10/10/2026
🐋🎨 Where art meets ocean science!
What can a 36,000-year-old whale fossil tell us about Georgia’s coastal past? And how can art help bring that story to life?
Last spring, UGA Ocean Science undergraduate Grace Maavere combined her background in fine arts with her passion for science to recreate a cast of an ancient gray whale mandible discovered off the Georgia coast!
🔬 The story began in 2006, when Scott Noakes, a senior research scientist at UGA’s Center for Applied Isotope Studies (CAIS), discovered the fossil during a reconnaissance dive at JY Reef, about 20 nautical miles off Sapelo Island. The discovery provided important evidence that prehistoric gray whales once traveled along Georgia’s coast, potentially using the region as a southern breeding ground.
🎨 Now, Grace’s artistic talents are helping make this remarkable piece of marine history accessible to the public. Her replica will be displayed at the Gray’s Reef Ocean Discovery Center in Savannah!
✨ Grace’s experience is a wonderful example of how creativity and science come together to help us understand, visualize, and share the natural world.
👏 Congratulations to Grace and Scott on bringing a fascinating piece of Georgia’s marine history to life!
Read the full story: https://research.uga.edu/news/from-discovery-to-art-bringing-a-prehistoric-whale-mandible-to-life/
The plaster cast (bottom) of a 36,000-year-old gray whale mandible, molded from the original (top), preserved the fossil’s grooves, cracks, and crevices. Undergraduate student Grace Maavere first painted the cast black so the paint would settle into those recesses, adding depth and making the cracks appear more realistic. Some of the black base coat remains visible on the right end of the cast.
✍️ & 📸 by Olivia Randall
Maavere mixed acrylic paints with water to create thin, translucent washes. She gradually layered those washes over the black base, building up the browns, grays, and other color variations found in the original fossil. She then added highlights and refined individual areas until the cast closely matched the original.
✍️ & 📸 by Oli
