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Once past the San Luis Reservoir and Los Banos, you are almost back in America’s Midwest flatland farm country.Mile after mile of crops, fruit trees, and an occasional goat or alpaca farm spread out on both sides of the highway. Old Glory flutters every few miles and the radio stations morph into religious programs or conservative talk shows. A road sign says it all – Indiana Avenue.

Shortly after merging into Hwy 99 South at Avenue 21 ½, Exit 164, is an interesting relatively new exhibition center called the San Joaquin Valley Paleontology Foundation’s Fossil Discovery Center, also known as the Fairmead fossil site.

Located across the street from what archeologists call a “midden” but commonly referred to as the county dump, this site is the largest fossil recovery site in the United States. More than 15,000 fossils from 37 species have been recovered from the site to date. California State University-Fresno archeologists plan on 20 more years of active digging. The fossils are between 500,000 and 780,000 years old – the Middle Pleistocene Epoch, which lasted from 1.8 million years ago to until around 10,000 years ago.

As I walked from the parking lot past a covered “mock” dig, some school children were eagerly digging up “fossil” bones. Archeology staff, a man and a woman, held books with photographs to help the kids identify what they had dug up. Blake, one of the staff, walked with me into the center and explained the procedure. First thing is viewing an 8-minute film in the theater showing how this fossil center came into existence. Afterward, it is easy to follow the exhibits in this small museum from each scene or topic to another.

I was lucky enough to join a class of 4^th and 1^st graders from Terry Elementary School in Selma, California, which was being toured by Betty, one of the staff. Their teacher told me the 4^th graders had been tutoring the first graders all year in learning to read — this was their end of the school-year treat.

As you enter the main hall, the first thing you see is a replica of a gigantic California mammoth standing about 14’ at the shoulder – bigger than an SUV. A tusk from a California mammoth was found 35 feet below the surface in May, 1993 by a landfill worker which started this whole dig. After being blown away by the mammoth, we saw an archeological work table at the back. There were a variety of tools and a sample plaster-coated burlap jacket in which fossils are carefully preserved upon recovery out of the earth.

We found out that the most common animal remains are from various types of horses. There were cabinets filled with horse and other fossils. Camelops, an archetypical camel which may or may not have had a hump, was also prevalent along with many other forerunners of today’s animals. Larger than today’s camels, it was about 7’ tall and weighing up to 2,600 lbs.

Going forward on the left is a prep laboratory where archeologists prepare fossils for display. This is a well-done exhibit showing how archeologists work in identifying and classifying remains. Staff member Linda showed us a variety of tiny remains and asked the children to identify them. With her help they were able to recognize a tiny ancient snail shell, tiny rodent and a small blue tooth which was not readily identifiable. We learned that things we could not identify were classified as random unidentifiable objects.

In front of the lab was a taphonomy exhibit – showing a study of decaying organisms and how they decay over time and become fossilized, but the kids and I were more interested in the back inner wall which had cast skeletons of ice age animals behind small cases of fossils. Some of the animal skeletons were of a saber-toothed cat, dire wolf, giant ground sloth, and short face bear. We found out that the saber-toothed cat or Smilodon is the official state fossil of California – who knew?

Outside the building a Pleistocene Water Source (waterhole or pond to us) has been constructed. This water hole and lush native vegetation reflects how this area appeared some 700,000 years ago – very different from today’s semi-arid climate. For those interested in plants, there is a leaflet at the entrance describing the various ancient plants replicated in the pond area.

This museum, while small, is extremely interesting and especially geared to introduce children to paleontology/archeology. The contrast of what this area was like in pre-historic times compared to today’s farmlands is rather staggering. It is certainly worth a trip over the hill.

The Fossil Discovery Center is open Tuesday through Sunday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is closed on Mondays and holidays. The entrance fees are modest: Adults $8; Seniors/Military $6; Students/Children $4; and Children 3 and under are free. Mock digs must be set up in advance. Call 559.665.7107 ~ www.maderamammoths.org

Photos by Bill McQuary can be viewed in  in the  original publication: Santa Cruz Archeological Newsletter, Summer, 2012 

This article has also been published in Growing Up in Santa Cruz

Edita has a B.A. cum laude in English Literature from College of Notre Dame in Belmont, California. Currently working as a newsletter editor for a church in Aptos, she is an archeology aficionada. Jessica, her 12-yr. old granddaughter, has an interest in archeology and Payton, 4-yr. old grandson, wants to be a fireman but likes to dig in the sand.