Geology, Pleistocene paleontology, and research history of the Cumberland Bone Cave: Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail
Hodnett JP, Eshelman RE, Gardner N, Santucci VL. 2023. Geology, Pleistocene paleontology, and research history of the Cumberland Bone Cave: Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail. Natural Resource Report. NPS/POHE/NRR—2023/2493. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.36967/2296839
The Cumberland Bone Cave is a public visitation stop along the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail renowned for its unique fossil resources that help reconstruct Appalachian middle Pleistocene life in the mid-Atlantic region of North America. This site is gated for safety and to prevent unwanted exploration and damage. Approximately 163 taxa of fossil plant and animals have been collected from Cumberland Bone Cave since 1912. Most of the fossils that have been published pertain to mammals, including many extinct or locally extirpated genera and species. Though the early excavations made by the Smithsonian Institution between 1912 and 1915 are the best known of the work at Cumberland Bone Cave, over many decades multiple institutions and paleontologists have collected and studied the fossil resources from this site up until 2012. Today, fossils from Cumberland Bone Cave are housed at various museum collections, including public displays at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. and the Allegany Museum in Cumberland, Maryland. This report summarizes the geology, fossil resources, and the history of excavation and research for Potomac Heritage Trail’s Cumberland Bone Cave.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Hodnett, John; Eshelman, Ralph; Gardner, Nicholas; Santucci, Vincent
- Date of Issue
- 2023-01
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- DOI
- 10.36967/2296839
- Units
- GRD , NRSS , POHE
- Keywords
- vertebrates
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Paleontology | Paleontology