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Vertebrate fossils have been known from the Las Vegas Valley for more than a century, beginning in 1903 when Josiah Spurr of the U.S. Geological Survey reported teeth and bones in the sediments exposed in the wash between Corn Creek Springs and Tule Springs (Spurr, 1903). Several scientific investigations followed, including the extensive and multidisciplinary Tule Springs Expedition of 1962–63 that sought to determine if humans and Pleistocene megafauna coexisted in the area. In what came to be known as the Big Dig, the Tule Springs Expedition combined traditional field techniques with massive earth-moving activities. Heavy construction equipment carved enormous trenches into the sediments at Tule Springs to expose vertical walls as deep as 13 meters (nearly 43 feet!), which allowed the sediments to be studied in detail. Geologist C. Vance Haynes, Jr., directed the geological investigations and subdivided the fossil-rich sediments into distinct units of the Las Vegas Formation. He also assigned ages to the units using the newly developed radiocarbon dating technique. Haynes’ targeted approach demonstrated that human-made artifacts only occurred in the youngest levels of the formation—those layers lacking the fossilized remains of Pleistocene animals (Haynes, 1967). Consequently, the hypothesis that early humans coexisted with Pleistocene megafauna at Tule Springs was disproven, and interest in the site faded. A long intermission in scientific research followed, lasting until the 2000s when museum scientists conducted comprehensive and systematic paleontological excavations of the area. The scientists discovered nearly 600 new fossil localities and collected and curated more than 40,000 vertebrate fossils. Work in Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument continues today through the efforts of scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, National Park Service, and academic institutions across the country. On December 19, 2014, Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument in Nevada was established by Congress as the 405th unit of the National Park Service to “conserve, protect, interpret, and enhance for the benefit of present and future generations the unique and nationally important paleontological, scientific, educational, and recreational resources and values of the land” (P.L. 113-291, sec. 3092).

The geology and paleontology of Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, Nevada