#LostBones

Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2026-02-27

#LostBones #FossilFriday #RadioCarbonDating 🐂🦥🐴🐘🐪In June 1921, workers removing the overburden at the Sagamore Mine near Riverton, Minnesota uncovered a peat layer ~eight feet below the surface that held a rich Pleistocene bone bed. Among the material recovered from this layer were a horse molar (specimen #6) and an horse incisor, found alongside other late‑Quaternary remains within the same sedimentary zone.

crowwinghistory.org

#pleistocene #palaeontology #CitizenScience #Equus

Possible Ice Age upper horse molar. Occlusal view.Possible Ice Age horse incisor. Side view.Possible Ice Age upper horse molar. Side view.
Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2026-02-14

Happy #LostBones #FossilFriday! 🐴🦣🐂🦥🍃🐪🐟 Was on the road this week with @dr_crocogator to retrieve specimen #4! This beauty of a horse molar (right p2) is from Wright County, Minnesota.

It was found on the shore of Olson’s Point on Buffalo Lake in 1976 and was currently housed at the Wright County Historical Society in Buffalo.

www.wrighthistory.org
📖Notes: substack.com/profile/74732696-

#pleistocene #equus #palaeontology #citizenscience #horse #iceage #mnmuseums

Lower p2 horse molar - occlusal.Lower p2 horse molar - side.Lower p2 horse molar - side.
Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2026-02-07

🐴 #LostBones #FossilFriday — Twelve horse teeth from across Minnesota are headed for radiocarbon dating.

This pristine specimen #3 comes from Flower Valley near Red Wing. It was found by Shari Albers when she was ten, discovered as her dad worked a field.

Read the full story in Lost Bones #4 (link in my profile).

#Pleistocene #IceAgeMinnesota #RadiocarbonDating

Photo Credit: Purple prairie clover central MN / Kelly Povo

Purple prairie cloveUpper horse molar - side.Upper horse molar - occlusal.
Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2026-01-16

🐴 #LostBones 🐘🦥🐪 For #FossilFriday, a new series: 12 horse teeth from across Minnesota, each one headed for radiocarbon dating to finally pin down when these animals moved across the state’s post glacial landscape.

Specimen #1 comes from a private collection near Little Sauk, Minnesota — a single horse tooth pulled from a skull found in the black marl of the Sauk River.

How do they fit into the lives or paleo-Minnesotans?

#Pleistocene #Equus #Paleontology #CitizenScience #RadiocarbonDating

Horse skull from Little Sauk river.Horse tooth from Little Sauk river.Horse tooth from Little Sauk river.
Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2025-12-13

#LostBones #5 which dives deep into this discovery is now up on Substack! marcusbrandel.substack.com/p/l

Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2025-12-12

#FossilFriday - #LostBones #5 on Substack: "In April 1967, Burgess Construction employee Ivan Brouwer, a dragline operator working along a creek during the construction of Minnesota’s Interstate 94 (I-94) just east of the city of Melrose Minnesota, uncovered a mass of jumbled bones in a peat deposit approximately 15 feet below the original ground surface..."

open.substack.com/pub/marcusbr

Share to support my volunteer effort!

#Writing #HistoricalNonFiction #CitizenScience
#melrosehistoricalmuseum

Bison skull at Melrose Historical MuseumDelta vaults courtesy of the Science Museum of MinnesotaI-94 Construction between Sauk Centre and Melrose 1968. Courtesy of Stearns History Museum
Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2025-12-09

#TatonkaTuesday - Finally getting around to writing a detailed #LostBones Substack about the Melrose Minnesota site - a peat deposit uncovered during MN I-94's construction in 1967.

The largest skull from the site (left) is SMM P67.1.33. At 89.5 cm (35.24 inches) across its horn cores. In life the span could have been nearly 45 inches with its outer sheaths

Blog post coming soon! If you know of other sites - comment!

#Pleistocene #Bisonoccidentalis #CitizenScience #Discovery on #Substack

Bison skull on cart at the Science Museum of Minnesota.Bison from the Melrose site on display at Stearns County History museum. These specimens are said to be Bison Occidnetalis
Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2025-11-29

🦣🐘🦥🐪 For #FossilFriday: Here is the second of the OG 12 mammoth specimens from New Ulm, MN. Amazingly, split down its length rather than broken into individual plates its chewing surface is missing—but you can see part of the animal’s jaw and tooth root exposed.

