This is Throwback Thursday #171. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc ...), please sent them to [email protected]. Thanks!
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Commemorative logo artwork for Fossil Cycad National Monument, depicting the small ornithopod dinosaur, Hypsilophondon wielandi, amongst some cycadeoids. The dinosaur species was named for the paleobotanist George Wieland, who found a femur from this dinosaur in 1891. NPS graphic by Tom Conant.
Fossil Cycad National Monument was authorized as National Monument in 1922 by President Warren G. Harding. It was located in southwestern South Dakota and encompassed 320 acres. It's one of the few national monuments to be completely stripped of its status. The National Park Services has a page devoted to the monument. Fossils from the site date to the Cretaceous Period about 120 million years ago.
During the late 19th century, farmers, in the area of what is now the Black Hills National Forest near Minnekahta in southwestern South Dakota, were finding cycad fossils grouped together in large numbers. They called them "petrified pineapples" and sold them as curios. What would become the fossilized cycad beds of the monument was discovered in 1892 by F.H. Cole, who sent photos of the fossils to the Smithsonian. Professor Thomas MacBride of the University of Iowa published the first description of the site in 1893.
George Wieland. YALE UNIVERSITY/PUBLIC DOMAIN
Even by 1922, when the site was established, there weren't many fossils left. Most, if not all, of the visible fossils were carted off by Yale paleobotanist George Wieland, who wrote two books on the subject "American Fossil Cycads" and "American Fossil Cycads, Volume 2". Wieland was enraptured by what he called their "superb beauty". He even decorated his backyard with some specimens. Nineteen species of Cycadeoidea were described from the monument's area. Cycadeoidea dacotensis is a fairly abundant example.
The monument was deauthorized in 1957. For more information about the monument, see the Atlas Obscura article "The National Park That Was Stolen" from 2017.
Cycadeoidea dakotensis
This topic was suggested by ESCONI member George Witaszek. Thanks, George!
