A Mesozoic Plesiosaur : Highway Paleontology Program : Science & Culture | Vertebrate Paleontology : Collections & Research : University of Nebraska State Museum of Natural History

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The Highway Paleontology Program is a partnership between the University of Nebraska State Museum and Nebraska Department of Transportation.

Painting © Scott Eastman, The Daily Nebraskan

A Joint Discovery Announcement

On February 10, 2004, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln student newspaper, The Daily Nebraskan, published student art work and photography for a story called Echoes of the Past, written by the paper's editor, Van A. Jensen. The story concerned the Mesozoic plesiosaur fossil excavated in May 2003 from a site within the present boundaries of the Santee Sioux Nation in northeast Nebraska. The fossil had been determined to be about 70 million years old, that is, near the end of the Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era. The fossil was found on state highway right-of-way within the boundaries of the Santee Sioux Nation near the town of Center. The excavation was conducted by University of Nebraska State Museum paleontologists in the Highway Paleontology Program. The Santee Sioux Nation, The Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Department of Roads, and University of Nebraska State Museum were delighted to share the news of this wonderful fossil discovery.

Article by Museum Paleontologists

December is not the ideal time to prospect for fossils in Nebraska. Regardless, Mike Baldwin, an amateur paleontologist and science educator from Brownsville Texas, braved the elements in search of shark teeth. As a kid growing up in the area, Mike was interested in geology and paleontology and frequently explored gravel pits, creek bottoms, roadcuts, and his family’s land for rocks and fossils. It was a relatively unsuccessful day looking for fossils between patches of snow and ice but his persistence paid off when he saw two large bones weathering out of the hill.

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Photo Gallery

Recovered plesiosaur neck vertebrae in protective plaster field jacket.
Bones in orange indicate actual portion of plesiosaur recovered from excavation.
Discovery location.
The crew begins to remove overburden above the point where Mike Baldwin first found two plesiosaur vertebrae. A working area somewhat larger than the expected extent of the fossil must be cleared to within a few inches of the bone level to provide a space for several people to begin working with small tools.
The crew continues to prepare the site while discoverer Mike Baldwin examines yet another find...a fish eroding out of the roadcut below the plesiosaur level. The wide, gentle slope of the roadcut provides excellent opportunities to find fossils in an area with few natural rock exposures.
Shane Tucker (Highway Salvage Preparator), Mike and Jane Voorhies and Angie Paquette continue to remove overburden. A nice working quarry floor is about ready for the careful work of finding out if the fossil actually continues back into the hill. Sometimes, after the heavy work of removing overburden, we find that the original discovery, perhaps a bone or two, is all that there is!
Not this time! Bruce Bailey (Highway Salvage Paleontologist) and Shane have located the vertebral column stretching back into the bank. The small yellow flags extending from the green tarp to the back wall between Bruce and Shane mark where bone has been discovered. Only enough rock is removed to show the extent of the fossil. Removing too much matrix at this time endangers the specimen.
The task at this point is to remove rock from areas where there is no bone. The end result is to isolate blocks of rock containing the skeleton on pedestals. Later the pedestals will be jacketed with plaster and burlap strips so they can be safely removed from the ground and transported back to the museum.
Connor and Austin Baldwin help Bruce and Shane cover the bones of the plesiosaur neck before plastering. Some of the paddle (limb) bones in the background have already been jacketed in plaster and burlap.
Austin helps Mike Baldwin apply tissue paper to the neck. The tissue paper acts as a separator between the bone and the plaster, preventing the plaster from sticking.
Connor and Austin help Shane and volunteer Jerry Pekas apply plaster and burlap bandages to the neck. The plaster bandages must fit tightly to prevent the fossils from moving or falling out of the jacket when the block is later removed from the quarry.
Travis and Austin help Bruce and Shane finish plastering the neck. After the plaster sets for a couple of hours, the blocks will be ready to undercut and roll over. They can then be transported safely back to the preparation laboratory.
Paddles, neck, and part of the body ready to be removed from the quarry. The larger body block, with vertebrae, ribs and gastroliths (stomach-stones) will be jacketed and removed last.
After jacketing, the blocks are flipped over onto pallets. This block contains most of the abdominal cavity and weighs approximately 1000 pounds.
Shane begins the laboratory preparation of one of the plesiosaur blocks from the shoulder girdle. This will be an important part of the specimen to see because much of the classification of plesiosaurs is based upon the shape of these bones.
Bruce begins working on part of the neck. Until detailed preparation is done in the lab, no one really knows how complete or well preserved the bones will be. The first bones exposed indicate that preservation is excellent.
Vertebrae begin to emerge from one of the blocks Bruce is preparing. It is now evident that there was some scavenging of the skeleton before it was buried, perhaps even before the carcass sank to the bottom of the sea.
A string of five articulated neck vertebrae show how well preserved the specimen is. The bones are very brittle and skilled preparation is necessary to expose the bones' surface without doing damage.
A closer view of some of the neck vertebrae. Many hours of additional preparation will be needed before this block is ready to be turned over so that the other side can be prepared. Eventually, all the matrix will be removed and the bone stabilized with consolidants. Updates will be posted in additional web stories to follow.