Category Archives: NORTH AMERICA

A Painted Vault Lid Discovered In the Royal Palace Of Ek’ Balam Will Shed Light On the History Of The Acropolis Of Ek’

A Painted Vault Lid Discovered In the Royal Palace Of Ek’ Balam Will Shed Light On the History Of The Acropolis Of Ek’

Archaeologists in Mexico have discovered a painted ancient vault lid, decorated with a depiction of a serpent. The Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico, through the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), registered this unpublished mural painting on the stone artifact.

A Painted Vault Lid Discovered In the Royal Palace Of Ek’ Balam Will Shed Light On the History Of The Acropolis Of Ek’
Find a painted vault top, Ek’ Balam.

Ek’ Balam is a Yucatec-Maya archaeological site within the municipality of Temozón, Yucatán, Mexico. It lies in the Northern Maya lowlands, 25 kilometers (16 mi) north of Valladolid and 56 kilometers (35 mi) northeast of Chichen Itza. The place was particularly important from the Preclassic period until the Postclassic period. During this time, it played an essential role as the seat of a Mayan kingdom.

The site is noted for preserving the plaster on the tomb of Ukit Kan Lek Tok’, the most important ruler of the Maya city of Ek Balam during the Late Classic period (A.D. 600 to 900), buried on the side of the largest pyramid.

Archaeologists also informed us that this discovery of the stone block – used by the ancient Mayans as a vault lid, in one of the structures of the Ek’ Balam Acropolis – will play a crucial role in deciphering the history of the Ek’ Balam Acropolis.

This block is the seventh painted vault lid unearthed in the last year in this archaeological zone of excavations of Yucatan.

Find painted vault top, Ek’ Balam.

The finding was announced at the morning press conference of the Mexican Presidency, headed on this occasion by the Secretary of the Interior, Luisa María Alcalde Luján, where the progress of work of the Mayan Train Section 4, which will travel 239 kilometers between the Izamal stations, in Yucatan, and Cancun Airport, in Quintana Roo, were presented.

The general director of the INAH, Diego Prieto Hernández, explained that, with the recent discovery of this vault lid, there are 30 of these architectural elements registered over the years at the site, which have provided relevant data, such as the names of some of the rulers of the kingdom of Talol (Ek’ Balam), as well as the dates when the rooms of the royal palace or Acropolis were constructed.

According to the team, unlike the earlier discovered stone lids, the recently one does not have black paint strokes, but was painted in red color.

The lid represents a symbol in the form of a “U”, which could resemble a cave with underground water, probably allusion to the underworld, where a snake seems to enter. The head and part of the body of the reptile is seen, which could be related to the serpentine foot of the god K’awiil.

K’awiil represents a Maya deity associated with lightning, serpents, maize, and fertility. He is depicted with a zoomorphic head, with large eyes, long, upturned snout, and attenuated serpent foot.

The discovery of the lid will contribute to more information about the builders of the elite enclosures of the East Elevated Plaza of the Acropolis, as well as the date on which they were erected, as pointed out the directors of the Ek’ Balam Archaeological Project, Leticia Vargas de la Peña and Víctor Castillo Borges.

Ek’ Balam archaeological site.

Ek’ Balam was occupied from the Middle Preclassic through the Postclassic, although it ceased to thrive as a major city past the Late Classic.

It is worth mentioning that in this sector of the building, the facades of the rooms decorated with the stuccoed reliefs of captors and captives were recently found.

The head of the INAH stressed that the implementation of the Improvement Program in Archaeological Zones (Promeza), in 27 sites in the southeast and the Yucatan Peninsula, which will see an increased influx of visitors due to the operation of the Mayan Train, has led to important discoveries, such as the one described.

In this sense, he added, the Promeza has made it possible to realize various projects in the Archaeological Zone of Chichen Itza, the most recent, the public opening of the Chichen Viejo section or Initial Series.

The research and conservation tasks in Chichen Itza, to which 14% is left to conclude, have focused on important structures, such as the Great Ball Game, the Temple of the Warriors, the Annex of the Nuns, the House of the Snails and the Moon, and the Group of the Nuns; while the signage has been completely renovated.

