Every summer members of the park's paleontology staff visit many of the over 700 fossil localities that make up the John Day Fossil Beds.
Before any fossils are collected from the field, careful notation and location recordings are made in field notebooks.
How do paleontologists find fossils?
The simple answer is that they know where to look! Paleontologists search certain rock types where fossils would likely have been preserved. For example, water-lain strata such as ancient lake beds and river or floodplain deposits often contain fossils. Then the dirty work begins. They examine the ground in search of any bone or plant fragments. Paleontologists often prospect for new remains exposed after the beds have weathered for awhile.
Fossils that erode from an unknown source are termed “float.” Those found embedded in rock are termed in situ, meaning “original place.”
Fossils are carefully preserved in museum drawers. Click here to see a partial list of the ancient vertebrates found at the monument. more...
Fossil leaves reveal past climates. Click here to see a partial list of the ancient plants found at the monument more...
Click here to see an NPS collections database. This database allows you to browse through images and data from park collections. more...
Did You Know?
The first horses evolved in North America 50 million years ago, and at least 14 different genera have been found at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon.