When one thinks of the great fossil fields of the world, the remote plains of Mongolia and Montana probably come to mind. In North Carolina one can only find sharks teeth or perhaps a few fossil shells, right?
Yet, many areas of North Carolina and the Southeast are actually very rich in fossils. Coastal fossil beds produce large shark’s teeth and whale bones, but they can also yield the skeletons of mammoths, walrus and giant sloth. Clay soils in the piedmont can yield the skeletons of reptiles almost 220 million years old.
Today, much of the research relating to North Carolina’s fossil past is being carried out at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. In this episode, Exploring North Carolina will travel back in time with the talented paleontologists of the Museum to visit lost worlds beneath Piedmont clay and the sandy soils of the Coast.
