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Sunny days are here again so we headed out to the site with van loads of excited families. Luckily, some of the families who were with us the day before at the Black Hills Institute had signed up for 2 days of digging and so they were able to still get some dig-time in. We started out with the usual surface collecting and even though this is done every day, it never ceases to amaze us what is found in the very places we're so used to looking! Today was especially surprising because 10-year old Joshua found a 65-million year old crocodile tooth!
Once we got to the site and down to digging, the day seemed to pass quickly. The museum staff was quite busy going from one digger to the next, as they uncovered a great number of bones. It almost seemed like they were making up for lost time and a day of digging missed as Mike and Kate uncovered 5, and Ashley and Laura uncovered 5 or 6! Once again, not all of the finds were able to be unearthed by the end of the digging day as several were large enough that they needed to be jacketed and plastered - a process that takes at least 24 hours to complete. All of the bones are carefully wrapped and mapped before they are transported back to the lab for further research.
As you can see from the group shot below, our Day 6 Diggers were in great (and silly) spirits when the day came to an end. They worked hard and had fun, and everyone came away from the site with their name on something. Only one day left of digging with the families and then Melissa and Rick will be arriving with the teachers!
