In the mid-1960s, Palm Beach County began dredging a lake for cover material, which was sand, to cover the solid waste dumped at the Dyer Boulevard Landfill. Then, in 1984, the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County took over this operation. In 1992, in addition to the usual sand, shells and rock material that were brought up by the dredge, pieces of fossilized bone started to appear from a narrow zone of sediment between 30 feet to 40 feet beneath the surface of the lake. The picture on the display cases showed this dredge in action.
Fossils Found
In the cases in front of you, you will find fossils belonging to many sea creatures including conchs, urchins, sharks, whales and sea turtles. As you move along, you will also see fossils of land animals like camels, horses and more. We even have a collection of fossils from the ice age, including mastodon, mammoth and scimitar cat fossils.
Fossil Location
No complete vertebrate fossil skeletons, skulls or skeletal parts were discovered during the collection process. The combination of land and fresh-water and marine fossils found and a lack of complete skeletal material leads us to believe that this small fossil-containing bed was very likely an area where a stream emptied into a brackish or salt water environment.
