New facility protects fossils

LINCOLN — Fossil fans now have new quarters for observing the paleontological digs at Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park near Royal, Neb.

The Hubbard Rhino Barn, built with a $1.2 million donation from the Theodore F. and Claire M. Hubbard Family Foundation of Omaha, will be formally dedicated today.

The site is where more than 200 fossil skeletons from 12 species of Clarendonian Age land mammals have been unearthed. Researchers decided to leave the exposed fossils in the ground to showcase the dig site.

The fossil-rich site, which continues to be excavated, will be open to the public from June through August each year.

The new temperature-controlled barn protects exposed fossils and showcases the unique nature of the dig site. At 17,500 square feet, its size is eight times the 1991 barn it replaces.

Several officials with the University of Nebraska State Museum and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission will dedicate the facility during a private event at noon.

Those participating will include Harvey Perlman, chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Harold W. Andersen, retired publisher of The World-Herald; Priscilla Grew, director of the state museum; Rex Amack, director of the Game and Parks Commission; and Clarence Castner, president of the University of Nebraska Foundation.

UNL paleontologist Mike Voorhies discovered the first intact rhino fossil at the site in 1971.

Once a watering hole, the site was formed about 12 million years ago when animals in the area began dying in the ash fall from a volcanic blast in what is now Idaho. The site features animal carcasses encased in layers of ash.

The Hubbard barn is built over a hill that showcases the sedimentary layers researchers removed to reach the fossils.

Voorhies, now an emeritus professor of geosciences, continues to work at Ashfall in his retirement.

In an interview with the Scarlet, a UNL publication, he said the new facility will allow for 40 more years of excavation at the site and prevent fossils from being removed from the area.

“This is the one place in the world where you can stand and see whole three-dimensional skeletons of large animals in volcanic ash,” he said.

“I like the idea that it is going to remain right here. It's not going to be hauled off to some seaport in the east. It will be here, in Antelope County, Nebraska, forever.”

« Metro/Region

Share