Digging for dinosaurs

From NewsLeader.com:  Digging for dinosaurs

STUARTS DRAFT — A group of intrepid young archaeologists and paleontologists uncovered a new species of dinosaur at a dig on an Augusta County farm.
Not really. But it was a bit of fun that the Webelos 1 den of Cub Scout Pack 349 indulged in Saturday during a mock archaeological dig organized for the boys to earn their geology badges.
Under a white tent, children and adults were abuzz. The kids, including some younger siblings of troop members, were on their knees and crouched around a 12-foot-by 5-foot perimeter of loosened earth. They scooped, sifted and brushed away dirt.
Andrew Howell, 10, could hardly contain his excitement as he brushed away dirt from a large, spiky fossil.
“It looks like the back of something,” he said. “Maybe a spine with spikes.”
“Wow, yours is big,” said Darrion Johnson, 9, from a few feet away.
“Yeah, it’s huge!” Andrew responded.
Webelos den mother Jaclyn Nahay tried to think of every possible detail to make the educational event as real and fun as possible.
Nahay held up an impressive looking, 2-foot-long model of a fossil that she made out of salt dough, paint and stain. She molded it to like the lower jaw bone of a dinosaur.
She got the idea for how to make the fossils when she came across a website that listed a recipe for making fake human bones.
Nahay adapted it to make the dinosaur fossils for the mock dig. She also made the boys fake passports that listed their scientific credentials, and the countries they have visited for past digs.
The kids made a rope grid to keep track of what they found in each section of the site. They measured, took pictures and recorded their findings in a journal.
“I’m positive these are dinosaur eggs,” said Zachary Furr, 9, as he brushed dirt away from a group of six oval fossils. “(The dinosaur) is like a million years old and had no babies. They didn’t hatch!”
Once uncovered and laid out, the bones will resemble a 10-foot, 7-inch long prehistoric animal, Nahay said.
“I thought it would be fun to make bones that were from different dinosaurs,” she said. “Then it could be a new species that they discovered and then they can name it.”