2012 Field Expeditions

The goals of Tate Geological Museum paleontology field trips are to offer fun educational experiences while building up the museum’s collections for display and/or research. The popular summer dinosaur digs will again be available for interested members of the public. Registration will be through the museum and CEU credit will be available upon request. The fee this year will be $800/person. This includes six nights of lodging, six dinners, five field lunches, four continental breakfasts at the hotel in Lusk, snacks and soft drinks/water, and all ground transportation from Casper.

A non-refundable deposit of $400 per person is required upon registration to hold your place. The balance of the fee is due no later than 60 days prior to the start of the dig.

The minimum age for participation is 16 (16 and 17-year-olds must be accompanied by an adult participant.)

We will be doing two dig weeks this summer, the first one on July 9-13 and the second one September 10-14. Fossils collected remain property of the Tate Museum, although participants are usually allowed to bring home a few samples of bone. Additionally, a Tate Museum volunteer photographer typically documents the dig and shares photos with participants.

The primary plan this summer is to continue excavating at a bonebed we have been collecting for a few summers, called Promise Hill. The site has numerous hadrosaur bones, as well as many other bones from all sorts of late Cretaceous animals. Another site we plan to work is another hadrosaur site, called Merle's Site, which we started working on several summers ago. There are other sites we may explore as well, including microsites (locally rich accumulations of small fossils), and we may find some time for prospecting.

These photos are from the 2010 dig at Promise Hill:

	This is the quarry at Promise Hill on our September Dino Dig 2010. The hadrosaur bones are mostly in the foreground part of the quarry, while the further part is more an accumulation of assorted Cretaceous bones and parts and pieces.
	Here is a hadrosaur caudal vertebra (tailbone) from Promise Hill. Sept 2010
	And a well-preserved Tyrannoaurus rex tooth from the same site.
	Participants putting plaster jackets around bones to be collected.

The trips are run by the museum’s field operations and prep lab manager, JP Cavigelli. JP’s expertise has led to his participation in numerous paleontological expeditions throughout the West as well as in Niger, Mongolia, and Tanzania. JP’s most recent project was leading the excavation and preparation of Dee, believed to be the world’s largest Columbian Mammoth, now on exhibit in the Tate Geological Museum.

Accommodations in Casper are included on the Sunday evening prior to the dig and the Friday evening after the dig at the Platte River Resort. The hotel offers a free shuttle to and from Casper-Natrona County International Airport. Complimentary transportation to the museum before and after the dig can also be arranged. The hotel in Lusk offers continental breakfast. The hotel’s indoor pool and hot tub are always welcome after a hard day in the field. All hotel accommodations are double occupancy. Roommates are assigned as necessary. Single occupancy, based on hotel availability, can be arranged at extra cost. Simple, delicious lunches in the field are provided daily, as are dinners each night in Lusk or Casper. Cost is $800. Booze is not included in the cost of trips.

Attendees are required to sign a Medical Release Form. Please print this off and send it in with your registration form and payment.

• Medical Release Form (PDF)

For more information please call 307-268-2447 or email J.P. Cavigelli.

• Backpack
• Refillable water bottle (a MUST)
• Field notebook
• Binoculars
• Camera
• Light jacket/rain gear
• Knee pads

To register for a Tate Museum Paleontology Dig download the registration form here and send it to us via snailmail or fax (info on registration form), along with the downpayment and the completed Medical Release Form (found above).