page_title: Paleontology in Idaho
section_title: Prehistory
hierarchical_section_title: Paleontology in Idaho / Prehistory
caption_attribution_description: Original description: Visit my blog at http://ideonexus.com The image depicts an image and slab of Tempskya on display.
context_page_description: Paleontology in Idaho refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Idaho. The fossil record of Idaho spans much of the geologic column from the Precambrian onward. During the Precambrian, bacteria formed stromatolites while worms left behind trace fossils. The state was mostly covered by a shallow sea during the majority of the Paleozoic era. This sea became home to creatures like brachiopods, corals and trilobites. Idaho continued to be a largely marine environment through the Triassic and Jurassic periods of the Mesozoic era, when brachiopods, bryozoans, corals, ichthyosaurs and sharks inhabited the local waters. The eastern part of the state was dry land during the ensuing Cretaceous period when dinosaurs roamed the area and trees grew which would later form petrified wood.
  Cenozoic Idaho had a more hospitable climate than it does today and would come to be home to huge forests and creatures like camels, early horses, mastodons, and sloths. During the Pleistocene, short-faced bears, bison, camels, mammoths, saber-toothed cats, and giant sloths inhabited the state. Local Native Americans devised myths to explain fossils.
context_section_description: The earliest fossils of Idaho date back to the Precambrian. However, little is known about Idaho's Precambrian life. Among the few known fossils are trace fossils known as "trails" left by ancient worms burrowing through sediments were preserved in what is now Blackrock Canyon. Fossil stromatolites are also known from the state's southeast. During the early Paleozoic the state was covered by seawater. A wide variety of marine invertebrates live in the state at this time. In the Cambrian, Idaho was home to primitive brachiopods and trilobites. Middle Cambrian sediments in Caribou National Forest document the presence of gastropods at least that far back. Throughout the Silurian and for most of the Devonian Idahoan sea levels dropped, only to rise again and cover most of the state.
  The state remained inundated for most of the Carboniferous. During the Carboniferous period, the Arco and Mackay areas were underwater and home to diverse marine wildlife. Most common were corals. Both tabulate and tetracoralla were present in Carboniferous Idaho, and within the tetracoralla were both solitary and colonial forms. The state remained inundated for most of the Permian, when the Paleozoic concluded. Contemporary local vegetation would leave behind fossils and coal deposits on occasion during the Carboniferous and Permian in areas of the state that had been uplifted above the water. In the Permian interesting spiny brachiopods, corals, and fusulinids lived in Idaho's southeastern corner. Idaho continued to be a largely marine environment through the Triassic and Jurassic periods of the Mesozoic era. This sea was home to invertebrates brachiopods, bryozoans, corals, echinoids, molluscs. Vertebrates included ichthyosaurs and sharks. The southeastern part of the state however, was at least occasionally above water.
  During the Cretaceous, eastern Idaho was host to freshwater and terrestrial habitats. The freshwater environments were inhabited by molluscs and ostracods. Dinosaurs roamed among the vegetation on land. During the Cretaceous, trees were growing southeastern Idaho that would one day be preserved as petrified wood. Among the state's Cretaceous flora, "the most interesting" was the fern Tempskya. Local dinosaurs included possible armored dinosaurs, relatives of the horned dinosaurs, and possibly Tenontosaurus. Dinosaur eggs are also known from the state. Significant volcanic activity occurred in Idaho during the Cretaceous.
  Into the Cenozoic, Idaho probably had a more hospitable climate than it does today. Volcanic activity was occurring in the state. During the Oligocene plants were growing near Salmon that would later be preserved as leaf imprints in great abundance. Like the state's Oligocene plants, its Miocene flora left behind abundant leaf imprints in near Coeur d'Alene and Moscow in the northern panhandle. During the ensuing Miocene epoch the northwestern United States was under an immense forest where beech, cypress, oak, and redwood used to grow. Volcanic activity covered 200,000 square miles of the northwest in lava. Some of these trees were carbonized and preserved by the lava along Santa Creek not far from Emida.
  The Pliocene plants of the Weiser area also left behind many fossils, although these were generally leaf impressions. During the late Pliocene, Idaho was home to the horse Plesippus soshonensis. This species is regarded as a transitional form between the primitive Pliohippus and the modern horse genus Equus. Late Pliocene life of Idaho that was closely associated with water included aquatic birds, beavers, fish, frogs, a muskrat-like rodent, otters, and turtles. Idaho's late Pliocene life which preferred drier habitats included camels, cats, hares, mastodons, peccaries, and sloths.
  Hundreds of different life forms are known to have inhabited Idaho during the Quaternary. The local molluscs also left behind many fossils during the Pleistocene epoch.  Among them were freshwater clams. Oregon's Pleistocene mammals included Equus idahoensis, imperial mammoths, and musk oxen. The Pleistocene mammals of Idaho's Am
caption: Tempskya fossil slab and reconstruction on display
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