June 21, 2005
Robert DePalma
Base camp north of Hoover, South Dakota
 
Field party left Florida on the 17th of June, bound for South Dakota. Field research will take place in the dinosaur beds of Harding County, South Dakota. The journey west took us through geological beds of many ages, and we sampled as many as possible. Exposures of Mississippian age, as well as Devonian, Silurian, Eocene, Upper Cretaceous, and Oligocene were all encountered on our way west. Samples of the diverse invertebrate ocean life of many of these outcrops were catalogued and will be studied in greater detail back in the Florida labs.  Camp was set up yesterday evening, and now Dr. Cichocki and I will be totally self-sufficient for weeks at a time while we conduct field research. An ancient stream bed which was the subject of last year's expedition was examined today and many new dinosaur bones were seen weathering out. The site, perched 150 feet high on the side of a cliff, offers a breathtaking view of the surrounding prairie. In the many ancient river systems of the Cretaceous, the bones of many kinds of animals accumulated on sandbars and in meanders, and would later become covered with sediment and fossilized. A wonderful diversity of life can be found in these fossilized river systems, including different kinds of birds and reptiles, dinosaurs such as T.rex and raptors, and invertebrates. After examining last year's site, we noticed that somebody had returned to the site since the previous summer and removed a bone. The removal process was clearly unscientific and hastily done, as the debris pile was close by, containing ruined fragments of dozens of smaller bones, and even an intact Tyrannosaur tooth. Such tragedies do occur, and bones are pillaged every year, never to be seen again. Dr. Cichocki intends to keep working with the site and helping to reconstruct the ancient environments and biological systems of the late Cretaceous.

One hundred fifty feet below the river channel site, at the bottom of the valley, Dr. Cichocki and I came across an amazing and exceedingly rare find. Before us, weathering out of the siltstone lay a juvenile Triceratops! Dinosaur skeletons are rarely found as complete or semi-complete specimens, but juvenile dinosaurs are among the rarest of all finds. This is one of the most fantastic finds one can make. Dr. Cichocki began stabilizing the bones with cyanoacrylate glue and uncovering new bones in the sediment.

June 23, 2005
Robert DePalma
Base camp, South Dakota
 
The process of removing a dinosaur skeleton is very time consuming and tedious, but the rewards are fantastic. As in the case of our Triceratops, all of the overlying rock must be removed so that the bones of the skeleton can be located and stabilized with glue. Each bone is mapped using surveying equipment and other detailed methods, and a number is assigned to every bone discovered. The bones are all drawn on an accurate map of the site, showing their original position before removal and transportation back to the museum. In this case, however, the rock is so hard and the bones so close together, that it is safer to remove the bulk of the skeleton in one giant block of rock. The block will weigh about half a ton, and must be removed from the valley using old fashioned techniques: rope, muscle and determination. Plagues of insects, howling winds, hail and rainstorms fail to deter us from the task at hand. Just as the explorers centuries ago had done, Dr. Cichocki and I forge ahead on another successful expedition.

 
June 25, 2005
Robert DePalma
Base Camp, SD
 
Mapping and excavation continued on the hilltop stream bed site, revealing bones of several different types of dinosaurs, including Tyrannosaurus rex, Edmontosaurus, Nanotyrannus, Triceratops, and raptors like Dromaeosaurus and Troodon. An abundance of turtles has been found, which can be a rarity in the dinosaur beds. Remains of at least 7 different turtles have been found in a 15 foot area. The orientation of the bones in the bonebed, as well as distribution of the sediments, can suggest the direction in which the river once flowed. When the bone map of the site is more complete, you will be able to see how the bones were oriented when we found them.