shop online at www.missourivalleyshopper.com June 28, 2016 • Page 3 A Glimpse At The Past Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of stories on state parks and recreation areas in the Press & Dakotan coverage area. By Rob Nielsen rob.nielsen@yankton.net ROYAL, Nebraska — Before the grain fields, before the railroads, before statehood, before the wagon trains and before the Native Americans, what is today called Nebraska was dominated by rhinos, small horses, saber-toothed deer and other pre-historic beasts. But 12 million years ago, a cataclysm befell this savannah-like prairie that led to one of the most unique sites for paleontology in the world — Ashfall Fossil Beds State historical Park near Royal, Nebraska. Opened in 1991, Ashfall helps preserve a unique piece of the region’s geological history. The park is a cooperative effort between the University of NebraskaLincoln and the Nebraska Game, Fish & Parks Commission. Ashfall park superintendent Rick Otto told the Press & Dakotan that the site is truly one-of-a-kind. “It’s the only location on earth where dozens of fullyintact skeletons of fossilized rhinos, horses and camels have been found,” Otto said. A GREAT DISASTER Ashfall is a product of a disaster that occurred hundreds of miles away. Nearly 12 million years ago, a major volcanic eruption occurred in present-day Idaho, blanketing much of Wyoming, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas in a thick blanket of ash. Parts of Nebraska were buried in 1-2 feet of powdered glass. Otto said many factors helped preserve the skeletal remains better than they would at many other dig sites. “The skeletons are buried in pure volcanic ash,” he said. “It’s apparent from the excavation and the research that’s been done that these animals were killed and quickly buried during a storm of volcanic ash. It was a catastrophic event that killed the animals and buried them fairly quick. That’s why such complete skeletons are buried here where other fossil sites might just be a hodge-podge of bones. … Some of the animals laid down and died in a waterhole. The animals that happened to lay down and die in the waterhole were the ones that drifted under deep enough to preserve their whole skeleton. The fossil bed is an ancient waterhole that drifted full of volcanic ash.” Despite the dramatic scale of the disaster, Otto said the species found at Ashfall returned and continued to thrive for a time after the disaster. “The volcanic ash storm did not cause the extinction of any of these species,” he said. “We find evidence that these species, sometime after the volcanic ash storm when the grass started to grow … apparently there were herds of the same species of rhino, horses and camels that moved back into the area from up in the Dakotas and down in Oklahoma that weren’t affected by the volcanic ash.” DISCOVERY As humans came along and the United States expanded westward, the signs of what had happened millions of years ago were buried and the future park ended up utilized for agriculture. Otto said the fossil site was discovered more than 40 years ago, almost by accident. “The first realization that there were complete skeletons on this hillside was in 1971,” he said. “A paleontologist was doing research in the area. As a matter of fact, he came specifically to this pasture because of the steep cliff located across the valley. He was mapping the different layers of sediment. … On the day that he was making that geologic map, he came to this side of the valley, walked up a steep gully and spotted the jaw bone of a rhinoceros.” He added the paleontologist had just made a very rare find. “Finding one rhino jaw bone is not that important of an event to a paleontologist,” he said. “But when he dug back to expose the rhino jaw, he realized the skull, the back bone, the legs, the rib cage, the entire skeleton was buried in the hillside. One complete skeleton is a very rare occurrence, so that paleontologist carefully dug around the first rhino skeleton so he could wrap it in a plaster jacket, and at that point realized that there was a foot of another rhino right next to the first skeleton.” The spot where the very first rhino was discovered is denoted with a yellow flag along the trail between the park’s visitors center and the Hubbard Rhino Barn where the current excavation is underway. Following the initial discovery, the National Geographic Society sponsored an excavation that extracted more than 100 fossils from the site. tial to find out if there were even still enough fossils to justify building a park. “It took several years of field work by a crew of student paleontologists assisting the head paleontologist to dig test trenches across a wide area just to determine if there were still skeletons in the ground,” he said. “It took three summers of digging an extensive network of trenches through the volcanic ash bed to prove there were still skeletons in the ground and would be worth turning this into a public area.” THE PARK TODAY To date, 18 species have been found in the ash bed, including barrel-bodied rhinos — many of which were females with newborns — saber-toothed deer, camels, five different species of small horses, rodents and other wildlife that are now extinct in North America. Each summer, the park hires six college students from across