#dayzeroproject

On August 17th, 1909, a paleontologist named Earl Douglass found the neck bones of an Apatosaurus above the ground in the wilderness near the Utah-Colorado border. He was on commission from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History to find Jurassic-period specimens that were reported to be in the area. What began with a simple dig became an excavation of hundreds of dinosaur skeletons, lasting over 30 years of quarrying. They’ve sent the skeletons to museums all across the country, including the Smithsonian.

Jumping back hundreds of millions of years ago, the site was a riverbed where dinosaurs of all sorts gathered. Later, their bones were scattered by the river and preserved deep in the clay. Add in an arid climate and a little tectonic activity to push them up, and it was ready for human discovery. By the 1950s, paleontologists agreed to create an exhibit of the quarry itself, leaving several of the bones there in the rock for the public to see. And thus Dinosaur National Monument was born.

We took about 3 hours to get there, but it was so worth it. There’s a certain magic to seeing the fossils right there, in the rock, and seeing a bit of the process of how these specimens are found, dug out of the ground, and preserved for generations to see. There was an interactive display that labeled which bones belonged to what dinosaur, and where they fit. We saw the bones of Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Diplodocus. Neck bones, leg bones, back plates, ribs, they were all there in a big jumbled mess. Since the river’s movement mixed all the bones together, it was quite difficult to tell what was what, so I was really glad they included such a helpful display.

Also, while we were up there, I found out that Utah has an organization called the Utah Friends of Paleontology. They do educational meetings, and they even give volunteers the opportunity to help professional paleontologists on digs and preparing fossils for display! I’m seriously considering joining this group. It will likely become an item for a future 101 list. 

Our national parks and monuments are really one of the best ideas this country has ever come up with. I recommend it, especially for anyone interested in the scientific process and paleontology. And of course, I’m sending links your way about the park’s site and the Friends of Paleontology site.

https://www.nps.gov/dino/index.htm

http://carnegiequarry.com/

http://www.utahpaleo.org/