It’s an amazing feeling to be under the ‘big sky’ with nature. It is also amazing to sit in the dirt, feeling the earth with a sense of connection to the eons of time gone by. Beneath me lies the remains of some of the greatest creatures that ever roamed the planet.
During the Cretaceous period, about half of the U.S. was under water.
See https://www.cretaceousatlas.org/geology/
When digging for dinosaur bones on the Harris ranch in Wyoming, carefully combing through the soil for prehistoric relics, I am in awe as I realize that I would probably be the first human to see any relic I find.
During my first trip, there were about 18 of us at the dig site. Two others found a T-rex tooth, and others found large pieces of leg bones. It was an exciting time!
While I did find some dinosaur relics, none had any great significance.
I did find one item, though, that was unlike anything else found that week. As I was carefully digging, I spotted a small piece of bone, unlike what I had seen of dinosaur bones. This piece was only about one inch long. I enlarged the photo so that the teeth could be seen.
This was identified as a part of the jawbone of a small prehistoric rodent-like mammal, the Multituberculata.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multituberculata
My trip to Wyoming was worth the time and effort. I met new friends and I learned a bit about the dinosaurs. I’ll soon be on the road to sit again under the big sky, dino hunting, as seen on Dino Hunters, streaming on Hulu.
More later!