Dino-Mite!

Culture | March 16th, 2016

Dino-mite!

Barnes County Museum showcases fossil exhibit

On Tuesday evening a truck showed up at the Barnes County Museum in Valley City North Dakota, eleven large well packed crates were unloaded with the help of three Paleontologists,a host of volunteers from both the museum and the Elders of Mammott and Jensen

Earlier this year the folks at the museum lost an old friend, a 65 million year old friend that happened to be a 26 foot long Triceratops that was over 90% complete. Fortunately the state geological survey is partnering with the museum to exhibit a collection of fossils that provides a window into prehistoric North Dakota. The centerpiece happens to be an 18 foot replica Triceratops.

“It’s a good partnership between the Barnes county museum and the North Dakota Geological Survey. We’ve got over a dozen offsite exhibits of fossils spread throughout the state” says Clint Boyd, senior Paleontologist,”Our main concern at the geological survey is we want to get the fossils out there for people to see and for them to gain the knowledge and appreciation of North Dakota’s prehistoric history.”

The original Triceratops, affectionately known as “Bob”, was excavated from the Hell Creek formation in 2003 and put on display at the Barnes County Museum in 2014. Unfortunately Bob was relocated to Tucson Arizona this past January and is currently up for bid at a Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase showroom and is valued at over one million dollars.

The replica, was christened “Gundy”, after a Gunderson,whose land the majority of the animal was found on. This particular casting has been with the geological survey for a number of years, but from 2008 on it was on loan to a museum in Tennessee, which presented the prime opportunity for Gundy to find a home at the Barnes County Museum.

The replica itself even has ties to Valley City. Valley City native Mike Triebold had a local shop, where fossils were cast and sold throughout the world.This shop is where the cast of Gundy was created.

During the time of the interview the crew of Paleontologists were carefully assembling the replica, but what all goes into assembling a Triceratops? Fortunately, since Gundy had previously been on display, the custom built metal armature was already built.“It really is like assembling a big erector set. We have instructions and skeletons in pieces”,Boyd says, “Put piece A into piece B, put a screw in it and on to the next piece.”

Along with Gundy are two display cases full of fossils which are from the collection from the North Dakota Historical Society. The specimens were chosen on their relevance to Eastern North Dakota. “Creatures like the Triceratops are not found in eastern North Dakota, we were under the Western Interior Seaway 65 million years ago so we would have had sea creatures here in a 300 foot deep ocean,” says Barnes County Museum curator Wes Anderson.

Plesiosaur remains, ammonites, and clam fossils are found in Eastern North Dakota, the remains of the water dwelling Mosasaur have been excavated as close as Cooperstown North Dakota.

“In addition to having specimens from eastern North Dakota, like some of the Mosasaur fossils that are found there, we are really excited to feature specimens from other parts of the state as well,” Boyd explains “One of the most exciting pieces that will be on display comes from a recent find this summer of a duck-billed dinosaur rib with bite marks.”

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