On October 14, 2010, a bulldozer operator excavating Ziegler Reservoir near Snowmass Village saw bones tumble over the top of his bulldozer blade. He immediately knew he had stumbled upon something big. Within two days, scientists from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science were onsite, and within two weeks a Museum team had unearthed what has become one of the most remarkable scientific discoveries in Colorado history.
By the beginning of June the team has collected over 1,000 fossils ranging from Mastodon skullls and pelvises weighing between 300 to 700 pounds and are the size of a kitchen stove to Jefferson's ground sloth to a salamander leg bone and fingerling trout vertebrae. Scientist have also recently narrowed down an age for the Snowmass lake leaning toward 100,000 years.
NO BONE LEFT BEHIND CHALLENGE!
With only seven weeks to spend in the field and bones popping out of the ground left and right, it's only natural for things to get a little competitive at the dig site. Follow teams Mammoth, Sloth, Tiger Salamander, and Trench as they compete for the biggest bone count in the No Bones Left Behind Challenge. Watch the video on this page to get introduced to the team captains, and stayed tuned this Friday for an update on which team is in the lead. Who are you rooting for? Keep up to date on the Denver Museum of Nature and Science website at http://www.dmns.org.