7 ms·
Why the U.S. Army Owns So Many Fossils
- merlincorey 7y agoAs the subtitle says, turns out massive flood control projects are a great way to find dinosaurs. It is interesting to note that from these finds apparently came the first T-Rex fossils with intact tiny arms.
- dogma1138 7y agoSo not from a secret project to weaponize cloned dinosaurs?
- reedwolf 7y agoCalvin and Hobbes saw this coming: https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/117/910/flying.png https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/117/910/fly...
- masonic 7y agoContext: https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2015/01/04/ https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2015/01/04/
- Bayart 7y agoI don't know how things go in the US, but these days in my neck of the woods the vast majority of archaeological finds come from preventive archaeology. Pretty much every news article starts with "while making a parking lot" or "during the construction of the new XY highway".
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- mattmanser 7y agoMy friend's job for a while was to justify not doing any preventative archaeology for new projects, as it obviously costs a lot to have to have 3 or 4 archaeologists go on site and do an excavation for a month or two.
- anticensor 7y agoMilitary units are always the best protected lands.
- mothsonasloth 7y agoIts always fascinated me how the US Army is involved in civilian engineering projects. I remember when I was in DC back in 2012 after the earthquake damaged the Washington needle, the US Army engineers had all their branding up around the repair site. Or when I was just outside of Seattle, the engineers were managing forest land and putting a new road in. In the UK I don't think the REME or Royal Corps of Engineers have ever done or managed civilian projects. Anyone able to explain why, is it a federal government thing?
- billyhoffman 7y agoI’m not a lawyer or a constitutional scholar but I believe this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navigable_servitude https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navigable_servitude In the US navigable waterways (rivers etc) are controlled by the federal government. It’s in the commerce clause. There’s also probably a reason for this related to the federal government’s role in resolving disputes between states and rivers flowing among and through multiple states. Since it controls rivers, the government is also responsible for guarding against flooding, etc. from this stems the Hoover Dam, the Tennessee Valley Authority (damming and electrification of the south), etc
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- cbm-vic-20 7y agoAnother result of this is that the Army Corps of Engineers maintains some pretty nice recreational facilities along the waterways they manage. For example: https://www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/Recreation/ https://www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/Recreation/
- metaobject 7y agoIIRC, the US Army Corps of Engineers also built/repaired the levees in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
- chrisseaton 7y agoBut why are soldiers doing it? The IRS is also a federal government thing but it's not run by soldiers.
- 50ckpuppet 7y agoStill looking for the Spear of Destiny
- ryanmercer 7y agoObviously it's in Hangar 51 next to the Ark of the Covenant.