Review of 17th international ichnofabric workshop, 23–25 October 2023 in Faxe (Denmark)

It is not entirely false modesty for scientists to claim that their research specialty is a cottage industry, because we all know small groups with limited resources that have made major advances. A case in point was the married couple Richard Bromley and Ulla Asgaard, whose seminal contributions to ichnology were celebrated by a recent international conference and excursions in Denmark. Richard (1939–2018) was a cofounder of these ichnofabric workshops, and Ulla (1936–2023) almost made it to this meeting assembled in their home country, where their contributions were not fully appreciated by the University of Copenhagen. The cover of the meeting proceedings features a footprint of Richard Bromley made as a contact print in the darkroom (Figure 1). In typical cheeky style, Richard added a sixth toe by using a finger.

Figure 1. Left: cover to abstract and excursion volume featuring the actual footprint of Richard Bromley. Right: Group photo near Geomuseum Faxe standing l-r, Don Goldstein, Onno Werver, Zain Belaústegui, Isabel González Neira, Konstantin B. Cincinnatus, Gregory J. Retallack, Jaroslav Šamánek, Michał Stachacz, Dirk Knaust, Andrew K. Rindsberg, Andy S. Gale, Zekun Wang, Romain Gougeon: crouching l-r Javier Dorador, Olmo Míguez-Salas: sitting l.r Mouritz Kjeldahl-Vallon, Lothar H. Vallon, and Walther Kjeldahl-Vallon.