Initial Discoveries

Backers, thank you for your stellar contributions. Because of your generosity and curiosity we shot way passed our expected funding goals. I am currently on a foray into town away from our field area to share with you some preliminary words about our finds. We have only been in the field for a week but so far we have collected the only known turtle fossils from the formation, numerous fish vertebrae, a lower jaw from a tiny crocodile, yet another lower jaw from another unidentified reptile (dinosaur?), parts of a small (ornithopod?) dinosaur including a lower jaw, a huge 4 foot long dinosaur limb from either a theropod (Tyrannosauridae) or a Hadrosaurid (A.K.A. "duckbill"), and, the piece de resistance, a partial skull from a hadrosaurid including lower jaws! We have found several sites with well preserved bones that seem to contain some very exciting dinosaur remains. I will refrain from describing these until I can be sure that they are what I hope they are. We also have in our growing collection a section of a ceratopsian (Triceratops relative) horn. We combed the area it was found in for hours but have yet to find the source and the potential skull it came from. Maybe a year from now, when snow and rain etch their entropic signatures into the stone, the source of the horn may be revealed to us. All of these finds have kept us so busy that we've only managed to prospect about 5% of the Almond formation outcrop in our study area. If our present rate continues there will be enough to keep us coming back for several years! The work is slowed by the poor state of the roads which require constant picking and shoveling to make them driveable as well as difficult weather.  Rain, snow, and incredibly intense winds shriek through this country. This trip will close out on the 19th where we will take the fossils to the museum. 

We will have videos and pictures to share along with more detailed descriptions of our discoveries and their significance later. For now, though, I have to get back to camp and get our volunteers fed! Thank you for your help. Together we are bringing a vanished ecosystem back to life.