The head of the INAH stressed that the implementation of the Improvement Program in Archaeological Zones (Promeza), in 27 sites in the southeast and the Yucatan Peninsula, which will see an increased influx of visitors due to the operation of the Mayan Train, has led to important discoveries, such as the one described.

In this sense, he added, the Promeza has made it possible to realize various projects in the Archaeological Zone of Chichen Itza, the most recent, the public opening of the Chichen Viejo section or Initial Series.

The research and conservation tasks in Chichen Itza, to which 14% is left to conclude, have focused on important structures, snd among them the famous  Great Ball Game, the Temple of the Warriors, the Annex of the Nuns, the House of the Snails and the Moon, and the Group of the Nuns; while the signage has been completely renovated.

Archaeologists have unearthed a stone chest containing the ritual deposit of 15 anthropomorphic figurines

Archaeologists have unearthed a stone chest containing the ritual deposit of 15 anthropomorphic figurines

Archaeologists have unearthed a stone chest containing the ritual deposit of 15 anthropomorphic figurines

Archaeologists have unearthed a stone chest containing the ritual deposit of 15 anthropomorphic figurines that were placed as votive offerings at the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan in Mexico City.

The stone chest was found under the platform of the rear façade of the temple in a layer that dates to the reign of Aztec emperor and king of Tenochtitlan Moctezuma I (1440-1469 A.D.)

Stone chest is known as Tepetlacalli in Nahuatl, containing 15 anthropomorphic figurines and numerous green stone beads,  two rattlesnake-shaped earrings, snails, shells, and marine corals. Fourteen of the artifacts portray men, while the smallest of the group features a woman.

The anthropomorphic figures are in the Mezcala style, a Mesoamerican culture that emerged in the Middle and Late Preclassic within Mesoamerican chronology (700 to 200 BC). Archaeologists believe the Aztecs valued Mezcala objects and excavated them from Mezcala sites in Guerrero, Mexico’s southwestern state, to use as ritual offerings.

“This means that when the Mexicas (Aztecs) subdued those peoples, the figurines were already true relics, some of them more than 1,000 years old,” archaeologist Leonardo López Luján, director of the Templo Mayor Project, said in the statement. “Presumably they served as cult effigies, which they appropriated as booty of war.”

Photo: Mirsa Islas, Templo Mayor Project

Carved from green metamorphic stones, the largest of these statues is 30 centimeters high, while the smallest figure is 3 centimeters high. On one of the figurines, the remains of facial paint depicting the Mexica god of rain, Tlaloc, were discovered.

Researchers think this was part of a planned Mexica reset of the religious significance of the ancient cult figurines.

The stone chest was found in the context of stage IVa of the Templo Mayor, which dates from the rule of Moctezuma Ilhuicamina between AD 1440 and 1469.

“In their homes, the Mexicas used to keep their most precious belongings in palm-frond chests, such as fine feathers, jewelry or cotton garments,” López Luján said in the statement. “We can imagine the priests storing in these ‘stone cases’ the quintessential symbols of water and fertility: sculptures of the rain gods, green stone beads, shells, and snails.”

Photo: Mirsa Islas, Templo Mayor Project

The sand and shells came from the Atlantic shore, an area conquered by the Aztecs of the Triple Alliance (the combined forces of three Mexica city-states, Tenochtitlan, Tetzcoco, and Tlacopan) under Moctezuma I.

In Tenochtitlan, the seat of the Aztec Empire, the Templo Mayor served as the focal point of a larger temple complex. The temple was devoted to Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, and Tlaloc, the god of rain and agriculture, and was known in Nahuatl as huey teocalli.

Human Remains and Jade Ring Found at Maya Site in Mexico

Human Remains and Jade Ring Found at Maya Site in Mexico

Within the priority project of the Mayan Train, the application of the Program for the Improvement of Archaeological Zones (Promeza), by the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico, through the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), allows research and conservation of pre-Columbian monuments from the sites of Palenque, Moral-Reforma and El Tigre, located in Chiapas, Tabasco and Campeche, respectively. In the latter, the discovery of a human skeleton carrying a jade ring, whose antiquity is estimated at around 1,200 years, was recorded.

