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Agate Fossil Beds National MonumentFossil Hills at sunset
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Agate Fossil Beds National Monument
Indoor Activities

The Visitor Center/Museum features an information desk, theater with 12 minute movie, two exhibit galleries, and a bookstore, all overlooking the Niobrara River and its distinctive bluffs.

 
Fossil replicas in the diorama display at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument

Photo by Jonathan S. Garcia

After the Dinosaurs

A feeling of “then and now” radiates from a life-size diorama of the mounted skeletons (replicas) of the more unusual fossil animals discovered at Agate, and occupies the entire south side of the main gallery in front of three large windows.  Other displays focus on other real or replica fossils found in the area and invite interaction on the part of the viewer to think like a scientist.  Featured are such beasts as the “terrible pig” Dinohyus, the long necked, claw-toed Moropus, snarling beardogs, and dwarf rhinos in abundance.

 
Display from the Cook Collection at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument

Photo by Jonathan S. Garcia

Two Cultures, One Land

Also on display are the remnants of a deep friendship between rancher James Cook and the Lakota (Sioux) of Red Cloud and other High Plains tribes. 

Indians often visited him at his ranch and gave him gifts from the early reservation years, including fancy beaded or quilled moccasins, Indian games, a painted hide of the Custer Battle, guns, decorated clubs, a dog travois, and much more. Black and white photos of Cook’s visitors, a sound track by traditional singer Bill Horn Cloud, and a colorful, contemporary “wintercount” or historical calendar, create a mood for this special collection not to be missed by admirers of indigenous culture.

The Fossil Hills, containing the main excavation sites. Carnegie Hill on the right, and University (of Nebraska) Hill on the left.  

Did You Know?
At Agate Fossil Beds many years separated different excavations. In 1981 University of Nebraska scientists screened the soil near a 1908 Carnegie excavation site and found a beardog tibia fragment fitting one found in the earlier dig. This site also revealed actual beardog dens.
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Last Updated: February 03, 2009 at 16:01 EST