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The families have finished their dig experiences and the teachers began digging today.
Two groups of teacher diggers are in South Dakota. One group is comprised of 6 teachers and they are new diggers. This means they haven’t participated in a Children’s Museum dig in the past. Rick Crosslin met them in the Rapid City airport today and they are off to several adventures in Hill City, South Dakota. They will spend time at The Journey Museum, The Mammoth Site, the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, and the Badlands National Park. After they have been fully immersed in the world of paleontology, they will head to the dig site in Faith where they will dig for two days.
The other group is comprised of 11 teachers and they are returning diggers. These teachers have all participated in a Children’s Museum dig in the past and they are returning to dig for 5 days. Yep, 5 days! They have a passion for digging dinos. Many of the teachers in this group can also be seen volunteering in the Paleo Prep Lab at the museum.
The day began at 8 am as we loaded the van and headed to the ranch. Once we arrived at the site, everyone found a spot and began digging. Everyone worked hard and quite a few bones were uncovered throughout the day. Some of them were mapped and removed. Others remain in the ground and will continue to be uncovered in the next few days.
We were able to remove 5 bones today –a Neural Arch and a Neural Spine along with a Quadrate (skull bone,) a rib, and a Chevron, which is part of the tail. All of these bones are from Edmonstosaurus annectens - a genus of crestless duck-billed dinosaur.
One of the great finds of the day currently contains 6 different bones, some on top of the others and some located nearby. Check back for details on what bones are there and what others might be uncovered.
