Fossil Hills Trail

Fossil Hills Trail leads to the historic location where a number of quarries were excavated into the Agate bonebed. At University Hill, a hillside cut exposes the bank of a shallow waterhole that existed here 19 million years ago. At Carnegie Hill, the path follows the floor of the waterhole where prehistoric mammals perished during a prolonged drought. University Hill is named for the University of Nebraska and Carnegie Hill is named for the Carnegie Museum, rival institutions that conducted excavations here at the turn of the 20th century. Some of the most significant fossil discoveries of the Miocene Epoch came from the Agate bonebed, and they are displayed in major museums around the world.

Nebraska · United States