Ashfall Fossil Beds
The Ashfall Fossil Beds of Antelope County in northeastern Nebraska are rare fossil sites of the type called lagerstätten that, due to extraordinary local conditions, capture an ecological "snapshot" in time of a range of well-preserved fossilized organisms. Ash from a Yellowstone hotspot eruption 10-12 million years ago created these fossilized bone beds. The ash depth was up to 1 foot.
| Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park | |
|---|---|
Hills surrounding the fossil beds | |
Location in Nebraska | |
| Location | Antelope County, Nebraska, United States |
| Nearest town | Royal, Nebraska |
| Coordinates | 42°25′30″N 98°09′31″W |
| Area | 360 acres (150 ha) |
| Elevation | 1,722 ft (525 m) |
| Designation | Nebraska state historical park |
| Established | 1986 |
| Operator | University of Nebraska–Lincoln |
| Website | Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park |
U.S. National Natural Landmark | |
| Designated | 2006 |
The site is protected as Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park, a 360-acre (150 ha) park that includes a visitor center with interpretive displays and working fossil preparation laboratory, and a protected ongoing excavation site, the Hubbard Rhino Barn, featuring fossil Teleoceras (native hippo-like ancestral rhinoceros) and ancestral horses.
The Ashfall Fossil Beds are especially famous for fossils of mammals from the middle Miocene geologic epoch. The Ashfall Fossil Beds are stratigraphically part of the Serravallian-age Ogallala Group.