On behalf of the Las Vegas Museum of Natural History I was fortunate enough to go along on a fossil dig and prospect at the Tule Springs Fossil Bed National Monument. Dr Joshua Bonde of the UNLV Paleontology Department led a group of students and volunteers into an area that is across the street from a North Las Vegas development. Seeing this area for the first time, you would think of it like any other wash around Las Vegas with its barren landscape and lack of vegetation. But take a closer look; or rather have someone point something out that you would just step on and think nothing of, you will see a fossil.
Here are some photos of the fossil dig.
The Fossil Bed area is part of a valley that runs between the Desert Wildlife Refuge and the Spring Mountain Range. It runs along the east of US 95 south of Creech Air Force Base and north of the 215 as it curves around the north side of the Las Vegas Valley all the way to the 15. Pretty much what you see to the right along the highway on your way up to Mt Charleston to Creech and the area that we visited is north of the 215 was Decatur to Jones. But that area goes from the 95 to the 15 where there are power lines in the distance along the southern base of the Sheep Range.
The story of how the Fossil Beds became part of the Park Service through a bill that was part conservative:
It gave the Air Force a flight corridor between Nellis Air Force Base and Creech Air Force Base, as well as some copper mine land and land to deforest.
…and also part liberal in the fact that it set land aside not to be developed and preserved part of our country’s/world’s history. The fossil beds give us a look back in time to what the area looked like 7,000 to 250,000 years ago… WAIT! Spoiler alert…. This does mean that the world is much older than 5,000 years old.
The fossils that are there are not complete like you would see in the movies – most likely due to water moving them all over the place. They were in sediment areas that were in a time when the water was calm. I was shown layers of earth that were placid – were the fossils are found – and others that were turbulent – not allowing for the process to take place to fossilize.
What did we find?
There was a bone from a bison foreleg that Dr Bonde first stumbled upon. Something that you would totally overlook, was something that jumped out to him and one of the volunteers took to cleaning around the bone right away. From there I then went with one of the graduate students on a prospect and he found some more fossils that turned out to be prehistoric horse teeth. Yes – there were horses in the US before the Spanish brought them here 400 years ago. These horses became extinct at the end of the ice age and looked something like half a horse and half a zebra.
It wasn’t a long day – as I am used to when I am out on a hike or photo expedition, but it was as informative as any. Hopefully I get back out there soon and especially if they make a big find!