Gray Fossil Site & Museum

Formerly home to 5-million-year-old tapirs, red pandas, mastodons, and more! Now home to the ETSU Natural History Museum and Hands On! Discovery Center.

[Llama eLab @Llama_eLab]

After an AMAZINGLY educational Zoom with the @grayfossilsite, our Developing Fabricators 3D designed their own fossils. Some even had the opportunity to 3D print their designs!

#VWeLabs

[Gray Fossil Site & Museum @GrayFossilSite]

Recently, Maddie has been working on part of the forearm of our rhino, Papaw, slowly excavating this block of sediment.

Papaw's skull and body were excavated in 2021-2022, and the lab crew will be working on these bones for years to come. Rhinos are a lot of work!
#FossilFriday

[Gray Fossil Site & Museum @GrayFossilSite]

It's not always easy to identify a small fragment of fossil bone. Fortunately, there are plenty of more complete fossils in our collection for comparison!

Here, Connor is comparing a bone fragment with more complete fossil tapir hip bones (we have LOTS of tapir fossils).

[Gray Fossil Site & Museum @GrayFossilSite]

Excavation is done for the year, but there's lots of work to be done in the lab, cleaning and sorting and reassembling fossils. In the cold months, the crew will get through as much as they can to make room for new fossils before we start digging again in the Spring!

[Gray Fossil Site & Museum @GrayFossilSite]

This year's major find was our new rhino, but there were some smaller and rarer discoveries excavated as well!

Pictured here: the end of an arm bone (radioulna) of our camel, and part of the underside of a tortoise shell, both rare finds at Gray!
#FossilFriday

[Gray Fossil Site & Museum @GrayFossilSite]

Most of our fossils aren't whole skulls and skeletons. The collections crew spends a lot of time diligently sorting and labeling many small fragments of bone (it's mostly tapir bits).

[Llama eLab @Llama_eLab]

Thank you so much to the @GrayFossilSite for Zooming in with our Developing Fabricators! The students left excited and energized to start their own 3D design.

#VWeLabs

[Gray Fossil Site & Museum @GrayFossilSite]

These are the tips of Puddin's tiny tusks!

Puddin' - our first juvenile rhino - was the big find from this year's dig season.

Being a juvenile, Puddin' is smaller than our adult rhino specimens. See how these tusks compare to those of Papaw, an adult male!
#FossilFriday

[Gray Fossil Site & Museum @GrayFossilSite]

Research in progress!

Graduate student Johannah is measuring and photographing fossil tapir skulls as part of a study into the growth and development of this ancient species (Tapirus polkensis).

[Gray Fossil Site & Museum @GrayFossilSite]

Now in progress in the prep lab - it's the skull of our new rhino, Puddin'!

Right now, it's in pieces, but there's enough well-preserved material to eventually come together into an excellent specimen.
#FossilFriday

[Gray Fossil Site & Museum @GrayFossilSite]

When an important new find comes inside, the crew makes a plan for how it will be treated in the preparation lab and later stored in collections.

In this photo, staff and students are assessing the field jacket containing the recently-excavated skull of our new rhino, Puddin'.

[Gray Fossil Site & Museum @GrayFossilSite]

Beavers have been shaping North American ecosystems for 7 million years, according to new research by ETSU alum Kelly Lubbers and ETSU professor Dr. Josh Samuels.

Read more here: https://t.co/sDshw4FdfV

[Gray Fossil Site & Museum @GrayFossilSite]

Yesterday, Laura and Ray created this jacket over the torso of our rhino, Puddin'

The jacket has been flipped over, and now Ray is clearing away as much sediment as possible. Once he's done, the jacket will move inside to the lab.

[Gray Fossil Site & Museum @GrayFossilSite]

Happening now! Laura and Ray are creating a field jacket around the torso of our juvenile rhino, Puddin'!

Once the jacket is done, it'll be ready to be carried inside to the lab!

[Gray Fossil Site & Museum @GrayFossilSite]

The prep lab is where fossils are cleaned, consolidated, reassembled, and sorted. It's an essential part of the paleo-process, and we owe a huge thanks to our dedicated crew of students and volunteers who put in the effort week after week!

[Gray Fossil Site & Museum @GrayFossilSite]

Mastodon on the move!

This is a small piece of our mastodon's hip. It was recently finished in the prep lab and ready to move over to collections. Moving mastodon bones is a group effort!

[Gray Fossil Site & Museum @GrayFossilSite]

A lovely rhino tooth for #FossilFriday!

This is a tooth from our young rhino, Puddin', who is currently being excavated! The cusps on this tooth show basically no wear - this little rhino had not done very much chewing yet!

[Gray Fossil Site & Museum @GrayFossilSite]

Gator research in progress!

Undergraduate student Maddie and Dr. Schubert are measuring modern alligator leg bones as part of research that will help scientists to better interpret alligator fossils, especially when only certain bones are preserved.

[Gray Fossil Site & Museum @GrayFossilSite]

We have a foot!

Laura has found several pieces of the right hind foot of our new juvenile rhino, Puddin!

That makes one hind foot, both front limbs, and a skull. Hopefully we'll end up with most of the skeleton!

[Gray Fossil Site & Museum @GrayFossilSite]

There's more than one rhino in the works these days! When she's not outside excavating the new juvenile rhino, Laura has been in the lab reassembling the lower jaw of our older rhino, Papaw, excavated in 2021.
#FossilFriday