This past weekend, a crew from the Dallas Paleontological Society excavated mammoth bones reported from a creek bed in Sherman, TX. The steep side of the creek (see below) made for some tricky logistics, only a few people could fit on the ‘excavation perch’ at a time and the plaster jackets (containing the fossils) had to be lifted out by a crane. A cable – which claimed to be able to support 2000 lbs – broke and we all watched in horror as one of the jackets came tumbling back down! Luckily it didn’t break open, so gluing the pieces inside together will be all in a day’s work for the preperators at the Museum of Nature and Science who open the jacket. Here's a pic and a news article about the dig:
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| Dallas Paleo Society members covering the bones in a plaster field jacket |
For more on the mammoth excavation see the WFAA-TV article
here. (And don't be fooled by the article's title - it's a Columbian Mammoth, not a Woolly Mammoth.)
