Wyoming's Bighorn Basin

[GrahamSnow]

Hello there! This will be my first attempt at posting a map here so I hope I am following the rules.

This map was a commission for a friend of mine who happens to be an anthropology student. During summers, she would travel to the Bighorn Basin in Wyoming for archeological digs and wanted a map that represented the places she had visited including her quarry site. Playing into the archeological theme, I decided to draw the map as if it were sliced out of the earth to show the stratification below.

I hope you like it!

Bighorn Basin Map_Small.jpg

[NoneTheWiser]

I really appreciate the striation color bands on the mountains. The Badlands of South Dakota have a similar look. Bravo!

[Arimel]

This looks really good! The stratigraphy at the bottom is a really cool touch - one I wish I had thought of before . I'll have to experiment with that idea sometime in the future.

May I ask what type of archaeology / what period was being excavated there?

[GrahamSnow]

This looks really good! The stratigraphy at the bottom is a really cool touch - one I wish I had thought of before . I'll have to experiment with that idea sometime in the future.

May I ask what type of archaeology / what period was being excavated there?

Thank you so much! I had seen a similar technique on another map and thought it would work really well for this. To answer your question, I spoke to my friend and she said that the Bighorn Basin has the longest continuous fossil record of just about anywhere in the world. Fossils have been collected from the Triassic through to the Eocene beginning in the mid 1800s. She personally was uncovering dinosaur fossils from the Cretaceous period including Sauropelta, Tenontosaurus, and Deinonychus (was the raptors from Jurassic park were based off of) as well as some more recent fossils.

I really appreciate the striation color bands on the mountains. The Badlands of South Dakota have a similar look. Bravo!

Thank you! I was pleasantly surprised with how that technique turned out.

[jshoer]

Nice job! The perspective is striking, the colors are great, and the stratigraphy is a really good touch.

[Dracontes]

To answer your question, I spoke to my friend and she said that the Bighorn Basin has the longest continuous fossil record of just about anywhere in the world. Fossils have been collected from the Triassic through to the Eocene beginning in the mid 1800s. She personally was uncovering dinosaur fossils from the Cretaceous period including Sauropelta, Tenontosaurus, and Deinonychus (was the raptors from Jurassic park were based off of) as well as some more recent fossils.

I hate to be that guy, but what you're describing is the purvey of palaeontology not of archaeology. Archaeology only deals with what remains of human activity. A bit of a pet peeve among either profession when they get asked to identify objects germane to the other one so it pays to know the difference

Otherwise, great work With this context you do notice how some names (Beartooth Mountains, etc.) wouldn't look out of place on fantasy map. Nevertheless, Thermopolis is the one that stands out the most to me what with an Archaeopteryx specimen to its name.

[Arimel]

I hate to be that guy, but what you're describing is the purvey of palaeontology not of archaeology. Archaeology only deals with what remains of human activity. A bit of a pet peeve among either profession when they get asked to identify objects germane to the other one so it pays to know the difference

I will second that! While I don't tend to mind the confusion (honestly, if you are not in the profession how would you know?) a few of my colleagues really explode when people ask archaeologists how many dinosaur bones they have found. (This is also what led my initial question above. Archaeology in the USA is not as prevalent/common place as in Europe so hearing about any archaeology there is interesting to me)

[GrahamSnow]

I hate to be that guy, but what you're describing is the purvey of palaeontology not of archaeology. Archaeology only deals with what remains of human activity. A bit of a pet peeve among either profession when they get asked to identify objects germane to the other one so it pays to know the difference

Otherwise, great work With this context you do notice how some names (Beartooth Mountains, etc.) wouldn't look out of place on fantasy map. Nevertheless, Thermopolis is the one that stands out the most to me what with an Archaeopteryx specimen to its name.

Ah yes, thank you for making the distinction clear. While I did know the difference, I was admittedly lazy in describing it in relation to my friend's work. The digs she participated in were paleontological as you described, however there are also archaeological sites within the Basin as well. She also studies human remains (back at school) so she still qualifies as an archaeologist. I'm glad you like the map as a whole and agree that some of the names lend themselves very well to the fantasy genre.

I will second that! While I don't tend to mind the confusion (honestly, if you are not in the profession how would you know?) a few of my colleagues really explode when people ask archaeologists how many dinosaur bones they have found. (This is also what led my initial question above. Archaeology in the USA is not as prevalent/common place as in Europe so hearing about any archaeology there is interesting to me)

Thank you and I appreciate the clarification as well. As I mentioned to Dracontes, there are archaeological sites with the Basin as well such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_...gical_District. That being said, it is good to be clear about the difference.

[lepracauno]

The stratification is a very good idea!!
I love it!!