the country to help out in the park. “The student paleontologists are not only conducting the excavation, but they’re also here to answer questions from visitors and tell visitors about the site,” Otto said. “That makes it a little more of a personal experience.” One of those students is Nicole Smith, a junior Geology student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Smith told the Press & Dakotan that previous experience with Ashfall helped further her interest in the study of geology. “I came here when I was in high school,” she said. “I went on a family vacation and that’s actually one of the things that really got me interested in (geology). I knew about it and talked with some of the interns at the time about their internship, so I was very interested, even in high school about coming out here.” She added it’s intriguing to see how the region has evolved over millions of years. “It’s really impressive to see how this land has developed slowly over the years,” she said. “It used to be a sea, then it became a savannah, now it’s a prairie and now we’ve turned it into farm land. It’s really cool to see what’s just underneath our feet and what has been here before us.” Brian Lauters, a junior Geology student at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology told the Press & Dakotan paleontology has been a life-long love of his. “I’ve been interested in paleontology for as long as I can remember,” he said. “My parents tell me that I’ve loved dinosaurs since I could say the word.” He added that it’s rewarding to know the area’s prehistoric legacy will be intact for years to come. “It’s really amazing to see people come through and (say), ‘Oh, I didn’t realize there were rhinos here’ even though they were here long before we were,” he said. “It’s amazing to see this preserved and know that it’s going to be preserved for years and years to come.” The students also work in a prep lab cleaning up fossils and looking through sand for micro-fossils. The vast majority of items recovered from the initial dig are stored in the research collection Nebraska State Museum in Lincoln for research use or on display around the park. Specimens found since the area became a state park are left in place for display. Otto said in total, 200 skeletons have been found with 55 coming since 1991. The park takes in around 20,000 visitors each seven month season it’s open. It’s estimated there are 1215 more seasons of excavation left in the rhino barn. WHAT’S NEXT The park is set to make itself more accessible to students from the comfort of their classrooms in the coming years. “There is a plan to put in fiber optic telephone cable so that we would have highspeed internet and would Buy • Sell • Trade Otto said the initial excavation sparked interest in the area. “Going back to the 1970s, it was realized that there were many skeletons located on this hillside,” he said. “Over 100 skeletons were removed, but in the process of doing that, we realized there was a lot of interest from locals to learn more about paleontology and how the process works of removing fossils from the ground. Over the course of the next 10 years, steps were taken to acquire this property by the state and turn it into a public area where visitors could watch the excavation of fossils.” Private donations drove the effort to buy the land and build the structures on the site, including a visitors center and a 17,000-squarefoot enclosure over the current dig site. In addition to raising funds, Otto said it was essen- Quality... USED Cars, Brian & Jean DeGroot, Owners 802 Broadway, Yankton, SD We’ve Got You Covered BECOMING A PARK be able to conduct remote programming with school districts,” Otto said. The find is so unique that, despite the treasure trove of fossils found on two adjacent excavation sites within the park, Otto said it’s highly unlikely the conditions are replicated anywhere else in the 360-acre park enough to justify a new dig. “The park staff scout areas around the park property, but we’ve never had a good indication that the volcanic ash is thick enough in any other spot where it would’ve been a waterhole at that time,” he said. “If you find the ash bed, it’s usually about a foot thick. Where the waterhole was, the bottom drops down and the volcanic ash is 8 feet thick. If we’d find another exposure where the ash bed is 8-10 feet thick, that would be a good indication it’s another waterhole, and then there would probably be some effort to excavate and see if there’s skeletons buried in it.” ——— For more information on Ashfall, visit http://ashfall.unl. edu/index.html. Follow @RobNielsenPandD on Twitter. Trucks, Campers, Boats & Consignments 665-1596 www.bridgecityautoyankton.com Let Those Toes Breath! Men’s Sandal Sale Boston Shoes to Boots 312 W. 3rd Yankton • 665-9092 High Value - Low Priced FREE Inspections/Estimates We Install/Repair Roofs Of All Kinds! USED EQUIPMENT See us for the full line of tough Bobcat equipment Dealer Name Dealer Name - IN STOCK * SKID LOADERS * RTV VEHICLES * TRACK LOADERS * ESCAVATORS * ALL Name Dealer TYPES LOADER ATTACHMENTS Dealer Name Address • Phone Call Justus 605-857-1472 Address • Phone USED LOADERS Family Owned – Locally Operated Licensed/Bonded/Insured Always LOW Liquor Discounts! 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