Saturday 14 July, 2012
Ryan was happy to be our guide for Saturday's collecting expedition. Brian joined us after hearing about the opportunity to be in the field an additional day. Ryan has missed his Summer field weeks while at university, so any excuse to hunt for dinosaurs is welcome. The day found us on the T. rex site ranch once again. Laurel, Brian and I explored on our own in the morning while Rob, Ryan and Brian (ranch owner) walked out to an area where William had found a beautiful (perfect) Triceratops femur (wow) and some not so great horn and other bone fragments.
Laurel and I concentrated our efforts on the lower face of the exposure and Brian took the high route skirting along the face of the same areas. We found bone spills, and though I climbed higher in an effort to find the source, a hidden bone, if there was one there, it had on its cloaking device. I left the spills intact in hopes that maybe another year something will be revealed and those little chunks will lead the way. I have no idea if it works that way. It is quite possible that the next big rain storm will wash those bone scraps down to the sandy floor, and not point the way to hidden treasure.
Laurel had more luck and found a small bone fragment in the wall. I assisted her excavation efforts and picked up additional spill which she may be able to use in the reconstruction. If nothing else, the bits could go in a bowl or jar next to the assembled piece. ( Later, Ryan identified it as part of a hadrosaur ulna). It is always a fun exercise to have a fossil to work on as you uncover the matrix and reveal the bone within. That kind of work really takes your mind off the heat, bugs and fatigue.
We finished that project and headed back to the car to meet Ryan and Brian for lunch. We discussed our afternoon options and with Ryan as our leader, we retraced our steps and headed to a destination beyond our morning travels. The heat builds in the afternoon, but we refreshed our cooling vests and bandanas and hoped for the best. Brian had seen a whitish bone from a distance before lunch so he made a bee line for that location. Laurel and I explored the base of that area looking for spill. I climbed up to the same level as Brian was working. He found a hadrosaur vertebra in two pieces and dug around the area in hopes of more. But alas, he didn't find anything else and left that spot to hunt for micro sites along the fence line.
I found a nice spill on the same "hill" and found some micro site fossil material: Gar scales and turtle shell bits. I also found one, then two, then three pieces of therapod tooth. It is about 1 inch long, slightly curved with denticles on both anterior and posterior edges. (My reading has informed me that the term serrations refers to the dentacles found on some edges of therapod teeth. Details of those dentacles are useful in identifying the specific dinosaur species.) I hunted for an hour or more for the remainder of the tooth, but struck out. Rob glued the three pieces together, but I forgot to ask him what dinosaur it is from. My research is inconclusive, and it might be Dromeosaur, or Richardostesia, or something I have not considered. What I do know: it is from a therapod (meat eater)! That particular area had lots of promising spill material, and Ryan looked at it on our return to the car and was also intrigued. I suspect that is a location that will be revisited in future years.
Ryan carried his foil wrapped frill over to the hill where Brian had taken out the vertebra, and climbed up to investigate the area. I was up there as well and worked my way along the wall to look for more spill. There was quite a bit of it, but no indication of the source. From the plateau where Laurel was sitting Ryan spotted something up on the hill at the same level as the Brian dig. He climbed up and exclaimed it is a T. rex tooth. Eeegads! Here we go again. But he was also laughing in a strange way, and it turned out that the tooth had shattered into hundreds of pieces. Not discouraged (that's Ryan), he photographed the scene and foiled and bagged all those pieces. Now there is a project.
Laurel asked him to go around the corner of the hill because she had seen spill but couldn't get up higher to find out if there was anything there. He walked a few step, poked around with his knife and voila, another bone is in his hands...a vertebra. It is no exaggeration to say this guy is great at finding fossils. He seems to conjure them right out of the ground. It was all hands on deck, so Laurel and I grabbed our bayonets and started probing the hill at the same level in the hopes of striking gold, I mean fossils. I wish I could report that we too had the midas touch, but indeed not this time.
Our day was challenging not only because of the relentless heat, but this day we also endured the blowing winds and swirling sand. Laurel and I laughed that we would be having a cretaceous facial with microdermabrasion when we washed our faces that night. Our exposed skin was covered in the finest sand dust which added to the unique experience of fossil hunting in the Hell Creek Formation. So we grit our teeth (ha ha) and tried to keep track of our supplies and maintain our balance as the wind gusts whipped and swirled around us.
While I am on the subject of the ambience that day, I would be remiss in forgetting to describe the fauna that inhabit the ranchland. This day, we were particularly careful of the free ranging cattle that were within close proximity to us. We avoided them in the morning by staying close to the bluffs and speaking softly. Though one of the appealing features of being out in the middle of these "badlands" is the unusual quiet, this day one of the mother cows was calling to a calf incessantly. It was when we walked back to the vehicle that we realized one of her calves was lame and could not follow her and the remainder of the herd. He was in a location which had plenty of grass for him to eat, but she was so unhappy that he could not be with her and his sibling. She returned to him sometime later and he made a little progress on three legs.
The rancher was notified and we were told that he was aware of the situation, and perhaps the calf's broken leg would mend and he would survive. I can't really say that made us mothers feel any relief, and since the mother cow continued her calling all afternoon, I don't think she was happy with the situation either. This is a very different life than my easy routine in Coastal Southern California. Guess that is part of the reason I visit here each Summer: to get out of my comfort zone and confront unexpected challenges.
So, getting back to the afternoon roundup: we returned to the car so Ryan could put the frill safely away and we could decide what to do with the remainder of our field time. Brian met us and shared his finds. He showed one of them to Ryan who told him it was a Thescelosaurus toe claw. Though the tip is broken, it is in good shape. Then Brian showed him a jaw fragment about five inches long saying he thought it might be crocodile. Ryan exclaimed in multiple expletives that indeed it is not crocodile...it is from a Thescelosaurus and has a tooth just exposed in the jaw! Ryan was so thrilled with this rare find that we all got swept up in the excitement. You just never know where and when the amazing treasures will emerge. Brian seemed pleased with the identified fossils, but they were not the therapod claws and teeth for which he longs. Perhaps next year.
Given the heat and fatigue that was settling in, we decided to stay fairly close to the vehicle and return to some of the areas we had previously searched. After a brief review of the terrain we determined that the day was finished for us and the happy prospectors returned to town. We had fun back at the Tipperary when Brian set out his fossil finds of the week and invited Rob to take a look and help "identify" those in question. As predicted, Rob's expert eyes went quickly to the jaw fragment and predicted that with careful cleaning, more teeth may be revealed. Truly a terrific find that may not have scientific significance, but is indeed very rare. Thrilling to get to see and hold it and one of the best reasons to be here.
Cheers,
Momasaurus
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