Photos from our 1997 Research

The Hanson Ranch Project

This amazing Hoodoo (a geologic term for unique sculptures created when a harder caprock protects a softer underlying rock) called "The Old Woman" or alternatively, "Elaine", greets visitors to the Hanson Ranch Research Station in eastern Wyoming.

Photos © 1999 L. Spencer

The ranch contains one of the richest discoveries of dinosaur remains anywhere in the world. The owners, gracious Christian folk. have dedicated the site on the ranch to development by Scientists who accept the Biblical view on origins and for education and advance of our knowledge.

Photos © 1999 L. Spencer

Primary and secondary teachers were the recipients of a thorough, but concentrated course in the basics of Geology and paleontology. The Group then traveled to the Hansen Ranch site where they were instructed in excavation techniques and taken to the quarry.

Photos © 1999 L. Spencer

The dig site was located on a n exposed hillside about a half mile from the road end. The walk was just enough to wake us up at 5:30 in the morning. Tarps, suspended from lodgepoles kept the hot summer sun off the workers.

Photos © 1999 L. Spencer

The site consisted of a 10X10 meter area cordoned off into 100 1 meter square grids. Each worker was assigned two of these 1 square meter areas for excavation. Once the overburden was removed, the excavation was carried out with dental tools to avoid injury to the specimens .

Photos © 1999 L. Spencer

Once a fossil was discovered, it was excavated carefully to expose the extent and condition of the bone, then excavated to a pedistal that could be cast for removal.

Photos © 1999 L. Spencer

The fossil was overlain with tissue and dampened with water. It was then cast in a plaster jacket to prevent injury to the specimen in the field, and the pedistal was then excavated and removed. The underside was likewise encased in plaster and allowed to harden.

In some localities the bones were in close enough proximity to suggest the remains of a single individual dinosaur. Such finds require very careful excavation and considerable expense to remove them from the rocks. Such finds are rare indeed and greatly contribute to our understanding of what these great creatures looked like in life.

This magnificent three foot long scapula from a duckbilled dinosaur was an amazing find.