Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1997)
Bison fossils teach history at new center By Jim Goodwin Staff Reporter Near the end of the last great ice age 9,600 years ago, transitional forms of bison larger than today’s buffalo lumbered across the Great Plains in the land now called Nebraska. The buried remains of at least 600 bison mark the site of one herd’s de mise, 23 miles northwest of present day Crawford. The great beasts mysteriously died within a brief period of time, leaving behind fossils in the fine, silty soil. Samples of their remains discov ered 40 years ago, along with two Colombian mammoth skeletons found at nearby Moody Ranch in 1962, will be displayed in a $6-million educa tional research center under construc tion at Fort Robinson State Park. The Prehistoric Prairies Discovery Center is scheduled to be fully opera tional in 2000. The 10,000-square-foot center will illuminate the story of the ill-fated creatures. But more than that, its creators are hoping the center will help the area’s economy and offer a historical perspective on Great Plains’ climatology. Footing the bill X The center’s sponsors include the U.S. Forest Service, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Chadron State College, University of Nebraska-Lin coln, the cities of Chadron and Crawford and Sioux and Dawes coun ties. Karen Liebentritt, project develop ment coordinator, said the U.S. For est Service will provide half the center’s $6-million cost. Private, cor porate and in-kind donations and grants will cover the remaining cost. Ralene Suchor is president of a nonprofit group called Friends of the Prehistoric Prairies Discovery Center that is accepting donations. The group has collected about $37,500 and re ceived an additional $23,000 toward a display mural, she said. The center’s museum will combine the contents of the University of Ne > braska-Lincoln’sTrailside Museum in Fort Robinson State Park, and finds from three archeological and paleon tological sites in northwest Nebraska —one of the most fossil-rich regions in the western hemisphere, saidTrailside Museum Superintendent David Nixon. “Clash of the Titans,” the center’s flagship display, will include the 10,000-year-old skeletons of two mammoths whose tusks were inter locked in combat when they died. They are the only mammoth skeletons with interlocked tusks found in the world, Nixon said. A fossil preparation laboratory will allow scientists to stabilize, catalog and pack fragile specimens to move them from the sites to a permanent collection, Nixon said. Diggin’ in the dirt The sites contributing to the center’s displays and scientists’ re search are: the Hudson-Meng Bison bonebed on the Oglala National Grass land, 23 miles northwest of Crawford; the Crawford mammoth site, 15 miles outside of Crawford; and Toadstool Geologic Park, 25 miles northwest of Crawford. The latter site contains tracks made 31 million years ago in the mud flats of a recessed stream. The tracks are evidence of three-toed horses, saber toothed cats, shorebirds and other creatures. The discovery center will display as-yet undetermined speci mens and casts created from the tracks, Nixon said. The bison died about 9,600 years ago, near the end of the Pleistocene Epoch. Their deaths remain a mystery and scientific speculations vary: ~ Some think the creatures may have been the victims of mass electrocution caused when a lightning bolt hit the water where the herd stood. Another theory suggests the beasts suffocated from a prairie fire surrounding them. Scientists also disagree or are un certain about the mammoths’ cause of death. Whatever the causes of the bisons’ and Colombian mammoths’ deaths, the creatures’ lives need to be studied on-site more before archeologists and paleontologists carry the remains away, Nixon said. Teaming with tourism Suchor said the Prehistoric Prai ries Discovery Center will benefit both science and the communities of Chadron and Crawford. According to a iyyi u.s. sorest Service study based on the area’s tour ist draws that year, the center will in crease the regional annual economy by $2 million, with Crawford and Dawes counties benefiting most. Suchor said her group plans to market the attraction with a string of about 19 related sites in Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. Known as the Cultural Heritage Corridor, the sites are between Inter state 80 in Nebraska and Interstate 90 in South Dakota. The corridor begins with the High Plains Archeological Project in south east Wyoming. It crosses into Ne braska, jumping northeast to Chim ney Rock before running north through 10 Panhandle and five west ern South Dakota sites. The trail then crosses back into Wyoming, ending at the Vore Buffalo Jump. Seeing the cooperation between the project’s various sponsors was fulfill* ing, Liebentritt said. She said she hopes the completed center’s results would be just as successful. “This will have a major impact on tourism, education and scientific re search in the area.” WMWffif* _ t, ^"WT^ri DN FILE PHOTOS ABOVE: WORK AT THE Hudson-Meng bonebed, as these Colorado State students found this summer, Is tedious, backbreaking and exact. Students have to uncover Individual bones and then meticulously document where the bones were found. Right: The site, which sits just outside of Toadstool State Park near Crawford, was covered this summer by quonset huts to protect it from the elements. A $6-million project will build an education center over the site by 2000. 0 Boogie Wghti W Itror—of from THE NET /v a$C Drinks & Draws O 19 €f Over >< Good for FREE ADMISSION M on WED. FEB., lath ONLY Decadence i ky 11A9V* LowerLflMl •M#« £ ^ (SXjXj)(2)S-)(2)(_ LMAIntemational fffj. Contact Lens saaiasis vbrn umius. 3200 ‘O’ St. 479-1030 examinations for glasses and icontact lenses 1»FREE in-office CONTACT LENS ICONSULT ATIONS Prescriptions filled from any eye doctor glass guarantee Emergency service available Hundreds of frames: Fashion, Sports, ■TfJf!Y9VTT1ff^Kn|MV9|T33H| Sunglasses All types of Contact Lenses -BUDGET PLAN-CREDIT CARDS BIG MD:SP£CiALlir Shovv your UNL I D. and receive 20% off frame and lenses, sunglasses or contact lenses (excludes other discounts.) Offer expires 4/1 S/97