Twelve million years ago an Idaho volcano erupted with such force that its deadly ash cloud blew into northeastern Nebraska, killing several hundred animals around a watering hole on the then savannah, leaving them for UNL vertebrate paleontologist, Michael Voorhees, to discover in 1971 near Royal (he was from Orchard). It's about 35 miles southwest of Center. Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park is now a National Landmark and has been in the National Geographic and on TV documentaries as the Pompeii of the Prairies. As we well know now, the pyroclastic cloud from volcanic eruptions is the most fatal feature, hot ash of microscopic glass needles--lava is molten glass--to lacerate breathing structures, roiling in a dark cloud traveling 200 mph or faster, Victims at Pompeii and elsewhere die of that hemorrhaging suffocation before molten lava ever reaches them. Ashfall is especially noted for its many rhinos, including mothers with calves, camels, several early species of horses, elephants, and other animals. Earlier this year the new Hubbard Rhino Barn opened, a gift from an Omaha surgeon's family, eight times as large as the previous open shed, where people can watch the lengthy, careful excavations.
The area looks like this:
The glorious new Hubbard Rhino Barn south of the Visitors Center is huge. It is now closed for the winter until 1 May 2010. The deadly grey-white ash layer is clearly visible in various photos.
This shows the area of the original little barn for visitors, now just the east end.
Though not very clear, the photo below shows water ripples in the ash, indicating shallow water. The photo after it of one of the summer excavation projects has a live web cam stationed on it, with screens near the visitor railings so people can have close-up views.
#1 in this photo is a "Young Adult Male Rhino 'Tusker,' " with "wisdom teeth just coming in . . . . The highly polished tooth at the front of the jaw is a tusk. The thigh bone across its face was probably pulled . . . from [another] carcass . . . by a large predator." #2 is a "Three-Toed Horse. . . one of the larger of the several kinds of horses living in this area 10 million years ago."
#3 below is an "Adult Female Rhino 'Sandy' with Baby Rhino 'Justin'; This close association suggests that 'Justin," who is about one month old, may be 'Sandy's' calf." The calf is at the left. Picture it as nursing, and you'll spot it nestled at the rear of the female.
The walls have excellent explanatory plaques, as with the ones for the early three- or four-toed horses, usually around three or four feet high. These are not the horses we ride today, obviously, though horses originated apparently in North America before they spread elsewhere, evolved, and were domesticated.
Running into an old friend from high school days, Art Anderson originally of Bloomfield, for the third time that weekend up at Center with Jim and Sue, I was totally thrilled and honored when he introduced me to Dr. Voorhies, the one who started all this and still is in charge, who was busy digging around in his straw hat and red kerchief.
Of course, I had grown up with fossils from all the glacial gravel beds around Center, and we also discussed the rare Jurassic plesiosaur skeleton discovered in 2003 immediately north of Center. (Jim and Sue watched its uncovering.) It looks roughly like the Loch Ness monster but is 70 million years old--and lost its head in excavation. (The central part of North America then was a vast sea, of course.) In sections it is being displayed at the Ashfall Visitors Center, as seen here. Dr. Voorhies said they were about finished with the next section of vertebrae at UNL and would be bringing it up. The display case signs cite the find as on the Santee Sioux Reservation, technically correct because the native Americans retain control over ancient artifacts on their one-time reservation area and actually tried to claim this fossil, a bit before their time. It was, however, not even a half mile north of Center, just around the first highway curve, and discovered by Michael Baldwin, originally from Center, now a Texan science teacher. In the bottom/last photo, the head would have been at the bottom, the end toward the viewer, parts of the long neck beyond it.
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