Discoveries in New Ulm continue to this day! To read more about the first “dirty dozen” proboscidean finds, check out #LostBones #3 (one of the free articles) on my Substack.

marcusbrandel.substack.com/
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#Pleistocene #CitizenScience

Fragmented mammoth molar and partial jawFragmented mammoth molar and partial jawFragmented mammoth molar and partial jaw
Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2025-10-31

🐂#LostBones 🦥🐴🐘🐪 Near Little Sauk, Minnesota, a local naturalist began finding bison bones in the thick marl at the bottom of a river on his property. So, as one does, he started wading in neck-deep water—feeling for bones with his feet!

This is the fourth such Minnesota skeleton I’ve written about here. If you know of others, or have your own skeleton haunting a basement or garage this Halloween #FossilFriday, I’d love to hear the tale!
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#holloween #skeleton #bisonbison #citizenscience

Custom mounted bison skeletonCustom mounted bison skeletonCustom mounted bison skeleton
Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2025-10-24

#FossilFriday, The Midwest’s #Homotherium! A partial skullcap, the first Homotherium specimen found in Minnesota, was recovered in 2008 from Tyson Spring Cave in Fillmore County.

The find, along with a Cervalces scotti skullcap, was later published by Chris Widga and colleagues in Boreas (Widga et al., 2012).

Images courtesy of: Illinois State Museum (Facebook), Tyson Spring Cave (Website), Widga et al. (2012, Boreas), and Mather (2009, Minnesota Conservation Volunteer)
#Pleistocene #LostBones

Homotherium covert art from Mather, D. (2009). A new twist in megafauna history. Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, March–April 2009. Minnesota Department of Natural ResourcesSkullcap photo form  Tyson Spring Cave (Website)Figure of Homotherium skullcap from Widga et al. (2012). Homotherium serum and Cervalces from the Great Lakes Region, USA: geochronology, morphology and ancient DNA. Boreas, 41(4)Photo of Homotherium skullcap from Illinois State Museum (Facebook),
Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2025-10-17

For #FossilFriday - another rare Midwest specimen! This Cervalces scotti partial skullcap and antler beam marks the first stag-moose specimen found in Minnesota.

Recovered in 2008 from Tyson Spring Cave the find, along with a Homothereium skullcap, was later identified by Chris Widga and colleagues, and published in Boreas (Widga et al., 2012), expanding the Ice Age megafauna taxa in the Great Lakes region.

#Pleistocene #Caving #Cervalcesscotti #Paleontology #CitizenScience #LostBones

Figue 3 or the specimen from Widga et al. (2012). Homotherium serum and Cervalces from the Great Lakes Region, USA: geochronology, morphology and ancient DNA. Boreas, 41(4)A map of Tyson Spring Cave's general location from Boreas (Widga et al., 2012).An early image of the specimen form Mather, D. (2009). A new twist in megafauna history. Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, March–April 2009. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2025-10-03

🐪 #LostBones 🐪 says: Hmmm… A recent visit to the Jackson County Historical Society revealed a camel calcaneus in the collection.

Among specimens from a 2015 study of a section of the Des Moines River, which examined bison, horse, deer, and other skeletal remains it was part of over 800 bones cataloged. But was this camel actually in Minnesota? More to come.

jchsmn.org
Lost Bones: medium.com/@dbrake40
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#FossilFriday #Pleistocene #Camel #Palaeontology #CitizenScience

Camel calcaneusCamel calcaneus with scaleCamel calcaneusCamel calcaneus
Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2025-09-21

#goodhuecountyhistory #lostbones #citizenscience #fossilfriday #mnmuseums - The Goodhue County Historical Society tops my list. Not only do they feature some of my favorite megafauna specimens—like bison, mammoth, and giant beaver—but they also offer a wide array of historical, archaeological, and regional displays that highlight the rich cultural and natural heritage of the Red Wing area.

An exhibit on Re Wing's rich archeological historyAn exhibit on Re Wing's rich clay and brickyard historyProboscidean tooth and tusk on display.An exhibit on the Minnesota Sate Fossil Castoroides ohioensis (the giant beaver)!
Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2025-09-13

Happy #fossilfriday. I’ve previously posted about the two most documented terrestrial mammal skeletal elements in the county museums I’ve worked with: #1 (teeth) and #2 (mandibles). Today, we’re moving on to number #3—rib bones. Across nearly thirty museums to date, I’ve come across 32 ribs.