Burial Platform 1E El Tigre.

When participating in the morning conference of the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the general director of the INAH, Diego Prieto Hernández, reported on this discovery and on the application of Promeza in these heritage sites, “which allows the reconfiguration of the present to from the recovery and disclosure of the past”.

The skeleton, he explained, was discovered as part of a funerary offering, which was located inside platform 1E, to the west of the monumental complex known as Structure 1 of the El Tigre Archaeological Zone.

The ritual deposit consisted of two large-format vessels covered with ceramic bowls, as lids.

One of them particularly drew the attention of archaeologists, because it contained the skeletal remains of a young individual, placed in a flexed position and accompanied by a showy and well-preserved jade ring as a distinctive element.

Based on the characteristics of the vessels, the deposit can be associated to the Late Classic period (AD 600-800), coinciding with the population and political heyday of El Tigre.

Prieto Hernández indicated that the investigation will continue in the laboratory, where a micro-excavation will be carried out, in order to specify anthropophysical data and find out if it had other associated elements, such as seeds or smaller-format ornaments.

With this skeleton, noted the head of the INAH, there are 177 pre-Hispanic human burials located in Section 1 of the Mayan Train, through two aspects: during the monitoring of archaeological rescues in the laying of the railways, and the application of the Promise in the three mentioned areas.

As of August 14, 2023, he said, 2,698 real estate have also been preserved; 248 furniture elements; 281,353 ceramic fragments and 55 natural features associated with the presence of ancient human groups in this branch of the train, which runs from Palenque, in Chiapas, to Escárcega, in Campeche.

With regard to the Archaeological Zone of Palenque, in Chiapas, the anthropologist explained that through the Promeza the attention of the Temple of the Foliated Cross, the mortuary chamber of the Temple of the Inscriptions, houses A and D of the Palace and the buildings J1 and J5 of Group IV.

The new signage for the site, he added, is in the printing phase; the reconfiguration of the “Alberto Ruz L’huillier” Site Museum reports 30% progress, and the construction of the Visitor Service Center (Catvi) has 99% progress.

In the Moral-Reforma Archaeological Zone, in Tabasco, where a Catvi is also being built and signage is being renewed, the Promeza adds 43% progress in the investigation of Plaza Oriente, as well as in excavations and consolidations of various housing units.

Finally, in the El Tigre Archaeological Zone, in Campeche, progress is being made in the exploration of the aforementioned Structure 1, and in the investigation and conservation of the Market Square and the Main Square, while the so-called Triadic Complex is being prepared. for its opening to national and international tourism.

In this patrimonial site, the general director of INAH concluded, a Catvi is also being built, with 5% progress, and signage and visitor infrastructure are optimized.

Enormous Skull Found in Alaska May Belong to the Legendary King Bear of Inuit Mythology

Enormous Skull Found in Alaska May Belong to the Legendary King Bear of Inuit Mythology

An enormous, elongated polar bear skull emerged in 2014 from an eroding archaeological site southwest of Utqiaġvik in Alaska. Experts claim that it is quite different from most modern polar bear skulls and reassure that it is one of the biggest polar bear skulls ever found.

Inuvialuit Hunters and the “Weasel Bear”

Inuvialuit have been hunting polar bears – nanuq – in Canada’s Western Arctic for many decades. Passing knowledge and understanding of polar bear hunting from one generation to the next, based on experience, is the very foundation of Inuvialuit wisdom and tradition.

A polar bear.

Inuvialuit hunters have seen hundreds of bears during their lifetime and have taken high risks, since polar bear hunting is an extremely dangerous endeavor. However, their passion and need for survival doesn’t leave them many other choices.

If you get a chance to be around them, you will definitely hear them talking about “tiriarnaq” or “tigiaqpak” (meaning weasel bear), an incredibly unique polar bear that is enormous, narrow-bodied and moves fast like a demon.

