Digging for Fossils

Laying down to get close to his work, a science teacher works to expose a
mammoth vertebra in Kansas. A group of teachers enrolled in a summer
field experience to learn about mammoths, participate in the excavation,
and create ways to incorporate science activities into their up-coming
classroom project.

Becca Farr operates a surveying instrument to document the bones found at the
mammoth dig in Kansas. The instrument uses a laser to measure the distance
to the reflective prism in the distance. The measurements are used to create a
three dimensional map of the quarry site.

Greg Liggett carefully digs around Bison teeth found at the mammoth dig in
central Kansas. The bones of a single mammoth and many individual Bison were
collected from the site. How they became co-mingled is still not entirely clear.

Volunteers work to excavate a Jurassic-aged (approximately 150 million years old) site in
southeastern Colorado. This site yielded several bones from a giant, long-necked dinosaur,
or sauropod. This group included the familiar dinosaurs “Brontosaurus” (now called Apatosaurus)
and Diplodocus. The dinosaur from this site was dubbed “Woody,” and finds included parts of the
pelvis, several vertebrae (each about 4 feet long), and parts of the femur.

Workers excavate into the hillside containing the sauropod dinosaur, “Woody” in southeastern
Colorado. The diggers carefully worked in 2 meter wide trenches, leaving a wall of rock to maintain
a record of the vertical character of the dig site. Many tons of rock was moved by this determined crew.

Taking a well-deserved break from the hot Colorado sun, workers on the “Woody” site pose around
a large bone in a plaster jacket (center left). If the bones are fragile when exposed, the bones are
carefully covered in plaster to carry them back to the laboratory for preparation and study.