Studying natural history in California under the direction of Ken Norris and Ray Collett, at the University of California, Santa Cruz, I fell in love with the idiosyncratic, endemic-rich landscapes atop serpentine bedrock.

Upon moving to Vermont in 1980, I studied the Vermont Geological Map and found to my surprise, that a subtle archipelago of serpentine and related ultramafic rock studded the Green Mountain spine from end to end, and set out to see if these little islands also showed signs of biogeographic richness.

Indeed they did! But by the time I had hunted up all the serpentine spots on that geologic map, I’d become as curious about the quarries and archaeological sites often associated with these areas.

Then I found myself drawn to the changing nature of scientific explanations about these places. This was a real discovery for me, to see how quickly various geological, biogeographical, and archaeological theories became outdated and abandoned.

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