Mineral Wells

DON’T MISS

Visit Mineral Wells visitmineralwells.org

Mineral Wells Fossil Park 2375 Indian Creek Road Mineral Wells, TX 76067 (940) 328-7803 mineralwellsfossilpark.com

Dallas Paleontological Society (817) 355-4693 dallaspaleo.org

Finders Keepers at Fossil Park

by Rose Jordan

Tucked away deep in the landscape just beyond the western edge of Mineral Wells is a fossil hunter’s paradise. Everyone from amateur enthusiasts to professional paleontologists enjoy collecting treasures at this fossiliferous hidden gem.

Though the fossils are more than 300-million years old, they were only just discovered in 2010. The site was formerly the borrow pit to the city’s landfill (not the landfill itself), that closed in 1993. After 20 years of erosion in the pit, tiny fossils began to surface, and fossil lovers took notice.

At the urging of the Dallas Paleontological Society (DPS), the Chamber of Commerce and City of Mineral Wells collaborated with DPS to create the Mineral Wells Fossil Park. This city park is especially appealing because unlike most roadside dig sites, it is large, wide open, clear of cumbersome vegetation and there’s no danger from oncoming traffic.

According to Brittanica.com, finds from this historic seabed are from the Pennsylvanian Period, a time marked by “significant advance and retreat by shallow sea.” The fossils are of plants and animals that were buried in sediments as the land shifted to create the Palo Pinto Mountains.

Visitors won’t unearth the bones of dinosaurs at this site. Instead, they’ll find an abundance of crinoids (sea lilies), echinoids (urchins), corals and sponges, and trilobites (arthropods). The rare find is a coveted shark’s tooth.

When headed out to the park, there are a few things to keep in mind. While there are some shaded picnic tables up top, the actual “dig” pit is wide open with no shade; use sunscreen and carry plenty of water. The term “dig” is used loosely; digging is less productive than simply collecting the fossils found on the surface, especially after a good rain. That’s why only small hand/garden tools are allowed; shovels or pickaxes are not permitted.

Recently celebrating its 12th anniversary, the Mineral Wells Fossil Park remains a free city park open daily to the public year-round. Not only are visitors sure to find fossils, once they know what to look for, but visitors get to keep them - for personal use only. It’s one of few places in the United States where visitors can take their finds home.

Join the fun at the park on the third Saturday of October for the annual Crazy Fossil Dig (pictured above). Dallas Paleontological Society members share collecting techniques and help visitors identify finds. Visit Mineral Wells has Fossil Explorer Kits, scavenger hunts and more!

MINERAL WELLS

Baylor University’s Mayborn Museum

Exploring Science & Culture

by Molly Noah

DON’T MISS

Visit Waco wacoheartoftexas.com

Mayborn Museum 1300 S. University Parks Dr. Waco, TX 76706 (254) 710-1110 baylor.edu/mayborn

Waco Mammoth National Monument 6220 Steinbeck Bend Dr. Waco, TX 76708 (254) 750-7946 nps.gov/waco

Baylor University’s Mayborn Museum is one of Central Texas’ preeminent scientific and cultural institutions. Located in Waco on University Parks, the Mayborn opened its current building to the public in 2004, but our story began years earlier. In 1893, Baylor University needed a place to store specimens used in science classes; our collection grew out of these specimens and artifacts donated by missionaries on their travels abroad.

The Museum’s First Curator: John K. Strecker, Jr.

Strecker’s education as a naturalist began as a child. Curious by nature, Strecker collected, identified and preserved birds, reptiles, and most keenly, amphibian species. His desire to understand the nature around him would lead him to write scholarly articles about Central Texas species for regional newspapers. In 1903 at the age of 28, Strecker had impressed his fellow naturalists and was looking to manage a museum collection, and Baylor University was waiting.

As far back as the 1850s, Baylor University professors collected teaching materials to help students understand biology, physics, chemistry and geology. The paleontology collection contained over 13,500 fossil specimens and over 70% of these are fossils were collected in Texas. The majority are marine invertebrates,

WACO

such as the oyster Exogyra ponderosa and the sea urchin Heteraster texanus. The collection also includes a 75-million-yearold giant sea turtle, Protostega gigas. Discovered in 1971, it took almost two years to be excavated. The museum obtained the fossilized remains of a Ceraunosuarus brownorum, a marine reptile that swam in the shallow sea that covered Central Texas during the Cretaceous Period.

In his role as curator, Strecker organized and cared for the University’s museum collection, enhancing Baylor’s reputation on a worldwide scale. Strecker served as curator of the Baylor University Museum from 1903 to 1933. In 1940 the museum was renamed the Strecker Museum in his honor.

The Waco Mammoths

In 1983, Calvin Smith joined the staff at the Strecker Museum as director. Smith had heard about some mammoth fossils

(left) From humble beginnings: former curator of Baylor University Museum, John K. Strecker in 1926 surrounded by specimens that were the foundation for the Mayborn Museum. | Courtesy Mayborn Museum Complex

(top left) Celebrating Central Texas’ natural science and cultural history: resources of hands-on discovery rooms and interactive natural science and cultural history galleries, including outdoor exhibits, are brought together in one location at the Mayborn Museum Complex.

(top right) The Waco Mammoth National Monument exhibit gives visitors a unique view of how excavators found the mammoth bones at the site. some local teenagers had brought in from a local dig site years before but when he arrived, there were no complete specimens. The community was ready to give up on the dig site when Smith decided to head out to Steinbeck Road himself.

Smith toured the site and soon resumed the volunteer excavations. He suspected they had discovered a Paleoindian mammoth kill site – no such evidence turned up, but as the team unearthed 16 mammoths through the 1980s, a new picture emerged: that of a nursery herd of mammoths that died in a potentially cataclysmic event. Calvin Smith and his team of scientists removed much of the mammoth material from the site to house and research it at the Strecker Museum.

In 2004, the paleontology and geology collections were incorporated into the newly named Mayborn Museum Complex. The foundation laid by numerous museum directors from 1893 to the present helped connect the past to the future. The museum continues to honor their contributions through an exhibit called “Strecker’s Cabinets of Curiosities.”

Since 1893, the Mayborn has expanded its mission to include vibrant programs and hands-on experiences. Today, the Mayborn brings together the resources of discovery rooms and natural science and cultural history galleries, including outdoor exhibits. At the Mayborn, we study prehistory in pursuit of creating a better world— whether we’re analyzing objects in our collection or leading conversations about what these creatures’ environments would have looked like. Our geological and paleontological collections of fossils are world-renowned, drawing researchers from around the globe.

We ask big questions, publish groundbreaking research for the scientific community, and craft exhibitions to capture the imagination of a public who share our passion for science.