Oral history and traditional knowledge in Inuit culture talks about “weasel” or “king” bears, and the huge, fully intact and unusually shaped polar bear skull that emerged in 2014 from an eroding archaeological site near Utqiaġvik has added more fuel to the fire.

Photo of 2014 excavations at the Walakpa site near Utqiaġvik, Alaska.

One of the Biggest and Most Distinct Polar Bear Skulls Ever Found

According to Anne Jensen, an Utqiaġvik-based archaeologist and leader of the excavation and research programs in the region, this is one of the biggest polar bear skulls ever found, and it appears to be different from most modern polar bear skulls. It is slender, elongated in the back and has uncommon structural features around the nasal and other areas.

“It looks different from your average polar bear,” said Anne Jensen , and added that after radiocarbon dating she and her colleagues estimate that the big bear skull comes from the period between the years 670 and 800 AD.

Despite looking different, scientifically it’s not determined yet what makes this skull differ from other found polar bear skulls and genetic testing is needed at this point to provide the scientists with more details.

“It could have been a member of a subspecies or a member of a different “race” in genetic terms — similar to the varying breeds that are found among dogs — or possibly something else entirely,” said Jensen as adn.com reports.

The large, unusually shaped polar bear skull [left] was found at the Walakpa site near Utqiaġvik, Alaska.

The Skull is Just One of the Many Newly Found Treasures

Even though the majority of the scientific world has focused almost entirely on the curiously enormous polar bear skull, the excavation of the now-eroding site, which is called Walakpa, has been successful in spotting a number of other archaeological treasures.

The excavation of the site uncovered another first for Alaska, four mummified seals, naturally preserved in an old ice cellar. Jensen’s team was able to recover one of them last summer, an adult female that was named Patou. 

Jensen said , “The excavated seal was much more modern than the polar-bear skull, dating back to only the mid-1940s. Still, it and the other seals amounted to a startling find: They are the only mummified seals ever discovered outside of Antarctica’s Dry Valley.”

A mummified seal, named “Patou”, found during excavations at an eroding bluff at the Walakpa site last summer.

Jensen also expressed her satisfaction with the new finds, since she was one of the many people who believed the Walakpa site had already been thoroughly excavated back in the late 1960’s, when Smithsonian anthropologist Dennis Stanford excavated the area for the first time.

As she says, “Everyone had the opinion — I was one of them — that he had pretty well excavated the site and there was nothing left to be done.”

Finally, the closed-up site was also considered to be intact and pretty much safe from erosion and thaw, which wasn’t the case at all – as Jensen and her colleagues told adn.

A panoramic image showing erosion at the Walakpa site

‘Lost’ 1,500-year-old Teotihuacan village discovered in the heart of Mexico City

‘Lost’ 1,500-year-old Teotihuacan village discovered in the heart of Mexico City

Archeologists have unearthed the lost remains of a Teotihuacan village, including human burials, in the heart of Mexico City.

'Lost' 1,500-year-old Teotihuacan village discovered in the heart of Mexico City
Archeologists discovered three human burials in the remains of the lost village.

Ceramics found scattered around the site, which is located 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) northwest of the city’s historical center, indicate the village dates from around A.D. 450 to 650 and may have housed a community of artisans and craftspeople.

“The finding was surprising,” said Juan Carlos Campos-Varela, an archaeologist at Mexico’s National Institute of History and Anthropology (INAH) Directorate of Archeological Salvage, who co-led the dig.

“It shows that 1,300 years ago, the islets inside Lake Texcoco, on which Mexico City was founded [after the lake was drained], already supported a permanent population that took advantage of the resources of the lake environment,” he told Live Science in an email.

The newly excavated settlement may have formed during the “ruralization” of Teotihuacan, an ancient metropolis that flourished in the highlands of what is now central Mexico between A.D. 100 and 650, Campos-Varela said.

The village is located 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Teotihuacan and may have been one of several small towns that supported themselves through subsistence farming and fishing as the ancient city reached its zenith.

These settlements maintained commercial ties to Teotihuacan, and the new discoveries shed light on the role these settlements played in the city’s supply network, Campos-Varela said.

