WILD WYOMING: BEHIND-THE-SCENES OF A DIPLODOCUS DIG
6 minute read
The Luminaire founder Adam Sebba adventures to the remote and rugged landscape of northern Wyoming, USA. There, alongside the scientists of Naturalis Biodiversity Center, he learns the techniques used to excavate and record dinosaur fossils, before uncovering the bones of a Diplodocus that have lain hidden for 150 million years.
“Mankind is closer in age to dinosaurs of the Cretaceous period than the Cretaceous dinosaurs are to those of the Jurassic period,” says expedition leader Prof. Dr Anne Schulp. “Jurassic dinosaurs lived some 150 million years ago, while Cretaceous dinosaurs were extinct 65 million years ago. That takes mankind closer in age to a Triceratops than a Triceratops is to a Diplodocus”.
This was the start of one of the most fascinating adventures I’ve had, in the company of passionate scientists, working alongside them to excavate a dinosaur.
I’m in a rural pocket of northern Wyoming, just a short distance from the Montana border, at a secret dig site which required crossing a fence line stretching beyond the horizon to delineate the state border. Set atop a Morrison Formation (a distinctive sequence of Jurassic sedimentary rock which is considered the most fertile source of dinosaur fossil in North America), is a Diplodocus dig site headed up by the award-winning Dutch museum and research centre, Naturalis Biodiversity Center. There, a slew of sandstone rocks, formed by a prehistoric sandy beach that once lay here, are marked with dinosaur footprints.
The landscape of the site is brutal, and the terrain inhospitable. There is no agriculture or grazing, nor bird life, just lizards and the occasional burrowing rodent. Recent rainfall has seen the dusty trails lined by colourful cacti. In a short hour’s walk, a geologist guides us to the top of a 150m hill – and through 150 million years of history. There is something truly remarkable about the rock’s ability to preserve the fossils of the diverse ecosystem of animals that once existed here. Despite the stillness, there is a hive of activity with 20 palaeontologists unearthing clay using blunt pallet knives, trowels and brushes.
I felt a wave of different emotions, but excitement was a feeling shared among the group. A shout goes up and a bone has been found. I later learn that bones are relatively easy to spot, thanks to their fossilised, dark colour contrasting the brown clay.
Sometimes a bone is from the main event; the Sauropod the team is here to excavate; sometimes, it’s from another dinosaur, like the carnivorous Allosaurus. One of its teeth is so well preserved, you can see the serrations. Dinosaur fossil is so plentiful that the scientists can sometimes be fairly relaxed about it. For those fragments that were unidentifiable, I watched small pieces being placed into bags to be shown to students. “Hey, a piece of dinosaur bone can make a kids day” exclaims an enthusiastic scientist.
Adam Sebba pictured on the guided walk, left, and a snapshot of a Naturalis scientist.
'A DIFFERENCE OF A FEW MILLION YEARS WOULD MAKE THIS LONG-NECKED DINOSAUR UNIQUE ENOUGH TO BE ITS OWN SPECIES.'
Dinosaur skeletons are not, as I once imagined, laid out perfectly bone-by-bone. Millions of years of tectonic movements have twisted the earth and moved the fossils on three-dimensional planes. Carcasses may also have been scavenged. Often, a displaced bone was found with storied tooth marks, a thrill that only added to the detective work.
Rain is the enemy of the dig. The team would send scouts to the hilltop to observe distant clouds. Once a bone is discovered, it must be extracted as quickly as possible to protect and preserve it. I dig in an area where three tail bones have been exposed all at the same level – logic and probability mean I must find another.
The scientists hope to learn more about when these dinosaurs lived, and with dating processes becoming increasingly accurate, there’s hope to identify that this exact Sauropod lived several million years later than any others discovered.
A difference of a few million years would make this long-necked dinosaur unique enough to be its own species. The remote chance of being part of a discovery of that magnitude propelled myself and the team forward. It’s the same hope that keeps us digging beneath the baking sun.
They say in Wyoming that if you don’t like the weather, just wait five minutes. The same thing can be said for the harsh landscape. Wyoming is utterly enchanting, dinosaurs or not. Once rain clouds appear directly overhead, a whistle blows and the digging stops. The teams hurry to protect what’s still exposed and pack their tools.
The work will continue tomorrow, and until it’s completed.
JOURNEY
UNCOVER THE JURASSIC PAST OF WYOMING
Join expert palaeontologists, researchers and geologists from Naturalis, to unearth the bones of a Diplodocus, one of the world’s largest and most captivating dinosaurs, from the ground where they have lain hidden for 150 million years.
