Marcus Brandel
@lostbones.bsky.social
Coder 🖥️💾, Cycler 🚴♂, Independent Researcher 🐂🐴🐘🍃🐪🦥, Natural History Writer, Poor Golfer, Professional Nerd. Follow #LostBones to find out more about Pleistocene fossils or the Midwest https://linktr.ee/lostbones
Pinned
#FossilFriday 12 horse teeth. 12 stories. I’m working with the Science Museum of Minnesota to radiocarbon date a collection of specimens to trace when the last ice age horses ran the post‑glacial landscape. Specimen #1: is from Little Sauk pulled from a skull found in black marl of the Sauk River.
Reposted by Marcus Brandel
Happy #FossilFriday! Many thanks to @iknowdino.bsky.social for the spotlight on the Science Museum of Minnesota with everything that's been happening in #Minnesota. We appreciate the support and acknowledgement that everything here is affected by this, even #dinosaur #paleontology.
iknowdino.com
iknowdino.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:08 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! Many thanks to @iknowdino.bsky.social for the spotlight on the Science Museum of Minnesota with everything that's been happening in #Minnesota. We appreciate the support and acknowledgement that everything here is affected by this, even #dinosaur #paleontology.
iknowdino.com
iknowdino.com
#Lostbones Equine molar #3 of 12 will also be radiocarbon dated this year. This one was found in Flower Valley near Redwing Minnesota in the 1960s by ten year old Shari Albers. Read Shari's story in Lost Bones #4
February 7, 2026 at 2:09 AM
#Lostbones Equine molar #3 of 12 will also be radiocarbon dated this year. This one was found in Flower Valley near Redwing Minnesota in the 1960s by ten year old Shari Albers. Read Shari's story in Lost Bones #4
For #FossilFriday: 12 horse teeth from across Minnesota headed for radiocarbon dating. Specimen #2 comes from the Cottonwood River in New Ulm — found with landowner permission in 2025.
Will its age hint at a possible association with paleo‑Minnesotans?
Follow here and @dr-crocogator.bsky.social
Will its age hint at a possible association with paleo‑Minnesotans?
Follow here and @dr-crocogator.bsky.social
January 31, 2026 at 12:56 PM
For #FossilFriday: 12 horse teeth from across Minnesota headed for radiocarbon dating. Specimen #2 comes from the Cottonwood River in New Ulm — found with landowner permission in 2025.
Will its age hint at a possible association with paleo‑Minnesotans?
Follow here and @dr-crocogator.bsky.social
Will its age hint at a possible association with paleo‑Minnesotans?
Follow here and @dr-crocogator.bsky.social
Reposted by Marcus Brandel
Hmm, sounds like we need a refresher. The issue of whether everyone's favorite long-neck is called Brontosaurus or Apatosaurus (or both) has *nothing* to do with which skull was historically included on museum mounts! 🧵#FossilFriday
January 30, 2026 at 3:22 PM
Hmm, sounds like we need a refresher. The issue of whether everyone's favorite long-neck is called Brontosaurus or Apatosaurus (or both) has *nothing* to do with which skull was historically included on museum mounts! 🧵#FossilFriday
Reposted by Marcus Brandel
Happy #FossilFriday! Last night the Science Museum of Minnesota held a fashion-themed science night. Paleo connected w/ the shark tooth necklace, worn by many across the world, for many years people have expressed themselves w/ sharks. Pics 2 & 3 show off my part at the herps & fishes table!
January 30, 2026 at 1:49 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! Last night the Science Museum of Minnesota held a fashion-themed science night. Paleo connected w/ the shark tooth necklace, worn by many across the world, for many years people have expressed themselves w/ sharks. Pics 2 & 3 show off my part at the herps & fishes table!
Reposted by Marcus Brandel
Arsinoitherium zitteli at Natural History Museum, London in 2018 (cast). While it looks like a rhino, Arsinoitherium were more closely related to elephants, hyraxes, and sea cows. #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto
January 16, 2026 at 8:47 PM
Arsinoitherium zitteli at Natural History Museum, London in 2018 (cast). While it looks like a rhino, Arsinoitherium were more closely related to elephants, hyraxes, and sea cows. #FossilFriday #PaleorenjiPhoto
Reposted by Marcus Brandel
A long-billed curlew showing off the length of its beak for the #LongBeaks theme of #BirdOfTheDay picked by @robcrank68.bsky.social
#birds #waders #shorebirds #MontereyBay #EastCoastKin
#birds #waders #shorebirds #MontereyBay #EastCoastKin
January 14, 2026 at 10:09 AM
A long-billed curlew showing off the length of its beak for the #LongBeaks theme of #BirdOfTheDay picked by @robcrank68.bsky.social
#birds #waders #shorebirds #MontereyBay #EastCoastKin
#birds #waders #shorebirds #MontereyBay #EastCoastKin
#FossilFriday 12 horse teeth. 12 stories. I’m working with the Science Museum of Minnesota to radiocarbon date a collection of specimens to trace when the last ice age horses ran the post‑glacial landscape. Specimen #1: is from Little Sauk pulled from a skull found in black marl of the Sauk River.
