Carthage Institute of Paleontology

The Carthage Institute of Paleontology (CIP) is the successful result of a long-standing partnership between Carthage College and the City of Kenosha.

The paleontology program is co-led by Prof. Thomas Carr, assistant professor of biology, and Dr. Megan Seitz, preparator. Prof. Carr is a vertebrate paleontologist and recognized expert on tyrannosaurid dinosaurs. Dr. Seitz, preparator of the CIP, is a paleontologist who trains students in lab techniques on authentic dinosaur fossils. (Vertebrate paleontology is the study of fossils of animals with backbones.) Dr. Seitz runs the paleontology lab, which is housed in the Dinosaur Discovery Museum.

COLLECT THE BONES OF DINOSAURS SUCH AS T. REX & TRICERATOPS

The Carthage Institute of Paleontology leads a month-long dinosaur-hunting expedition to southeastern Montana, led by Prof. Carr and Dr. Seitz. Citizen scientists have the opportunity to discover and collect in the Hell Creek Formation, a unit of rock deposited in Montana and adjacent states at the end of the age of dinosaurs. The expeditions take place on public lands that are overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.

Since the expeditions started, the crews of Prof. Carr and Dr. Seitz have located dozens of dinosaur skeletons. So far they have catalogued 110,000 fossils that include teeth, bones, and scales of dinosaurs, crocs, turtles, fish, birds, and mammals. The dinosaurs include rare juvenile Triceratops and T. rex. Bones collected during the expedition are brought back to the CIP, where the fossils are prepared and conserved by Dr. Seitz, student volunteers, and citizen scientists. The fossils are stored in the permanent collections of the DDM, which is a federal repository for paleontological resources.