The Lakota found large fossilized bones, fossilized seashells and turtle shells. They correctly assumed that the area had once been under water, and that the bones belonged to creatures which no longer existed. Paleontological interest in this area began in the 1840's. Trappers and traders regularly traveled the 300 miles from Fort Pierre to Fort Laramie along a path which skirted the edge of what is now Badlands National Park. Fossils were occasionally collected, and in 1843 a fossilized jaw fragment collected by Alexander Culbertson of the American Fur Company found its way to a physician in St. Louis by the name of Dr. Hiram A. Prout.
Paleontological resources are our only source of knowledge about the history of life on earth.
Plant fossils help us find fossil fuels, and animal fossils may show us how species responded to changes in the climate. The Badlands layers represent what, in an earlier age, was the surface of the land - but, without paleontology, we would not know that. Animals that became extinct long before humans were walking upright roamed the ancient plains of this area in large numbers - but we would not know this without paleontology. Our knowledge of past life includes species of which we have thousands of fossils. There are also species for which there is only one known specimen.