January 17, 2026 at 12:11 AM
#FossilFriday 12 horse teeth. 12 stories. I’m working with the Science Museum of Minnesota to radiocarbon date a collection of specimens to trace when the last ice age horses ran the post‑glacial landscape. Specimen #1: is from Little Sauk pulled from a skull found in black marl of the Sauk River.
Reposted by Marcus Brandel
Happy #FossilFriday! Fossil fans may know about #stromatolites, remains of bacteria that go back billions of years. But they are still alive, even in #Minnesota! This specimen is less than 10,000 yrs old (at the Science Museum of Minnesota) and will be the subject of an upcoming study. Stay tuned!
January 16, 2026 at 2:24 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! Fossil fans may know about #stromatolites, remains of bacteria that go back billions of years. But they are still alive, even in #Minnesota! This specimen is less than 10,000 yrs old (at the Science Museum of Minnesota) and will be the subject of an upcoming study. Stay tuned!
Reposted by Marcus Brandel
Happy #FossilFriday! The Columbian #Mammoth was one of the largest species of mammoth to walk the Earth and roamed North America until ~11,000 years ago. The skull of one of these giants (#MOR604) is on display in the #Cenozoic Corridor at #MOR.
January 9, 2026 at 9:01 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! The Columbian #Mammoth was one of the largest species of mammoth to walk the Earth and roamed North America until ~11,000 years ago. The skull of one of these giants (#MOR604) is on display in the #Cenozoic Corridor at #MOR.
Happy #FossilFriday! Ice Age horses in #Minnesota? Maybe! They’ve never been verified but these lovely horse teeth from the Science Museum of Minnesota and more will be headed for carbon dating to find out if they are, thanks to funding from the MN Historical Society (and MN Legacy Amendment).
January 9, 2026 at 7:32 PM
A #FossilFriday #MnMuseum highlight:
The Anoka County Historical Society has greatly supported volunteer paleo work through specimen access and historical insight.
They’re relocating due to city redevelopment and could use community support.
History 21 pod: anokacountyhistory.org/history-21-t...
The Anoka County Historical Society has greatly supported volunteer paleo work through specimen access and historical insight.
They’re relocating due to city redevelopment and could use community support.
History 21 pod: anokacountyhistory.org/history-21-t...
January 9, 2026 at 1:31 PM
A #FossilFriday #MnMuseum highlight:
The Anoka County Historical Society has greatly supported volunteer paleo work through specimen access and historical insight.
They’re relocating due to city redevelopment and could use community support.
History 21 pod: anokacountyhistory.org/history-21-t...
The Anoka County Historical Society has greatly supported volunteer paleo work through specimen access and historical insight.
They’re relocating due to city redevelopment and could use community support.
History 21 pod: anokacountyhistory.org/history-21-t...
Reposted by Marcus Brandel
Happy #FossilFriday! In honor of the World Juniors Hockey Championship happening across the street now, the Science Museum of Minnesota’s #Trex got a new hockey stick. Not sure how it’ll get the skates on, but it’s ready for some action!
January 2, 2026 at 6:53 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! In honor of the World Juniors Hockey Championship happening across the street now, the Science Museum of Minnesota’s #Trex got a new hockey stick. Not sure how it’ll get the skates on, but it’s ready for some action!
Reposted by Marcus Brandel
🚨Paper Alert!🚨
Our work on Precambrian basement deep beneath the Williston Basin in #NorthDakota. We looked at two >2900 m drill cores, sampling the W edge of the Superior Craton and E margin of the 1.9 - 1.8 Ga Trans-Hudson Orogeny. ⚒️🧪 (T Nesheim, myself, J Vervoort) doi.org/10.1130/B374...
1/5
Our work on Precambrian basement deep beneath the Williston Basin in #NorthDakota. We looked at two >2900 m drill cores, sampling the W edge of the Superior Craton and E margin of the 1.9 - 1.8 Ga Trans-Hudson Orogeny. ⚒️🧪 (T Nesheim, myself, J Vervoort) doi.org/10.1130/B374...
