Re: Paleocene dinosaurs (Ref.s)

[Danvarner@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/15/01 4:53:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
Buckaroobwana@aol.com writes:


<< Greetings, 
Could someone explain exactly what "reworking" means? It's always confused me.
>>

       Reworking means a fossil that is eroded and redeposited in a different 
context than which it originated. For instance, at the Lange-Ferguson Site (I 
hope I've spelled that correctly) in South Dakota, a mammoth was killed and 
butchered by Clovis hunters in the vicinity of 10,000 years ago. The event 
took place in the White River Badlands of Late Eocene age. In the excavation 
mammoth remains were found along with a few bits of Eocene titanothere that 
had eroded out of the surrounding landscape. This is a phenomenon that is 
surprisingly common, especially in regions of gradual uplift--like South 
Dakota. We used to find examples in the marine deposits every once in a 
while. This redeposition of fossils, of course, makes it extremely difficult, 
if not impossible, to redeposit articulated skeletal remains, hence my 
insistance that such be present to constitute proof of post Cretaceous 
non-avian dinosaurs rather than bits and pieces that could be called 
cryptopaleontology. DV