Fossils and Paleontology of Agate Fossil Beds

Overlooking the Niobrara River and miles of open prairie, the Fossil Hills of Agate Fossil Beds National Monument contain some of the premiere paleontological sites in North America.

In the early 1900s, Carnegie Hill, University Hill, Beardog Hill and Quarry A yielded thousands of bones from rhinoceroses, horses, calicotheres, camels, entelodonts and beardogs.

These fossils effectively defined the Early Miocene and the Age of Mammals for the then-young science of paleontology.

Learn more about how Agate yielded its secrets then, and how it continues to advance science today.

 

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  Meet the Agate Mammals

  What animals roamed here? (Spoiler: They weren't dinosaurs!)

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  How Excavations Worked

  How did they dig out tons of fossils last century without destroying scientific evidence?