Cultural Heritage and Paleontology

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

Touren Pope poses for a photo with the fossilized turtle he discovered on BLM with a blue sky

11-year-old Touren Pope discovers ancient turtle fossil on BLM land in Wyoming

Last fall, a routine day of rockhounding on Bureau of Land Management–managed public land in southwest Wyoming turned into an extraordinary discovery. While exploring public lands overseen by the BLM Wyoming Rock Springs Field Office, 11-year-old Touren Pope spotted what would later be identified as a fossilized turtle dating back nearly 48 million years.

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

New Mexico’s Carlsbad Field Office wins 2020 ACRA Award

The 2020 American Cultural Resources Association Awards (ACRA) were presented at the virtual annual conference on September 25, 2020.

Friday, July 10, 2020

Reading the bones: a 43,000-year-old mystery is answering some questions and prompting researchers to ask others

Paddling down a river in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska in summer 2012, the weather was still chilly.

Monday, May 18, 2020

Every day is Memorial Day on Burma Rim

Like Burma Rim itself, the U.S. Navy’s Attack Squadron 128—known as VA-128—was also forged in fire. On Burma Rim, every day is Memorial Day.

Friday, January 24, 2020

A fossilized dinosaur skull and partial skeleton are displayed on a table draped with a Natural History Museum of Utah cloth, set within a museum exhibit featuring additional dinosaur fossils and interpretive signs.

Fossils from BLM lands help confirm a new species of Allosaur

On Friday, January 24, the BLM participated in the Natural History Museum of Utah's unveiling of Allosaurus jimmadseni, a new species of Allosaur.

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Rare Reptile Bones, Millions of Years Old Excavated in North Park