Prehistoric Texas
Before there were Native Americans and cowboys, dinosaurs and mammoths inhabited the terrain between Florence and Fort Worth. Travel back in time as you explore these eight museums and prehistoric sites along the Prehistoric Texas Trail.
Starting in Florence, the southernmost part of the trail, is the Gault Site. This Texas State Archeological Landmark is one of the largest excavation sites, with materials dating back 13,500 years. This site is open for private tours only. The tour covers about one mile of terrain. Thirty miles north is the Bell County Museum in Belton. There you will find a permanent interactive exhibit on the Gault Site that provides further information on the work done there.
DIGGING IN: Research continues at the Gault Site, one of the largest excavation sites with materials dating back 13,500 years.
Moving north along the trail, you’ll find the Waco Mammoth National Monument, the only paleontological site in the nation with a recorded discovery of a nursery herd of Columbian mammoths. Visitors are guided down to the dig shelter to see the mammoth fossils and learn how they were discovered. One thing that makes this site so authentic is that the fossils are in situ (i.e., in their original position), as opposed to being on display.
While in the area, you should also visit the Mayborn Museum Complex. Here the “Waco at the Crossroads of Texas” exhibit leads visitors through dioramas and exploration stations that depict the natural science and cultural history of Central Texas.
Our next stop takes us to Clifton, to the Bosque Memorial Museum and the story of the Horn Shelter. Albert Redder, an avocational archaeologist, discovered two skeletons, a child curled around an adult, and an array of burial goods in a rock shelter along the Brazos River. Radiocarbon tests concluded that the shelter is about 11,200 years old and one of three Paleo-American sites that contain burial goods.
As we move farther north, we’re actually traveling 113 million years back in time to the “Dinosaur Capital of Texas,” Glen Rose. This designation was made possible because of the dinosaur prints found in the Paluxy River at Dinosaur Valley State Park. Spend the day hiking or a weekend camping as you walk in the footprints of dinosaurs. On a hot day, take a dip in the cool waters of the Paluxy. Just up the road from the state park is Dinosaur Valley State Park, which has 100 life-size dinosaurs spread throughout the 20-acre park.
The last stop on the prehistoric trail is the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. Here you come face to face with the owner of the Glen Rose footprints, Paluxysaurus Jonesi, the State Dinosaur of Texas. There are a variety of hands-on activities for children like the DinoLabs and the outdoor DinoDig for budding paleontologists.
TREKKING THROUGH 100 MILLION YEARS: (clockwise from top) All ages discover the stories of dinosaurs discovered in North Texas at DinoLab in the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History; a young visitor enjoys the hands-on experience of DinoDig at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History; fossilized dinosaur footprints were frequently offered for sale in the early 20th century; tracking a dinosaur through the Paluxy River at Dinosaur Valley State Park