1/5
Geochronology and geochemistry of deeply buried basement along the western Superior Craton and eastern Trans-Hudson Orogen (North America) | GSA Bulletin | GeoScienceWorld
Abstract. The Paleoproterozoic Trans-Hudson Orogen of North America resulted from the amalgamation of the Wyoming, Hearne, Sask, and Superior cratons.
doi.org
December 19, 2025 at 4:24 AM
🚨Paper Alert!🚨
Our work on Precambrian basement deep beneath the Williston Basin in #NorthDakota. We looked at two >2900 m drill cores, sampling the W edge of the Superior Craton and E margin of the 1.9 - 1.8 Ga Trans-Hudson Orogeny. ⚒️🧪 (T Nesheim, myself, J Vervoort) doi.org/10.1130/B374...
1/5
Our work on Precambrian basement deep beneath the Williston Basin in #NorthDakota. We looked at two >2900 m drill cores, sampling the W edge of the Superior Craton and E margin of the 1.9 - 1.8 Ga Trans-Hudson Orogeny. ⚒️🧪 (T Nesheim, myself, J Vervoort) doi.org/10.1130/B374...
1/5
Reposted by Marcus Brandel
The last #FossilFriday of 2025.
A beautiful fossil specimen of Mesosaurus being shown at the PALEO SP 2025 (December 11-13) at the Biosciences Institute of UNESP-Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil.
A beautiful fossil specimen of Mesosaurus being shown at the PALEO SP 2025 (December 11-13) at the Biosciences Institute of UNESP-Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil.
December 26, 2025 at 12:36 PM
The last #FossilFriday of 2025.
A beautiful fossil specimen of Mesosaurus being shown at the PALEO SP 2025 (December 11-13) at the Biosciences Institute of UNESP-Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil.
A beautiful fossil specimen of Mesosaurus being shown at the PALEO SP 2025 (December 11-13) at the Biosciences Institute of UNESP-Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil.
Reposted by Marcus Brandel
Happy #FossilFriday! Part 3 from the @childrensmuseum.bsky.social in #Indiana! Seriously so much there even beyond the Dinosphere, from giant ammonites to marine reptiles (this one is Plioplatecarpus) to Dracorex to a local Mastodon. Floor after floor, there is more to find!
December 26, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! Part 3 from the @childrensmuseum.bsky.social in #Indiana! Seriously so much there even beyond the Dinosphere, from giant ammonites to marine reptiles (this one is Plioplatecarpus) to Dracorex to a local Mastodon. Floor after floor, there is more to find!
🐘🦥 For #FossilFriday: a mammoth mystery. The Franklin Street tooth was the first of twelve specimens from New Ulm, MN—unearthed in 1912 in glacial drift, it’s the earliest known. New Ulm finds continue! Read more about the “dirty dozen” in #LostBones #3 on my Substack.
marcusbrandel.substack.com
marcusbrandel.substack.com
December 26, 2025 at 2:53 AM
🐘🦥 For #FossilFriday: a mammoth mystery. The Franklin Street tooth was the first of twelve specimens from New Ulm, MN—unearthed in 1912 in glacial drift, it’s the earliest known. New Ulm finds continue! Read more about the “dirty dozen” in #LostBones #3 on my Substack.
marcusbrandel.substack.com
marcusbrandel.substack.com
Reposted by Marcus Brandel
Happy solstice! This is my longest longest day ever ☀️#Antarctica
December 21, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Happy solstice! This is my longest longest day ever ☀️#Antarctica
For #FossilFriday: the Eocene “dawn horse” Protorohippus venticolus (cast), at Utah Field House in Vernal, UT. The original—now private—is ~33 cm tall, one of two from Fossil Butte Member, WY. More on North American equids soon.
#Eocene #equus #palaeontology #citizenscience
www.nps.gov/fobu/
#Eocene #equus #palaeontology #citizenscience
www.nps.gov/fobu/
December 19, 2025 at 2:25 PM
For #FossilFriday: the Eocene “dawn horse” Protorohippus venticolus (cast), at Utah Field House in Vernal, UT. The original—now private—is ~33 cm tall, one of two from Fossil Butte Member, WY. More on North American equids soon.
#Eocene #equus #palaeontology #citizenscience
www.nps.gov/fobu/
#Eocene #equus #palaeontology #citizenscience
www.nps.gov/fobu/
Lost Bones #5: (From the Ashes a Fire Shall be Woken)
open.substack.com/pub/marcusbr...
"In April 1967, Burgess Construction employee Ivan Brouwer's dragline struck bones..."