“The discovery is rare because it occurred in a fully urbanized context where the possibility of finding archeological evidence associated with the Teotihuacan culture was very low,” he added.

Gifted craftspeople

Archeologist Francisco González Rul discovered the first clues to this village’s existence in the 1960s, during construction works in the Mexican capital. Based on the ceramics he unearthed, González Rul suggested at the time that the inhabitants were self-reliant fishers and gatherers. The new excavations confirmed this.

Several previously unseen architectural structures—including post holes, flooring, channels, and an artesian well — as well as ceramics have come to light. The excavation also unearthed three human burials containing the skeletons of two adults and a child.

Teotihuacan was an ancient metropolis that flourished in the highlands of what is now central Mexico.

Teotihuacan ceramics are categorized into phases, according to a 2016 study in the journal PLOS One. The newfound ceramics displayed features that correspond to the Xolalpan (A.D. 350 to 550) and Metepec (A.D. 550 to 600) phases in the 2016 study, which enabled the researchers to date the remains of the village and its inhabitants. 

The Teotihuacans were gifted artists and craftspeople, said Michael Smith, a professor of archeology and director of the Teotihuacan Research Laboratory at Arizona State University. “To decorate the walls of their houses and temples, the Teotihuacanos used the same fresco technique used by Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel,” Smith told Live Science in an email. “They also used the fresco technique on ceramic vessels.”

The ceramics could reveal important information about trade with Teotihuacan through chemical analysis, Smith said. 

Archeologists have concluded the excavations and are now analyzing the discovered materials and bones. Much of Teotihuacan’s sprawling architecture remains buried, but the site is largely unaffected by modern construction and will eventually be unearthed in its entirety, Arizona State University said.

Who Craved the Giant Handprints in the White Mountain Petroglyphs, Wyoming?

Who Craved the Giant Handprints in the White Mountain Petroglyphs, Wyoming?

We are not in total darkness about how our ancient ancestors lived their lives thousands of years ago. One reason for this is that they etched their daily lives, including struggles, celebrations, fears, or rituals, on rocks, stones, and caves that we can see even today. These illustrations, like the White Mountain Petroglyphs, are like a historical legacy that silently tells us stories of their lives.

The White Mountain Petroglyphs are a powerful testimony to the lives of the Native American tribes who lived there between 200 and 1,000 years ago.

Apart from hundreds of carved figures in the area, there are giant handprints that look like someone has scooped a part of the mountain and let it solidify. These mysterious handprints are perhaps one of the most captivating things to see if you ever visit the remote White Mountains site.

Where can you find the White Mountain Petroglyphs? Who made them?

The White Mountains of Wyoming.

The White Mountain Petroglyph site in Wyoming’s Red Desert was once the home of Native American tribes. The site roughly starts ten miles north of Rock Springs. But to reach the White Mountains, where the petroglyphs are, one must drive 16 miles on a dirt road from the main site and walk a quarter mile on foot.

Petroglyphs (rock carvings) and pictographs (rock paintings) are the windows to the past, giving us almost a first-hand account of the lives of those who made them. Here, on the mountain face canvas, there are carvings and handprints that are the most tangible connections we have with the Great Basin Native Americans who lived there between 200 to 1,000 years ago. They include the Shoshone, Arapaho, and Ute tribes.

It is interesting to note that in other parts of the World, petroglyphs can be as old as 20,000 years. They started to diminish with the discovery and introduction of other forms of writing surfaces, different forms of art, and pictographs. But many cultures, like the Native Americans, continued to create them until contact was made with  Western culture, sometimes as late as the 18th or even the 19th century.

The petroglyphs have animals, symbols, and mysterious handprints.

The markings tell us a lot about the beliefs and culture of the people who lived here several hundred years ago and more. There are carvings in the White Mountains that look like bison and elk hunts. There are also buffalos and wild horses carved on the rock face. Apart from the animals, there are also various interesting geometric shapes and tiny footprints that embellish the rock face.

A Bison Carved on the Sandstone.