Curious about some of my more surprising finds? Check out the link in my profile to explore my writing spaces on Substack or Medium.

#LostBones #CitizenScience #Pleictocene #VeribrateMammals #Bison

Rib bones, Anoka County Historical Society. Anoka, MinnesotaRib bones, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MinnesotaRib bones, Melrosde Area Museum, Melrose, MinnesotaRib bones, Rice County Historical Society. Faribault, Minnesota
Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2025-08-01

🫎It’s a #Bisonbison #Alcesalces #FossilFriday! 🐂🐴🐘🦥🐪 These #LostBones skulls come from Kittson County, Minnesota—the northeastern most county in the state, known as “where Minnesota begins.” Many other species and elements are also displayed.

If any of these great specimens are your donations and you have more details, please reach out through the link in my profile.

facebook.com/KittsonCountyHist

#Pleistocene #Skulls #Palaeontology #Fossils #Shareyourdiscovery #Citizenscience

Moose, Alcesalces, skullBison skullcapBison skullcap possibly fromthe Red river.Bison skullcap
Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2025-07-18

🐴 #LostBones #FossilFriday 🐟🐘🦥🐪 In the summer of 2012, students from the Geology Department at Gustavus Adolphus College collected over 800 bones on the Des Moines River near Jackson, Minnesota.

This crunchy but beautiful left horse femur was part of the project and is now housed at the Jackson County Historical Society in Lakefield.

Jackson County: jchsmn.org
Lost Bones: medium.com/@dbrake40

#pleistocene #equus #femur #palaeontology #shareyourdiscovery #citizenscience

Left horse femur.Left horse femur.
Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2025-07-11

🐊 A special back-to-our-roots #Minnesota #FossilFriday 🐴🐟🐘🦥🐪Terminonaris robusta (originally classified as Teleorhinus). A partial snout of Terminonaris was excavated in 1969 at the Hill Annex Mine - the same site where the claw of a dromaeosaur was found in 2015.

The excerpt here was published in a 1983 issue of Minnesota Conservation Volunteer. Vintage paleoart by Ken Sander.

#Cretaceous #Crocodile #Terminonarusrobusta #Palaeontology #CitizenScience

More #LostBones medium.com/@dbrake40

Excerpt from Minnesota Conservation Volunteer article.Pictured: upper snout of Terminonaris robusta. Contrary to the internet these days, Minnesota does have fossiliferous Cretaceous formations - and yes, even dinosaurs. The major formations, the Windrow in southern Minnesota and the Coleraine in northern Minnesota, are indeed present, though mostly buried well beneath the surface. But iron mining on Minnesota’s Mesabi Range has done some digging for us.
Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2025-07-04

🐂🐴 #LostBones #FossilFriday 🐟🐘🦥🐪 An in-person, eye-to-orbit visit is always best! This is the Scheirel bison skeleton, currently on display at the Paynesville Area Historical Society. It was reconstructed by William Scheirel after a dredging operation on his property in October 1975.

Originally displayed at Zapf's Leather Shop in Paynesville, the skeleton was donated to the historical society in the mid-1990s.

paynesvillehistorical.org

#Pleistocene #Bison #Palaeontology #CitizenScience #Fossil

Bison skull, mounted.Mounted bison skeleton.
Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2025-06-20

🐂🐴 #CountingBones #FossilFriday 🐟🐘🦥🐪 The second most common bison element, above molars, across the state of Minnesota is the mandible.
Lost Bones: medium.com/@dbrake40
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#Pleistocene #Bison #Palaeontology #Fossils #CitizenScience #Mandible #LostBones

Bison mandible Pope CountyBison mandibles Pope CountyBison mandibles Melrose MinnesotaBison mandible Cottonwood River
Marcus BrandelSergeir@ecoevo.social
2025-06-13

🐂 #LostBones #FossilFriday 🐘🦥🐴🐪🍃 This striking left bison femur was discovered in Glenwood, Minnesota, during maintenance of the now-defunct ski hill in Barsness Park. The specimen was donated to the Pope County Historical Society in 1999.

popecountymuseum.com

#GlenwoodMN #Pleistocene #Bison #Bisonbison #MinnesotaHistory #Paleontology #CitizenScience

See the link in my profile for more Pleistocene specimens and their stories of discovery and preservation.

Left bison femurLeft bison femur distal endLeft bison femur

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