Ashfall Fossil Beds, Royal, Nebraska

A fascinating fossil discovery site. There was a wide array of ancient animals (not dinosaurs) buried when a gigantic volcano erupted in southern Idaho.They believe that the site was a watering hole and that's why there is such a high concentration of animals there. Like Pompeii, the ash preserved the remains well. It is a working site so we got to talk to students and other paleontologists while they worked. We were surprised by the variety of animals and the resemblance to African animals as opposed to species from North America. There is a huge barn over the dig site. It reminded us of Dinosaur National Park. We highly recommend this stop!

Sam: It was fun. I liked it when we got to try digging in the sandbox for fossils.