Though not much is known about these shapes or symbols, the local Native Americans consider them sacred. They feel connected to nature and feel positive when they visit the site.

According to a Native American elder, symbols are important and communal.  They feel the rocks are alive and connected to them. Some carvings also depict horses and warriors with swords. They tell us about their contact with European cultures.

White Mountain Petroglyphs.

But the most mysterious of all is the deep-set handprints that are somehow left within solid sandstone as if someone had mysteriously softened the rocks. These petroglyphs are important to understand the culture and beliefs of the people who made them.

How were the deep handprints in the White Mountain Petroglyphs site made?

Deep Handprints in the White Mountain Petroglyphs.

The handprints, deeply embedded in the sandstone, give an effect of mountain-scooping. According to historians, the handprints were created by the Easter Shoshone tribes between 1,000-1,800 CE. Thousands of people since then have continued to make the same motion with their hands across the soft sandstone. This, in turn, has created the effect of handprint carving deep into the rocks.

According to a website on Wyoming history, this was the birthing place for the Plains and Great Basin Tribes. The locals tell a fascinating story about how these handprints originated. Native women used to visit the White Mountains when they were giving birth. As their labor started and they had their contractions, their hands used to seek support on the mountain face and created deep handprints into the soft sandstone.

Standing against the rocks, they gave birth. Today, the site is considered sacred by  Native Americans, and visitors are urged to respect the site and not destroy any part of history through vandalism. Unfortunately, though, reckless damage to the site has already happened.

Could the White Mountain Natives melt stones?

White Mountain Petroglyph Site

The petroglyphs on the White Mountain are made of sandstone, a softer rock that gradually hardens with time. They were probably engraved with a harder object than the sandstone. Therefore, maybe melting stones was not necessary in this case.

But what about the handprints that look like they have been scooped out of the mountain? They are deep set in solid sandstone, giving an impression that, somehow, the ancients could soften the rocks like snow. Though these have not been studied much, experts believe the birthing story might have a logical explanation. These stones were soft, and years of pushing your hands into the mountains can make these handprints really deep and big.

Not just in the White Mountains but worldwide, there are similar examples of stone bending and carvings. Scientists and historians often discuss how ancient civilizations knew advanced mechanisms to melt or soften stones.

One interesting theory, based on the shaping of stones in Peru, is that the ancients knew a plant that could melt stones. Scientists also believe ancient cultures knew advanced science and used high temperatures to shape rocks. This unknown process vitrified the surface of the rocks, turning them glasslike, on which they carved. But the process remains a mystery.

The petroglyphs in the White Mountains have not been researched, or studied by anyone formally, yet. They remain elusive and hidden, getting only 12,000 visitors a year. Let us hope when visiting the site, the visitors respect the sacredness and tread lightly to preserve the petroglyphs for as long as possible.

The Mystery Of The Modern “London Hammer” Found Encased In Ancient Rock

The Mystery Of The Modern “London Hammer” Found Encased In Ancient Rock

While walking along Red Creek, London, Texas, in June 1936, Emma Zadie Hahn and her husband Max Edmond Hahn made an unusual discovery: a piece of wood poking out of what appeared to be an ancient rock formation.

The story goes that ten-ish years later, their son, who was clearly born with the merest hint of curiosity that they lacked, smashed open the rock to see what was inside. What he found was a hammer. Where it gets weirder is that it was clearly a modern(ish) hammer.

The hammer attracted the unhelpful attention of Young Earth Creationist Carl Baugh, who claimed that the rock around the hammer was from the Cretaceous period.

When they split it open, this is what they found.

This would mean that whoever dropped the hammer of 19th-century design did so while (e.g.) running away from a triceratops.

For Baugh, who was himself incorrect, this was evidence that evolution theory was incorrect.

“If the artifact is truly from the Cretaceous time frame, where does this leave evolutionary theory, since man was not supposed to have evolved for another 100-million years or so?” Baugh asked. “If the artifact is relatively recent, that means that the Cretaceous Hensell Sand formation from which it came is relatively young… Again, where does that leave evolutionary theory with its traditional dates for the Cretaceous formations?”

