Ancient skull

A new resident of Fallon County was found recently – after being missing for millions of years – but unlike the popular Jurassic Park movie franchise, this dinosaur from the distant past is from the Cretaceous Period.

And, unlike the latest Hollywood movie, it will not be rampaging through the county.

The fossilized remains of a Triceratops skull were discovered in June by a visiting group of students and scholars in a local geological formation.

According to Devin Schindler, the group of paleontologists and college students found a juvenile triceratops skull in the Hell Creek Formation near Baker. "It was through the work of nine scholarship students that worked on the site. They did a remarkable job. With the assistance of local ranchers, we were able to 'jacket' it safely and removed it and getting the fossil prepared for probable donation to a museum," the retired lawyer from Michigan said. The students were not all from Georgia. "They were from Idaho, Michigan and all over the place.

Finding the fossil was just the start of a long process, Schindler said.

"The first step is to get the skull prepared. That is going to take some work," he added.

Schindler, who lives in Montana for part of the year, is part of a group of professors and students from around the country spending time to search for fossils in eastern Montana and neighboring states. The 'fossil season' started near Baker June 12 with a student dig week. From June 19 to June 25, the clients came to the Baker site.

Then, the group moved to search an area near Glasgow, described on the website as a beautiful, 20 mile long, 700-foot-deep gorge. The gorge that runs through the prairie is older than other formations and has been the discovery site for ceratopsians and albertosourus. The fossil hunters will close out its stay Saturday (July 2).

The group moves to another area near Newcastle (Wyoming) Sunday. "We are going to three different places over our season. There are other animals out there we are looking at – and for."

At one of three Newcastle locations discoveries included numerous tortoises, oreodonts, camels, giant pigs, rhinos of all sizes, saber cats, horses, deer, an assortment of other smaller animals, and even a duck egg, according to information posted on the website. The group will start their search in Wyoming July 3 and will continue through July 30.

The Paleo Prospectors group has been searching for fossils for about 25 years, he said. "The specimens collected by Paleo Prospectors can be found in the Chicago Field Museum, the Denver Museum of Natural History, among others."

He explained that Nicklas discovered the Tanis site, which is part of the Hell Creek site in Southwestern North Dakota. The four states in Hell Creek Formation (North Dakota, Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming) are renowned for the significant fossil discoveries from the Upper Cretaceous and lower Paleocene eras. The Hell Creek Formation covers much of eastern Montana.

According to Wikipedia, Nicklas and members of his group found the Tanis site in 2008. They found fossil remains of sturgeons, paddlefish, and bowfins at that site.

Schindler admitted that the find and the recent theatrical release of Jurassic Park: Dominion was perfect timing. "It was the last two weeks we have been excavating the animal," he said June 25.

According to Schindler, the name of the group on the dig is Paleo Prospectors. In addition to searching for fossils, the group is always trying to cause as little damage as possible. "We take very good care of the land. That is really important to us.

"We are led by Dr. Steve Nicklas. He is a professor from the University of North Georgia. It is his operation. I'm the business guy," Schindler said.

Baker is a community the group has become a part of, Schindler explained. "Everybody that we have met here has been absolutely wonderful. We intend to come back next year with a group to continue to explore.

"The organization has a strong commitment to science, and we are going to prepare this specimen properly for display," he added. "We have donated fossils to dozens of museums."

It was academia and a passion for fossils which brought the group together to become the Paleo Prospectors, according to Schindler. "I am a professor. He (Nicklas) is a professor. My other two guides have between them over 60 years of experience. The fossil world is a pretty small world. After a while, you get to know the people and 25 years ago our founder had 40 years of experience in archaeology and paleontology. He began bringing students and guests out to lands where he knew fossils were.

"It kind of grew from there."

According to Schindler, the four main people who run the business range from California, to Michigan, Wyoming and Georgia. "We are from all over the country."

The group also has an impact in the local economy and communities near their field locations. "We bring a lot of money into the community. We fill up the motels. We fill up the restaurants. I am happy to do so. We have made so many friends here. The people in Baker have been so welcoming."

The program is set up where the clients pay to come to the sites, Schindler said. "We also work with a non-profit that provides some of our funding. It is a combination of the clients pay to join us – we are like tour guides – and we look at the non-profit to fund the scholarships."

The guides are Nicklas, Rob Sula, Michael Payne, Zack Heck and Schindler, who is the group's assistant guide and business manager.

Schindler said that people can check the group's website (www.paleoprospectors.com) to find out more about the program.

The group is scheduled to return to the Baker area in July 2023.