant in bimonthly meetings and in on-going activities: organizing and presenting a Topical Session at the 2022 GSA Annual Meeting; developing and deploying a survey to avocational and professional paleontologists on fossil collecting and collections; planning a future Paleontological Society Short Course on this topic; preparing a “white paper” on best paleontological field practices to post on the Paleontological Society web page; numerous other subcommittee activities as well.

Mr. Cone is a wonderful person and ideal role model for productive, positive, and mutually respectful collaborations among professional and avocational paleontologists. He has been effective, humble, and selfless in all his interactions with paleontologists and represents the best in a leader dedicated to advancing the science of paleontology through amateur-professional interactions.

In response to being notified of receiving the Palmer Award, Mr. Cone provided the following additional details about his career, experiences, and interests in paleontology:

Collecting has been a passion for me since my childhood days of picking up Native American artifacts in plowed fields in Georgia. At 16 years old I had the opportunity to work with the curator of the Augusta Museum on an archeological study on two mound sites on the Savannah River, and I was exposed to a different type of collecting, one in which the knowledge gained depended not only on the artifacts found, but also the associated provenance of the entire site. Years later flashes of that study were extended to paleontology, and a realization that fossils themselves are only as valuable as the science that can be learned from them. While the specimen is important, it is the soil around it, the location within the vertical strata, and the associated material that can be related to the fossil that is necessary to complete the picture.

I have been fortunate to have been associated with some incredible people over my career and owe much of my interest, knowledge, and success to the professionals who have been mentors for me. My introduction into professional paleontology was the NSF Grant myFOSSIL (The FOSSIL Project), led by Dr. Bruce MacFadden (U FL), and was a life changing adventure with its goal of uniting amateur/avocational paleontologists in a collaborative relationship with professional paleontologists.  At that time I was president of the Friends of the Aurora Fossil Museum (Aurora, NC), and we were involved with, the project throughout the 5-year project duration. Recently, I have been an active avocational member of the Paleontological Society (PS), and am currently on the Collections Sub-committee and the Developmental Committee, as the amateur representative of both.  Working on those committees have opened my eyes to some of the challenges faced by professionals, and Dr. Sandy Carlson has inspired me to be a contributor to these committees and has welcomed my avocational paleontological input.

As a high school educator for 35 years, I planned a year end fossil field trip for my AP Biology students to three or four fossil sites in South Carolina (1997-2006). At that time commercial companies allowed collecting for fossils, and we were able to collect Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene material. Fossils were donated for permanent display at the Blue Ridge High School (Greer, SC). I have also donated fossils and permanent displays to Roper Mountain Science Center (Greenville, SC), Greenville Technical College, and Furman University for their new collections center. I have also donated fossils to the Aurora Fossil Museum (NC) and Waco Mammoth Museum (TX) for their educational outreach programs to schools within their regional outreach. In 2007 I excavated a partial baleen whale from the Yorktown Formation at the Lee Creek Site, and spent 7 years piecing it back together. It was displayed at a number of fossil shows, and subsequently was donated, where it currently resides on display, at the Mace Brown Museum (Charleston, SC). I do not sell fossils and plan to offer my collections that have known and documented provenance to a number of museums for their collections. Material lacking provenance will be donated to my undergraduate and graduate universities for display.

During the past 4 years, I have been researching two different species of genus Carcharodon (shark) from Bakersfield, CA, as well as comparing C. hastalis and C. hubbelli lineage to the modern Great White, C. carcharias. I have been working with Dr. Victor Perez on this analysis.

In recognition of Mr. Cone’s many important contributions to the advancement of the science of paleontology, we are pleased to present him with the 2023 Katherine Palmer Award. Information about the Katherine Palmer Award, including instructions for how to make a nomination and a listing of past recipients, may be accessed here.