Comments on: A Praire Pompei.

A Praire Pompei.

j-urb — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:43:54 -0800

"Hundreds of skeletons of prehistoric animals have been found in a volcanic ash bed buried beneath the rolling farmlands of northeastern Nebraska. Some of the best-preserved fossil rhinos, horses, camels, and birds known anywhere have been, and are being, excavated by museum crews working in the Ashfall Fossil Beds in northern Antelope County." [*]Guide from the Nebraska Game and Parks with a quick video tour [*]More information from Nebraska's NET page [*]Wikipedia Link [*] Photos from a Field Trip of Geologists

By: j-urb

j-urb — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:47:20 -0800

In case you missed it: The Ashfall Fossil Bed Homepage

By: BeerFilter

BeerFilter — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:47:31 -0800

Wow, awesome!

By: j-urb

j-urb — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:52:37 -0800

Also: Interactive Map of Fossils in the Bed

By: briank

briank — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:57:50 -0800

And to think they're only 6,000 years old! Well, in Nebraska, anyway. (cool post, btw)

By: itchylick

itchylick — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 19:09:07 -0800

Very cool. I'll have to make a point to check this out next time I'm in Nebra ... oh nevermind.

By: Kickstart70

Kickstart70 — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 19:40:59 -0800

Anyone know of a list/map of places where fossil hunting is still legal? It's something I've always wanted to do.

By: Area Control

Area Control — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 19:51:23 -0800

Do it. Do it in a car. Drive out there on those scary straight-line roads. With the sun going down. And you're almost out of gas. And you stop in that one town, bleary eyed and velocitized, but everything is inexplicably closed. So you get back on the highway, chance it on making the next exit. Later on they tell you there ain't no such town. Now get your gas and get on outta here Yankee. You can still make Laramie tonight.

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 20:00:12 -0800

Nice post, I love stuff like this. (Briank, it took me awhile, but I did finally arrive at the punchline.)

By: mediareport

mediareport — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 20:34:49 -0800

the skeletons of these animals are preserved in their death positions, complete with evidence of their last meals in their mouths Amazing. Thanks for this. (Oh, and you should consider adding tags to this great post so folks will find it more easily later on.)

By: boo_radley

boo_radley — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 21:12:12 -0800

This is awesome. Saber toothed deer?

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 21:23:35 -0800

And to think they're only 6,000 years old! The remains of demons thrown up from the bowls of hell sent here to test mans faith in the divine word. Do not be tempted by the devil.

By: Doktor

Doktor — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 21:51:38 -0800

And to think they're only 6,000 years old! As a Nebraskan, just have to throw out that Nebraska != Kansas. The state may vote Republican religiously, but we generally aren't bat shit insane like our southern neighbor... ;) And thanks for digging this up j-urb. I read about Ash Fall many moons ago, but never have made the short trip up there. Will definitely have to do so!

By: spock

spock — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 22:02:08 -0800

You can thank the Yellowstone Supervolcano for this. Consider it a preview of what our decendants will find of us, when it blows the next time.

By: headspace

headspace — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 05:33:12 -0800

Whoa, cool. Thank you for posting!

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 06:23:10 -0800

Saber toothed deer?

They still exist.

By: quin

quin — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 09:30:42 -0800

Saber toothed deer? Thank god I have a Bone-crushing Dog to protect me. And WTF? We had rhinos in North America? We should totally get more of those.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 09:50:19 -0800

And WTF? We had rhinos in North America? We should totally get more of those. They make fun pets.

By: j-urb

j-urb — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 11:36:33 -0800

Camels actually originated out of North America believe it or not.

By: brozek

brozek — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 18:30:54 -0800

Ashfall is surrounded by land that my grandparents, parents, uncles, and brothers farm, so it's more that a little surreal to read that people think this is interesting. I've always put it in the same camp as local attraction Reuben the Chimp at Zoo Nebraska in Royal, NE (pop 55). "Zoo Nebraska is an unaccredited roadside zoo in Royal, Nebraska, that displayed four chimpanzees. On Saturday, September 10, 2005, zoo workers failed to properly lock the chimpanzees' cage after cleaning, and all four made a break for freedom. Reuben, Jimmy Joe, and Tyler were ultimately shot and killed. Zoo Nebraska quickly transferred Ripley, the surviving chimpanzee, to an exotic animal dealer's facility in Missouri. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating the incident. This heartbreaking situation is a classic example of how captive chimpanzees in the zoo and entertainment industry are shuffled from one bad situation to another. After outliving their usefulness for movies, TV, and accredited zoos, these four chimpanzees ended up in a barren cage at a shoddy roadside zoo."