Scientists to excavate Wyoming cave with trove of Ice Age fossils
Scientists to excavate Wyoming cave with trove of Ice Age fossils
Laura Zuckerman/Reuters Washington, July 25, 2014 | UPDATED 13:52 IST
The two-week dig, set to begin next Monday under the direction of Des Moines University paleontologist Julie Meachen, marks the first exploration of Natural Trap Cave in north-central Wyoming since its initial discovery in the 1970s.
At that time, scientists found that the 85-foot-deep cavern formed a natural repository for a rich fossil record that may date back as far as 100,000 years, but a full-scale expedition into the sinkhole has not previously been attempted.
The cave, formed by the collapse of limestone bedrock at the base of the Bighorn Mountains, became a tomb for thousands of ancient mammals that stumbled into the 15-foot-wide mouth of the sinkhole, then concealed by vegetation, and plunged to their deaths.
Conditions in the underground chasm, which widens to 120 feet at its base, are cold and damp, offering a degree of preservation for fossils generally associated only with those found frozen in ice in Siberia and the Arctic, Meachen said.
"They fell into a refrigerator," she said of animals such as camels, American lions, cheetahs, woolly mammoths and short-faced bears.
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