![]() ![]() ![]() The first is in August and is open to the public. At shoulder height, it’s almost as tall as Ellingsen.Įllingson leads two excavations every year. It’s much larger than the bison that roam parts of the U.S. She got to present the research at a meeting of the Geological Society of America. The skeleton was excavated entirely by Woodburn students, and assembled by one, Odulia Flores, as her senior project. The ancient bones are stored in bags of water to preserve them.Īt the front of Ellingsen's classroom stands Woodburn High School's pride and joy: a massive, ancient bison skeleton. Woodburn High School science teacher David Ellingsen points out a small bone excavated earlier in the day. “They’re 10,000-year-old fish spines! From stickleback fish!” “Do you see these?” Ellingsen held up a vial of translucent slivers suspended in water. (And yes, they want you to pronounce it like "ARGH!" with an N at the beginning.) They rustled as he pushed them to the side, pulling out tray after tray of bones to show visitors from the North American Research Group, called NARG. The school is being renovated for the summer, so his display cases full of bones - Ellingsen said there are 2,000 to 3,000 - are draped in protective plastic curtains. They’re meticulously labeled and stored in jewelry boxes and petri dishes, display cases full of muskrat mandibles, frog femurs and beaver bones. It’s a rare opportunity for anyone with an interest in science to try hands-on paleontology.Įllingsen’s classroom is full of specimens excavated by previous classes. He helps citizen scientists, members of the community and his students dig the bones up. Woodburn High School science teacher David Ellingsen coordinates twice-yearly digs at the site with financial support from the city. Now, the bones are seeing the light of day again. My student went along and pulled them out with little fanfare.”ĭavid Ellingsen (right) looks at bones his students brought to him. “Sure enough, workers had collected several large bones and stowed them in the back of their pickup. He told OPB in an email that he sent one of his “minions” down to look at the excavation. They lay covered with water and muck until construction crews laying sewer lines or building bypasses dug them up.īill Orr, a paleontologist and professor emeritus at the University of Oregon was one of the first to study the site. Animals entered the bog, lived their lives there, and after they died, they sank. Ten thousand years ago the valley here was mostly wetland. Scientists can, and have, extracted DNA from those bones. Unlike the bones in John Day, these aren’t fossils, they’re truly bones, preserved in an oxygen-free layer of muck that stops them from decomposing or fully fossilizing. ![]() When most people here think prehistoric animals, they think of the better-known John Day Fossil Beds in remote Eastern Oregon. ![]() Tucked between a school, a bypass, a thoroughfare and train tracks, this mid-Willamette Valley spot is an unexpected place to find one of the richest paleolithic sites in North America, called the La Brea of the Northwest by those familiar with its treasures.Įven within within the Northwest, it's something of a paleontological secret. ![]()
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