The Black Hills are filled with fossils. You might have read my previous entry about Sue the T-rex and all of the controversy that came along with her discovery, or you might have also read my post about mammoth DNA research. But where do all of these studies take place? That would be Hill City, home of the Black Hills Institute and Hot Springs, location of The Mammoth Site.

The Black Hills Institute of Geological Research has been a major player in paleontological excavations and preparations since 1974. If you’re slightly confused on what all of this means, BHI prepares fossils and cast replicas for museums and private collectors. (I wonder how much it would cost to have a private collection of professionally excavated prehistoric creatures). This includes everything from prehistoric mammals, fish and dinosaurs.

BHI’s biggest claim to fame has probably been their involvement in 8 tyrannosaurus rex excavations, including that of Sue from Faith, Stan and Bucky from near the Buffalo area, and Wyrex from Montana.

The work of BHI is on display in some of the world’s largest museums like The Smithsonian, The National Science Museum in Tokyo, the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in Drumheller, Alberta and the National Museum of Natural History in Leiden, Netherlands.

Talk about being internationally renowned! Of course, some of their work, including Stan, can be found at South Dakota’s own Black Hills Museum of Natural History in Hill City.

The Mammoth Site is responsible for the excavation of 55 mammoths to date.  The site came to be in 1974 (apparently the year for paleontological discovery in South Dakota) after the excavation for a housing development unearthed a sink hole from the ice age. Inside were Columbian and woolly mammoths, camels, llamas, prairie dogs, fish etc. Quite the random listing of critters, isn’t it?

If you’d like a glance at prehistoric history, keep the Black Hills on your agenda. You can spend your day hiking, visiting Mount Rushmore, and seeing a preserved mammoth or T-rex!