Berlin Ichthyosaur State Park

The town of Berlin was a mining town in central Nevada.  The miners used to find unusual rock shaped like a short cylinder with concave surfaces on both sides.  They used them for ash trays and dog bowls.

In the 1960's several of these rocks were sent to the paleontology department at Berkley and were identified as vertebrae fossils.  

Exploration and excavation ensued and and the result was this inauspicious rock exposure. To the untrained eye it looks like nothing special, but with the aid of the ranger you soon discover backbone by backbone that 9 or more Ichthyosaurs died and settled to the bottom of the sea at this location. They are unsure what caused this sudden demise of so many at the same time.

Ichthyosaur excavation site.  The darker rocks are fossils that have been treated to preserve them.

The largest full skeleton at this site represents a 50 ft long ichthyosaur.  It's vertebrae were about 12 inches in diameter.  Other vertebrae from a partial skeleton were found that were 16 inches in diameter.  It is estimated that they belonged to a 65 or 70 ft long ichthyosaur.

Rebecca scratches the tummy of a 50 ft ichthyosaur.

After years of being exposed to the elements a building was built around the excavation site to help preserve it.

House of Ichthyosaur

The self guided tour is not as impressive as the guided tour.  You can look end the window from either end of the buildings and have a diagram and key as your guide to the fossils.

Ichthyosaur self guided tour diagram.

Key to the ichthyosaur self guided tour diagram.

The tour guide did an excellent job of walking you through each skeleton so you could see the animals laying there.

Sketch of the fossils that can be seen today.

How the ichthyosaurs would have lain after they died.

Ichthyosaur fossils

Ichthyosaur fossils

We camped two nights in the park.  It is an amazing location.

Sunset from near our campsite.

Our trailer amongst the trees.