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The teachers continue to uncover bone after bone at the dig site. We arrive at the site each morning and everyone grabs their tools and they get right to work. Occasionally it doesn’t take long to hear that clink of the knife against the bone. It’s an unmistakable sound and is exciting to see what the dirt will reveal.
The site has revealed a variety of bones over the past few days. Many of these have been carefully mapped, removed, and packaged for safe transport back to The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Other bones remain in the ground – they either need to continue to be uncovered or need a field jacket on them before they are removed.
The teachers have found the following bones:
- Maxilla – jaw
- Squamosal – skull
- Fibulas – leg
- Tibias – leg
- Jugals – cheek
- Neural arch – vertebra
- Scapula – shoulder blade
- Ribs
In addition to the Edmontosaurus bones that have been found, some microfossils have been found – gastropods, gar fish scales. Amber, teeth and tendons continue to show up as the teachers work to reveal the bones.
On Saturday night, a group of the teachers decided to experience some of the local culture. They climbed back in to the van for a short trip to Dupree, South Dakota. They attended the Dupree Pioneer Days 2010 rodeo where they watched traditional rodeo competitions.
Sunday brought the arrival of a cold front and temps were around 50 degrees as we headed to the dig site. The cold front also brought clouds with the cooler temperature and we watched the rain clouds roll in throughout the day. It started sprinkling just before we headed back to the ranch for lunch and then became heavier as we headed back to the site for the afternoon. We were able to get in another hour or so of digging before we had to call it a day. We headed back to town and met up with the group of new dig teachers at the hotel. It stopped raining by that time and we headed out to the site where Bucky, the teenage T-rex was found and spent some time doing some surface collecting. Everyone found something – fossilized sequoia, bone fragments, interesting rocks, and petrified wood.
We are hoping for cool temperatures and clear skies for our final two days of digging.
