2. If you build it, they will come.

The fossil site was discovered by paleontologist, Dr. Michael Voories 8 miles north of the town where he was born and raised. . . Orchard, Nebraska. The motherlode of fossils lies beneath the building, called the "Rhino Barn". The ashbed is up to 8 feet thick in the area sheltered by the "barn".

Below: The diagram shows the geologic setting, including the ashbed (light blue) where the animals died at the ancient waterhole. It is sandwiched between layers of sandstone.

  • The red layer above the ashbed is called the Long Pine Formation (2.5 million years old).

  • The Ash Hollow Formation, which includes the ashbed sandwiched between layers of sandstone (white), was deposited 10 million years ago.

  • The green layer is "a clayey sandstone with limy nodules". It was deposited 11 million years ago.

  • The yellow layer is a different sandstone deposited 12 million years ago.

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Next: Beneath the Barn