Petrified Forest Summer Of Science Results In More New Discoveries

It’s a long-snouted fish closely related to the genus Saurichthys. Other jaw parts had been found earlier in the season, but were not understood until this more complete jaw was found and identified. The fish was known to exist globally in the Early Triassic and had been found in Europe in the Late Triassic, but not in North America. This find has the potential to rewrite our scientific understanding of Late Triassic animal distributions in North America.

Two more skeletons of the crocodile ancestor Revueltosaurus were uncovered this summer by park paleontologists, one with the best preserved skull of the animal ever found. In 2004, the first complete skeletons of this animal were found at Petrified Forest–it had previously been identified only by a few teeth found near Tucumcari, N.M. This summer’s finds near the previous excavation site bring the total number of individuals found at the Petrified Forest to 16. The Petrified Forest specimens represent the best known skeletons of this animal to date.

Another first this summer was the discovery of fossil bones from Tanystropheus, a very long-necked lizard known to exist in the Late Triassic, but not previously found at Petrified Forest. This discovery adds another animal to the Late Triassic ecological picture in this area.

The routine work of the paleontologists included visiting 145 fossil localities in the park and collecting a total of 245 fossil specimens. They also hosted an introductory paleontology field school conducted by Columbia College of Chicago and the first two paleontology classes for the general public through the Petrified Forest Field Institute.

Paleontologist Dr. William Parker led the endeavors, assisted by seasonal paleontologist Adam Marsh, and summer interns Ben Kligman and Emily Lessner.

Archeologists continue to be impressed with the high density of archeological sites in the different environments of Petrified Forest over the 13,000 years human beings have been in North America.

This summer marked the third year of a three-year project to identify and record archeological resources on some of the park’s newly acquired lands. The first year focused on mesa tops and dune ridges. The second year focused on dune ridges and valley floor sites. Surveys this summer focused on areas along the riparian corridor and broad grassy valley floors. Over the course of the project, the archaeologists have fully mapped and documented more than 300 newly discovered sites and re-recorded 28 previously known sites in the park. By the end of this summer’s field season, archaeologists will have surveyed nearly 5,000 acres and hiked well over 800 miles.

The most interesting findings this year, as with both of the previous years, starts with the high density of archeological sites in the areas surveyed. Nearly 2,000 acres were surveyed and 153 new sites were recorded. These sites ranged from scatters of chipped flakes to four masonry pueblos of 10 rooms or more from the Pueblo III period. Older sites were also found, as in the previous two summers, with the earliest represented by a late Paleoindian spear point and several habitation sites from the Basketmaker period, including evidence of shell ornament production. A handful of pithouse villages were identified, including one with Triassic fossil bone pendants, an interesting combination of paleontology and archeology.

Another part of the recently acquired lands includes a stage station from the 1870s along the Star Stage route between Prescott and Santa Fe. A park crew thoroughly mapped and recorded all the surface artifacts associated with the sites. Crews also documented the historic inscriptions on the nearby rocks and researched the names of the people in historical records to better understand the history of use of the building and surrounding area.

The Petrified Forest crew was well represented at this year’s Pecos Conference, making one presentation and showing nine posters of their work. There will also be presentations made at the 2016 meeting of the Society of American Archeology.

The lead archeologist was William Reitze, who was assisted by archeologist Iva Lee Lemkuhl, student archeologist Amy Schott, seasonal archeologists Robert Sinesky, Brian Harmon, Emelio Santiago and Cody Dalpra, summer interns Max Forton, Maggie Hagen, Joselyn Pettit, Alex Covert, Ashley Packard and Christy Stewart, and volunteer Chris Reed.

For more information, go online to http://www.nps.gov/pefo, https://www.facebook.com/PetrifiedForestNPS or https://twitter.com/PetrifiedNPS.