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Rare Fossil Excavation Site Provides Amazing Lessons for Plano West Students
April 9, 2009
 A once in a lifetime opportunity occurred this week at Plano West Senior High School with the excavation of an 85 million year old mosasaur (marine reptile) fossil.
Paleontologist Mike Polcyn and graduate students from Southern Methodist University excavated the remains this week from a small man-made creek between Plano West Senior High School and Renner Middle School. With the fossil now out of the ground, the paleontologists will study and preserve the remains at the Shuler Museum of Paleontology at SMU.
Student Liz Arroyos is pictured with her Teacher Wes Kirpach. Liz discovered the fossil recently during a dig with her biology class at a site adjacent to Plano West Senior High School.
“This discovery provides a unique opportunity for the Plano ISD students and faculty,” said Mr. Polcyn. “To teach students about the role of fossils in understanding earth history in the classroom is one thing, but then to be able to step outside and find those same fossils in the rocks takes that lesson from the abstract to one the students will never forget.”
Plano West teacher Wesley Kirpach said, “The new mosasaur find is scientifically significant and very rare in this condition and in rocks of this age!”
The fossil was discovered in January during a Plano West biology field trip to the creek in which students were searching for fossil remains. Mr. Kirpach said that student Liz Arroyos found a small piece of fossilized bone on the edge of the creek. The bone turned out to be part of the rear portion of the jaw of the 12 to 15 foot long mosasaur, known by the genus name Platecarpus (which means flat-hand). About 10 yards from Liz’s first discovery, Mr. Kirpach later found six neck vertebrate and a section of jaw embedded in the white rock. The skull and remainder of the skeleton seemed to disappear into rock. While digging into the rock this week the mosasaur’s skull and a few other bones were also uncovered as well as a small skull of a fish called Enchodus.
During the excavation, Plano ISD students and staff visited the excavation site to observe the work. The excavation was videotaped for use in Plano ISD science classrooms. Student workers were chosen to participate in the actual work being conducted at the site.
This is not the first discovery made in this creek. In 2006, Mr. Kirpach’s class found and excavated the remains of a large fish called Xiphactinus. Last year, they also uncovered and extracted the lower jaw from another Enchodus fish.
Mr. Kirpach said that the difference in this current discovery and the previous ones is its relative scientific significance. “Due to the abundant nature of our previous fossil finds, we were able to excavate and keep the fossil remains in a school collection for use in the classroom.” Mr. Kirpach added, “They have served as excellent teaching tools, and are important in the classroom. I recognized early on the rarity of this type of mosasaur fossil, and knew this find was an absolutely amazing discovery.”
He also said, “These types of fossils must be professionally preserved as part of the fossil record for paleontological research. Since SMU has a world class vertebrate paleontology program, the choice of a repository was an easy one. The best part of the discovery was being able to share this unique experience with the students and teachers of Plano West High School.”
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“To teach students about the role of fossils in understanding earth history in the classroom is one thing, but then to be able to step outside and find those same fossils in the rocks takes that lesson from the abstract to one the students will never forget.”
~Paleontologist Mike Polcyn
“They (fossils) have served as excellent teaching tools, and are important in the classroom. I recognized early on the rarity of this type of mosasaur fossil, and knew this find was an absolutely amazing discovery.”
~Wes Kirpach, PWSH Teacher
This is not the first discovery made in this creek. In 2006, Mr. Kirpach’s classmates found and excavated the remains of a large fish called Xiphactinus. Last year, they also uncovered and extracted the lower jaw from another Enchodus fish.
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