Welcome to the Miocene, a time when East Tennessee was full of alligators, red pandas, and elephants. The Miocene dates back to 4.5 million years ago and the landscape would have been unrecognizable to the current inhabitants. Back in 2000, road construction began in the space right next to Daniel Boone High School to try and stop some of the accidents that were occurring regularly. Soon into the new road project, TDOT workers found the jawbone of what was thought to be part of a mammoth. Since the mammoth is Ice Age era, the state of Tennessee was going to continue with construction because of the plethora of Ice Age information paleontologists already have. Luckily, they did decide to dig for a few more days until the skull of an alligator was found. This was huge news for the site because the alligator obviously did not come from the Ice Age, but actually predated the era. Through relative dating, paleontologists (led by my now boss- Dr. Stephen Wallace) determined the site to be a part of the Miocene. Evidence has also shown the team and volunteers that behind the museum use to be a huge watering hole that drew all sorts of animals. The site is so abundant that every single day there are new fossils uncovered. Seven years after the initial discovery the Natural History Museum at the Gray Fossil Site was founded as a branch of the ETSU newly founded Paleontology Department.
For the month of June, I will be taking part of all different elements of the museum. Since the museum is ultimately half an active dig site and half a traditional museum, I believe this will be an interesting immersion into the world of paleontology. The first three days of my internship were labeled by my boss as “Operations” but I have ultimately been sitting at the front desk reading about the history of the museum. Since the museum also likes to give a tour every hour on the hour, but only have one employee that has the time and experience to do them, I am also being trained to be a tour guide. Every day so far we have had summer camp groups come through to see the site.
The kids have been excited about learning and ask a lot of questions about why there are no dinosaurs on our site. Ultimately, the tour route is interesting and I am excited to be set on my own to lead a tour group next week! This first week of work has been challenging but extremely informative. The employees are open to teach me about the museum and I can not wait to see where this experience will take me.