Marmarth Research Foundation

In the Hell Creek formation of North Dakota

MRF Newswire

CNN's Young People Who Rock interviews Tyler Lyson (April 26, 2008)

Watch Tyler Lyson's interview on CNN's Young People Who Rock.

Collaborative Excavation between the MRF and the North Dakota Heritage Center (February 10, 2008)

The MRF will team up with Dr. John Hoganson and the North Dakota Heritage Center for two weeks this year. Week 2 (June 28 - July 5) will focus on prospecting for new Cretaceous localities on Forest Service land. Week 7 (August 2 - 9) volunteers will have the opportunity to spend part or all of their time in the Paleocene near Medora. We will prospect in an area that is abundant in crocodiles, champsosaurs, and turtles. Please note that for this week diner will not be provided.

Go to the "Sign-up" page and click on each week for more information.

(December 3, 2007)

Dakota the "dinomummy" makes front cover of the Washington Post

MRF featured in National Geographic documentary (December 2, 2007)

National Geographic documentary Dino Autopsy aired December 9th on the National Geographic Channel. Listen as Paleontologist Tyler Lyson talks about his discovery of a large plant-eating dinosaur with fossilized skin and soft tissue still intact.

Exploring the Dinosaur "Mummy"

$10,000 Cultural Heritage Grant approved by the State Historical Society of North Dakota (November 10, 2007)

A Cultural Heritage Grant was approved for $10,000 to help return a historic house back to Marmarth to be used as a local Natural History Museum. The generous grant from the State Historical Society of North Dakota will be used to pour a foundation and move the building 30 miles from Bowman, ND to Marmarth ND. The building is a historic building that used to be the Marmarth Hospital in the 1930's. The house was moved to Bowman ND in the 1980's and is now being donated to the MRF and the Marmarth Historical Society by a local doctor. Plans are underway to move the house back to Marmarth in the late Fall or early Spring of 2008/2009. The future museum will be located on the corner between Highway 12 and Main Street.

Tyler Lyson, Emma Schachner, and Doug Hanks presented their research at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Austin, TX. (October 18, 2007)

Tyler Lyson, Emma Schachner, and Doug Hanks each authored a poster at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Austin Texas. Tyler Lyson presented a poster on some of the research he has been doing on baenid turtles from the Turtle Graveyard. His poster was entitled "Variation, growth, and alpha taxonomy of baenid turtles: Insights from a Late Cretaceous death assemblage." The poster was very successful and Tyler hopes to publish on some of his findings soon.

Emma Schachner, Doug Hanks, and Tyler Lyson presented on a dinosaur that was found by a school group in 2001. Emma conducted the research and made the beautiful illustrations for the poster. The title of the poster was "A preliminary report of a new specimen of Chirostenotes (Oviraptorosauria: Theropoda) from the Hell Creek Formation of North Dakota." The poster was very successful, attracting a number of scientists, one of whom would like to collaborate with her on the project.

Doug Hanks, John Hoganson, Brett Woodward, and Tyler Lyson presented a poster on techniques for collecting large field jackets. Doug was not able to attend the meeting. Volunteer Al Flemming, who helped with the collecting of the specimens, manned the poster and fielded numerous questions. The title of the poster was "Mega Movers: Enormous field jackets."

Overall the meeting was very productive. The staff and volunteers who attended the meeting were able to inform numerous people of MRF's activities. Dissemination of such information is critical to the expansion of a new institution, such as MRF, because it encourages scientists and the general public to visit MRF's collection or join a field expedition.

Dinomummy (October 15, 2007)

Tyler Lyson, Marmarth Research Foundation President, and Dr. Phil Manning have authored a children's book, published by Kingfisher Publications, on a mummified dinosaur found by Tyler Lyson and that will be published later this fall. The book is entitled Dinomummy: The Life, Death, and Discovery of Dakota, a Dinosaur from Hell Creek.

International Reading Association (October 14, 2007)

Tyler Lyson was invited to talk about his work with MRF and his upcoming book, Dinomummy: The life, death, and discovery of Dakota, a dinosaur from Hell Creek. He talked for 15 minutes in front of around 70 teachers. Louis Lowry was the other invited speaker.