Sleeping in Fossils

Well I don't know of anyone who sleeps in fossils, but I think the title fits with a post about fossil beds in Idaho, ;-).  Before we arrived at my niece's graduation in western Idaho on June 4, Amy and I stopped by a couple National Park sites, the first of which was the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument.  We only went by the Visitor Center, but if we're back in the area in the future it might be a nice place to explore along with Craters of the Moon which is a bit to the north-west of Hagerman. Unfortunately it wasn't along our route for this trip.  Hagerman was a bit off the highway, but we were able to continue on back to the highway without backtracking--it wasn't a shortcut, but it wasn't drastically out of our way either.

The highlight of the area is the "Hagerman horse."  This display occupied the center of the visitor center area and was talked about in several other displays.

I'm not sure if this visitor center was permanent, or only something temporary.  It isn't located inside the park boundaries--but apparently there isn't much publicly accessible inside the park.  It was located inside a nearby town, which did make it easier to access, as it was along the main road.  We came into town from the south along that road and left via the north.  Out front I was pleased to notice a children's area where kids could "dig" fossils up.  Things like this aren't complicated, but they are nice for kids to be able to experience things on their level.

Normally you can view an orientation video, and I would have jumped at the chance as I always enjoy learning more about areas that I visit.  However, on the day that we visited the theater was out of commission because they were using the area for the training of their seasonal staff.

In 1928, Dr. Harold T. Stearns, with the U.S. Geologic Survey, was studying the geology of the Snake River Plain.  While in the Hagerman area, a local resident, Elmer Cook, directed him to an area with a large number of bones.  a sample of the fossil bones was sent to Dr. James Gidley of the Smithsonian Institution in WAshington D.C., who identified them as those of an extinct horse now named Equus simplicidens and referred to as the Hagerman Horse.
The following year, the Smithsonian visited the site and started excavations.  The excavation proceeded over a period of four field seasons using shovels, trowels and a horse-pulled earth-moving tool called a Fresno. (from exhibit signage)

You can see all of the pictures I took in this slideshow (or click through to view the album on Picasa Web Albums:


~Matt