The answer, of course, was that the hammer was modern, but it had become encased in the rock by geological processes not known to Baugh.

“The stone is real, and it looks impressive to someone unfamiliar with geological processes.

How could a modern artifact be stuck in Ordovician rock?” investigator Glen J. Kuban asked in a 1997 paper on the hammer, published in Paleo.

“The answer is that the concretion itself is not Ordovician.

Minerals in solution can harden around an intrusive object dropped in a crack or simply left on the ground if the source rock (in this case, reportedly Ordovician) is chemically soluble.”

While an extremely cool find, the rock formation is not as ancient as it appears.

Likely, a miner dropped the hammer a century ago, or perhaps a touch earlier, after which the rock formed around it. It was not, repeat, not, proof of The Flintstones.

Hundreds of well-preserved prehistoric animals were found in an ancient ash bed in Nebraska

Hundreds of well-preserved prehistoric animals were found in an ancient ash bed in Nebraska

Scientists have excavated fossils of 58 rhinos, 17 horses, 6 camels, 5 deers, 2 dogs, a rodent, a saber-toothed deer, and dozens of birds and turtles in Nebraska.

In that distant past, Nebraska was a grassy savanna. Trees and shrubs dotted the landscape. It likely resembled today’s Serengeti National Park in East Africa.

The watering holes attracted prehistoric animals among Nebraska’s tall grasslands. From horses to camels and rhinoceroses, with wild dogs looming nearby, animals roamed the savanna-like region.

Hundreds of well-preserved prehistoric animals were found in an ancient ash bed in Nebraska
Teleoceras mother “3” and nursing calf (above mother’s neck and head).

Then, one day, it all changed. Hundreds of miles away, a volcano in southeast Idaho erupted. Within days, up to two feet of ash covered parts of present-day Nebraska.

Some of the animals died immediately, consumed with ash and other debris. Most of the animals lived for several more days, their lungs ingesting ash as they searched the ground for food. Within a few weeks, northeast Nebraska was barren of animals, except for a few survivors.

More than 12 million years later, in 1971, a fossil was found in Antelope County, near the small town of Royal. The skull of a baby rhino was discovered by a Nebraska paleontologist named Michael Voorhies and his wife while exploring the area. The fossil was exposed by erosion. Soon after, exploration started in the area.

It was found that birds and turtles died quickly as their skeletons lie at the bottom of the ash, right on what was the sandy bottom of the watering hole. Other animals occur in layers.

The Ashfall water hole drew creatures of all descriptions to its muddy banks. Some would probably look strange to modern eyes. Some would resemble familiar creatures that still walk the Earth. (Nebraska during the Cenozoic Era)

Above the birds and turtles lie dog-sized saber-tooth deer. Then five species of pony-sized horses, some with three toes. Above those are camel remains.

Atop them, all are the biggest, the rhinos, in a single layer. All of this is buried under about 2.5 meters (8 feet) of ash. It must have blown into the water, covering the dead.

Fossils in the ash bed are whole. They haven’t been squashed flat. Their bones are all still in place. They’re also fragile. Most fossils form when groundwater soaks into bones and teeth.

Over time, minerals from the water fill in the gaps and even replace some of the original bone. The result is a hard, rock-like fossil that can stand the test of time.

Here, however, the ash eventually locked the skeletons away from the water. After the watering hole dried up, the super-fine ash left no room between particles for new water to seep in.

The ash protected the bones, preserving them in their original positions. But they didn’t mineralize much. When scientists remove the ash around them, these bones start to crumble.

Within a few years, as more discoveries were made, the fossil site grew into a tourist attraction. Today, people visit Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park to check out hundreds of fossils from 12 species of animals, including five types of horses, three species of camels, as well as a saber-toothed deer. The infamous saber-toothed cat remains a dream discovery.

Visitors view fossils inside the Hubbard Rhino Barn, a 17,500-square-foot facility that protects the fossils while allowing visitors to roam on a boardwalk. Kiosks provide information on fossils located in specific areas.