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National Geographic : 1947 May
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The National Geographic Magazine Charles R. Knight, courtesy American Museum of Natural History Before the Dawn of History, Protoceras Roamed the South Dakota Uplands From the study of skeletons found in the channel sandstones of the upper White River beds, the artist has reconstructed this prehistoric scene (pages 595, 599). Scientists determine the sex of these deerlike crea tures by examination of their skulls. Males have bony protuberances which supported horns. But we knew that there was a more en couraging side to the picture. Good channel outcrops are scarce, little known to prospec tors, and unheard of by many because of their remoteness from highways. Anything we found would almost surely be rare, and there was an excellent chance of bringing to light some finds new to science. We expected many disappointments. More often than not, when a fossil seeker finds part of a bone projecting from a rock and believes that he has a perfect prospect, it turns out to be nothing more than a small fragment. Unfortunately, this fact usually is not deter mined until hours have been spent in chiseling away a matrix that is almost as hard as con crete. There are many evenings when the "bone hunter" trudges into camp with nothing to show for his day's labor but a handful of painful blisters. But the memory of such days is soon erased when fortune smiles and a worth-while specimen is found. On these days we know by the grin on the hunter's sun-darkened face and the jauntiness of his walk that he has good news to report. By the end of June, forty-six specimens had been collected and numbered. Our practice is to dig out a block of rock containing the bone. This protects it during 594
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