© jan albers | all rights reserved
Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park, near Plainview, Nebraska
Some 12 million years ago, this area of Nebraska’s grasslands became covered with up to two feet of ash from a volcano in southern Idaho. While local animals survived the ashfall itself, they soon perished from eating ash-covered grass. Their skeletons were found in what was once an ancient watering hole, now the site of a remarkable archeological dig.
© jan albers | all rights reserved
Scientists have uncovered more than 200 fossil skeletons, including barrel-bodied rhinos (in 1992, they discovered a rhino cow with a calf positioned nose to nose), a giraffe-like camel called Aepycamelus, sabre-toothed deer, five species of horses, a raccoon dog, a Secretary Bird, and a giant tortoise.
The Accidental Highway 