#FossilFriday #Writing #HistoricalNonFiction #Pleistocene #BisonOccidentalis #Palaeontology #Bison #CitizenScience
open.substack.com/pub/marcusbr...
"In April 1967, Burgess Construction employee Ivan Brouwer's dragline struck bones..."
#FossilFriday #Writing #HistoricalNonFiction #Pleistocene #BisonOccidentalis #Palaeontology #Bison #CitizenScience
Lost Bones #5: (From the Ashes a Fire Shall be Woken)
Interstate 94’s Lost Mounted Bison Bones
open.substack.com
December 12, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Lost Bones #5: (From the Ashes a Fire Shall be Woken)
open.substack.com/pub/marcusbr...
"In April 1967, Burgess Construction employee Ivan Brouwer's dragline struck bones..."
#FossilFriday #Writing #HistoricalNonFiction #Pleistocene #BisonOccidentalis #Palaeontology #Bison #CitizenScience
open.substack.com/pub/marcusbr...
"In April 1967, Burgess Construction employee Ivan Brouwer's dragline struck bones..."
#FossilFriday #Writing #HistoricalNonFiction #Pleistocene #BisonOccidentalis #Palaeontology #Bison #CitizenScience
Up From the Abyss of Time
open.substack.com/pub/walrod/p...
open.substack.com/pub/walrod/p...
Up From the Abyss of Time
On the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs as Public Art
open.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Up From the Abyss of Time
open.substack.com/pub/walrod/p...
open.substack.com/pub/walrod/p...
The Science Museum of Minnesota has scanned the Northfield Mastodon molar for palaeontology outreach. See the link is in my profile for more or on Substack goto: marcusbrandel.substack.com/p/lost-bones...
Please share to help support my volunteer work!
#Mastodon #Pleictocene #CitizenSceince
Please share to help support my volunteer work!
#Mastodon #Pleictocene #CitizenSceince
Lost Bones #2 Update
The mastodon tooth featured in the Lost Bones #2 storyline is now available in 3D
marcusbrandel.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 6:30 PM
The Science Museum of Minnesota has scanned the Northfield Mastodon molar for palaeontology outreach. See the link is in my profile for more or on Substack goto: marcusbrandel.substack.com/p/lost-bones...
Please share to help support my volunteer work!
#Mastodon #Pleictocene #CitizenSceince
Please share to help support my volunteer work!
#Mastodon #Pleictocene #CitizenSceince
Happy #FossilFriday! 🐴🐘🐪💀 This gorgeous horse mandible comes from Brown County, Minnesota. Collected by a friend of mine under permit in a state park earlier this year. The bone is deceptively heavy, suggesting it has been partially mineralized.
To read more like this: marcusbrandel.substack.com
To read more like this: marcusbrandel.substack.com
December 5, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! 🐴🐘🐪💀 This gorgeous horse mandible comes from Brown County, Minnesota. Collected by a friend of mine under permit in a state park earlier this year. The bone is deceptively heavy, suggesting it has been partially mineralized.
To read more like this: marcusbrandel.substack.com
To read more like this: marcusbrandel.substack.com
Reposted by Marcus Brandel
Happy #FossilFriday! A little while back some of us from the Science Museum of Minnesota visited the Southern Minnesota Museum of Natural History (@smmnh.sky.social) in Blue Earth, #Minnesota. Nice place with a great cast of Lythronax (type of tyrannosaur), touchable footprints and so much more!
December 5, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! A little while back some of us from the Science Museum of Minnesota visited the Southern Minnesota Museum of Natural History (@smmnh.sky.social) in Blue Earth, #Minnesota. Nice place with a great cast of Lythronax (type of tyrannosaur), touchable footprints and so much more!
Reposted by Marcus Brandel
Something ancient and wonderful for the weekend! 🤩
The world’s oldest known sculpture of a horse!
This tiny figurine was carved from mammoth ivory by an Ice Age artist some 40,000 years ago!
📷 by me
#Archaeology
The world’s oldest known sculpture of a horse!
This tiny figurine was carved from mammoth ivory by an Ice Age artist some 40,000 years ago!
📷 by me
#Archaeology
November 29, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Something ancient and wonderful for the weekend! 🤩
The world’s oldest known sculpture of a horse!
This tiny figurine was carved from mammoth ivory by an Ice Age artist some 40,000 years ago!
📷 by me
#Archaeology
The world’s oldest known sculpture of a horse!
This tiny figurine was carved from mammoth ivory by an Ice Age artist some 40,000 years ago!
📷 by me
#Archaeology