Fantastic Chauvet Cave finally opens to public - discovered in 1994
Last edited Thu Apr 9, 2015, 06:35 AM - Edit history (3)
36,000 years ago, hunter-gatherer groups in the Aurignacian period, homo sapiens like us, created a fabulous masterpiece on the walls of the Chauvet cave along the Ardèche Canyon in the heart of France.
More than 1000 figures, among the oldest known to date, were masterfully traced on rugged relief, including 442 animal figures: bison, big cats, rhinos and horses, executed in ocher and charcoal, with striking beauty and realism.
At the beginning of known figurative art, the main techniques are at work on the adorned walls: drawing, painting, engraving, fading, perspective, representation of movement and faithful transcription of ethological scenes (hunting, rut, mating rituals, etc.).
http://archeologie.culture.fr/chauvet/
http://www.lemonde.fr/sciences/article/2015/04/06/chauvet-de-l-original-a-la-copie_4610377_1650684.html?xtmc=grotte_de_chauvet&xtcr=1
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This is one of many Rhino fossils uncovered in Nebraska at Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park.
Apparently a volcanic eruption some 18,000 years ago killed a number of North American animals. They are well preserved.
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I would visit if I wasn't so far away in Ohio. I haven't even made it to Chicago's Field Museum to see Sue the T-Rex yet. 
About 12 million years ago, a volcano in southwest Idaho spread a blanket of ash over a very large area. One or two feet of this powdered glass covered the flat savannah-like grasslands of northeastern Nebraska.
Most of the animals which lived here survived the actual ashfall, but as they continued to graze on the ash covered grasses, their lungs began to fill up with the abrasive powder. Soon their lungs became severely damaged and they began to die.
...
Undisturbed except by an occasional scavenging meat-eater, the skeletons of these animals are preserved in their death positions, complete with evidence of their last meals in their mouths and stomachs and their last steps preserved in the sandstone below.
http://ashfall.unl.edu/ashfallstory.html
Thank you, Surya! 
roam the exhibition galeries of Morrill Hall at the University of Nebraska, when I was a kid.
http://museum.unl.edu/
And, you're welcome!
