Dinosaurs and Fossil Hunting

 

     Perhaps it is the nature of little boys to love Dinosaurs. They are a rather fascinating subject (Dinosaurs, I mean... though little boys can be quite interesting themselve!) My sons were always interested but that interest became fascination when, during a trip to Tucson, Arizona, we discovered a little but by no means small museum -- TRex Museum Tucson Arizona  The museum was created, owned and run by a retired Paleontologist. He built it, he told me, to be the sort of place he'd always wanted to visit when he was a kid. Though the space is small, it is packed with fossils, dioramas, a small movie theatre and lots of hands on practice. There is also a small shop where parents, grandparents and fossil fools can find all sorts of wonderful treasures. My two sons enjoyed themselves enormously -- so much so that, as we were driving away, my youngest said reflectively "When I grow up, I want to be a Paleontologist!" My eldest, then 7, looked very wise and replied simply 'You don't have to grow up. You just have to keep digging!' Truer words

 

     Upon our return to the Emerald City, the boys set to digging with a will. To date they have excavated a hole in our raised bed that is deep enough that when they sit in it, they disappear from sight... No fossil finds there, sad to say, but J. (my eldest) believes that he has found a piece of fossilized wood in the nearby Cedar River.

 

     While the boys dug in the dirt, I dug online and came up with several interesting field trips. The first was a Mammoth Dig site in Eastern Washington. Run by Central Washington University, the site is on private property but the owners have kindly allowed visitors to come to the site to observe a real fossil dig in actions.

 

     So one day this summer, I packed all my boys into the car, along with a cooler of food and plenty of 'Hank the Cowdog' CDs (And added one grandfather for interest) and we set off, over the mountains to the Eastern side to go see Mammoths. Ummm... yes, it appears that Eastern Washington is a mecca for beasties. A desert now, it was once the site of a gigantic Icewall meltdown. In the case of the place to which we were going, it was home to Mammoths -- not the Woolly Mammoth that most people think of but the other, larger Columbia River Mammoth. The trip took three hours driving -- with one rest stop. All in all, the boys were wonderful.

 

   The Mammoth Dig(Central Washington University Wenas Creek Mammoth Site) sits on the side of a hill, on a private farm. The beast was discovered when someone, driving a bulldozer and digging ground for a road, slammed the dozer's plow into the Femur of the creature. Great excitement ensued and Western Washington University sent a team to investigate. Using computer tomography, they scanned the area and discovered what appears to be an almost completely intact Mammoth skeleton. Even greater excitement arose when a 'purposeful flake' was found -- potentially an indication of human presence on the site.

    We arrived in a swirl of dust. The boys unloaded with C roaring, in his inimitable way, "ITS HOT!" Hmmm... sorta what one expects in a desert, isn't it? We trudged over to the sign and J, who'd been given my Sony camera for use that day, took a few photographs.

     Then off into the visitors' tent -- a relatively high comfort affair, we were assured by the resident archeologist. Here is where the stories start to get funny. The young man, an

archeologist post grad out of WWU, asked the assembly 'Does anyone know what a paleontologist is?' J said 'A paleontologist is a scientist who studies the oldest fossil remains, before the coming of man.' The archeologist blinked. 'That is the best definition I have heard in a long time. Okay, can you tell me what an archeologist does?' J, ever ready to oblige, smiled and said ' Archeologists study the human past and ancient cities before the beginning of written history.' The archeologist stared at him with increasing interest 'You know a lot!' he commented. J smiled again 'Indiana Jones is my favorite archeologist.' At that, the young man's face split into a grin. 'Mine too! Dya know -- I was about your age when the movie first came out and that is why I became an archeologist! But' he added solemnly, 'all of us here have tee-shirts that say 'Indiana Jones LIED to us!' because archeological work is dirty and hot and hard, not as easy as he made it look!' They smiled at each other in agreement and then the discussions about the site began.

      After an introduction to the site, the young man took us to where the real work was being done

     As one might imagine, it was hot and dusty but, according to the archeologist, this was a *cushy* dig. There were tents, running water, and even places to sit and listen to the radio! Then he began to explain about the process of uncovering the Mammoth. He pointed to the sides of the square holes that had been dug, explaining that each layer of dirt told a story. After he had explained what the layers meant, J. asked reflectively 'Could it be that the Mammoth got caught in a Mud slide and was buried almost immediately? That would explain it's intact condition.' The young man gazed at J. with an expression of amazed delight and answered slowly 'Yeah, that's our best theory.' You should've seen his face when my then 4 year old explain his theory about dinosaur extinction! Grin.

 

     The Mammoth dig, hot and dusty after a long drive, whetted all our appetites. Our next trip was to a place called the Stonerose interpretive center in Republic Washington. At this site, an ancient riverbed, normal everyday people can come and dig for fossils. Each person is allowed to take home three fossils a day though the site reserves the right to retain any that might be of scientific interest and importance. A number of such finds have been sent to the Smithsonian for further study.

     The drive was about six hours -- and interesting in and of itself for the variety of landscapes that we saw. We arrived too late that first day to do more than check into our Lakeside cabin, take a dip in the lake and grab dinner at the nearby 'Fly In' -- private pilots had flown in their planes for people to look at and admire. But the next day... we were there when the site opened and my eldest and my husband spent well over six hours digging. The younger one flagged after about three hours so he and I explored the town.  The haul from the day's work: An ancient redwood *leaf*, the flower of an extinct ancestor to the cocoa tree, a 'mash' of fossil fish bones, a bug and a 'stone rose'.  The boys would've stayed forever but life and work do not so allow. We left after having promised them faithfully that we would return.

     I did make one rather happy making find: a book and map called 'Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway.' (There is a link to it in my bookstore at the bottom of the page.) A paleontologist and an artist wrote a book about their travels through the Pacific Northwest to various fossil sites. Our next planned trip is therefore a longer one: We hope to drive from Washington to Arizona, following the fossil freeway and ending up in Flagstaff, site of the Dinosaur Dance Floor: See Fox News: Dinosaur Dance floor discovered in Arizona