Publication Date
6-16-2023
Abstract
(June 16, 2023) – Looking for something fun and educational to do this summer? Consider a stop in Gray.
Overseen by the Don Sundquist Center of Excellence in Paleontology at East Tennessee State University, the Gray Fossil Site and Museum has been a center of research and teaching for more than two decades, with scientists identifying dozens of extinct animal and plant species. And the last year has been an incredible one, with researchers discovering species ranging from large predators to tiny critters previously unknown to science.
Digging is underway now for the new field season, and staff are currently busy excavating a Mastodon Pit.
“The Gray Fossil Site and Museum is a truly dynamic hub for science and education,” said David Moscato, science communication specialist. “Our researchers, staff and volunteers work so hard to preserve this incredible place, and I invite the public to come out and see for themselves all the exciting work happening here.”
Incredible year in review
Making headlines throughout the United States was the unearthing of an animal named Borophagus, a member of an extinct group commonly called “bone-crushing dogs.” So named for their powerful teeth and jaws, this is the first evidence of any animals in the dog family from the site.
Emily Bōgner, a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley, and alumna of ETSU’s paleontology master’s program, and Dr. Joshua Samuels, associate professor in the ETSU Department of Geosciences and curator at the Gray Fossil Site and Museum, conducted the research, published in the “Journal of Paleontology."
Document Type
News Article
