EAST TENNESSEE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
| Gray Fossil Site |
| Washington County, Tennessee |
| Saturday, April 15, 2017 |
| Trip Leaders: Harry
Moore Don
Byerly |
ETSG field trip attendees at the Gray Fossil Site
Members
of the East Tennessee Geological Society followed a geology road
log from Knoxville to the Gray Fossil Site, traveling I-40, I-81,
and I-26 through northeastern Tennessee's Valley and Ridge
Province. During our 2006 field trip, we experienced the Gray
Fossil Site only six years after its inadvertant discovery during
a Tennessee Department of Transportation road construction
project in 2000 and one year before the museum opened in 2007.
This trip allowed us to tour the museum and get a behind-the
scenes look at the laboratory where specimens are stabilized,
categorized, and prepped for display and the collections area
where they are archived for future study. In addition, the small
field area from which the many fossils were excavated was toured.
Photos by Brad Stephenson.
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Museum entrance sculpture by General Shale
Brick. |
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ETGS member and field trip leader Harry
Moore (left) is retired from the Tennessee Department of
Transportation and was instrumental in recognizing the
significance of the Gray Fossil Site and working to
preserve it. |
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Rhinoceros (left) and alligator (right)
fossils have been excavated from the site. |
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Museum Registrar April Nye leads ETGS
members on a tour of the laboratory. |
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Elephant pelvis (left) and mastodon tusks
(right). |
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Mastodon skull with teeth (left) and tusk
(right). |
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Elephant mandible (left) and ETGS members
observing volunteer lab workers (right). |
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Fossilized rhinoceros femurs (left) and
upper/lower jaws (right). |
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Museum Registrar April Nye led a fantastic
tour of the archival storage area. |
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Fossilized bones of red panda (left) and
young alligator (right). |
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Visiting the Gray Fossil Site excavation
areas. |
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Left: Excavating for "fossils" in
the museum. |
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Page updated
May 19, 2018 |