ABOUT
Bob Boscarelli
The Story Behind Bosco's RockPile
Bosco’s RockPile is a lifelong labor of love — a personal archive of paleontology fieldwork, fossil specimens, geological observations, seismology data, and the stories behind them.
The interest started early. Around age ten, Bob Boscarelli picked up an encyclopedia and turned to the paleontology entry. That was it — hooked on dinosaurs and the deep past. The passion went on hold through his years in the United States Marines, where he worked in avionics, and then through Edison College and the University of Florida, where he majored in geology. When he eventually made it to the fossil beds of Wyoming and the badlands of the American West, the ten-year-old with the encyclopedia had finally found his way back.
What followed was decades of hands-on earth science: fossil excavations with Dr. Robert T. Bakker at Como Bluff, significant finds including a stegosaurus now on display at the Natural History Museum in London, continuous seismic monitoring from a private station in Soquel, and this site — running since May 28, 1994.
About Bosco
Decades in the Field
Robert "Bosco" Boscarelli
Paleontologist • Geologist • Seismologist • Field Researcher
Robert “Bosco” Boscarelli was born in New London, Connecticut and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. His fascination with the deep past started early — around age ten, when he opened a family encyclopedia to the paleontology entry and never looked back. That early curiosity grew into a lifetime of hands-on earth science spanning paleontology, geology, seismology, and field research.
Education
Bosco holds an Associate of Arts in Anthropology from Edison Community College (Fort Myers, FL, 1974), a Bachelor of Business Administration from National University (San José, CA, 1990), and a Master of Science in eCommerce from National University (2000). His interdisciplinary background — spanning the natural sciences, social sciences, and technology — informs the way he documents, archives, and shares his fieldwork.
Marine Science & Natural History
Bosco served as a docent and aquarist at the Seymour Center at Long Marine Lab, UC Santa Cruz — home of Ms. Blue, an 87-foot blue whale skeleton, one of the largest ever recovered. His work there deepened his commitment to natural history education and public science outreach.
Field Research & Paleontology
He has participated in professional paleontology digs, including the excavation of a Camarasaurus sauropod dinosaur in Wyoming — one of the most remarkable herbivores of the Jurassic period. Along the way he has met and worked alongside some of the most legendary figures in modern paleontology: Dr. Robert Bakker, the iconoclastic paleontologist who revolutionized our understanding of dinosaur behavior and physiology; Dr. Paul Sereno, whose fossil discoveries span six continents; and Peter Larson of the Black Hills Institute — the man who excavated Sue, the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever found.
Beyond vertebrate paleontology, Bosco has pursued geological survey work, invertebrate fossil collection, and operates on-site seismology and weather monitoring stations. His archive documents not just specimens but the full context of fieldwork — the landscapes, the methods, the people, and the stories embedded in stone.
Bosco’s RockPile is the living record of that work: equal parts science, adventure, and deep affection for the natural world.