Ashfall Fossil Beds to host fossil and artifact identification day Aug. 9

            Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park will host its 2014 "Fossil and Artifact Identification Day" from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Aug. 9 at the park near Royal.

            Puzzled about a fossil or artifact you have discovered? University of Nebraska-Lincoln paleontologist Mike Voorhies and Rob Bozell, highway archeology program manager at the State Historical Society, will help identify items during Fossil and Artifact Identification Day. Visitors may bring a single item or a whole collection to be identified. Past discoveries include leg and teeth bones from camels, mastodons and mammoths, stone points, pottery and a petrified tree trunk weighing in at 500 pounds.

            Ashfall Fossil Beds is a national natural landmark with complete skeletons left in place for viewing. The research center and active dig site allows visitors to watch as paleontologists unearth barrel-bodied rhinos and other animals entombed by ash from a supervolcano eruption 12 million years ago. For park times and location information visit http://ashfall.unl.edu or call 402-893-2000.

Writer: Mandy Haase-Thomas, University of Nebraska State Museum