Beginning in July of 2009, the Missouri Institute of Natural Science began to work with Bruce Herschend on a project aimed at determining the prevalence of fossils in tour caves.  The first digs were conducted in Talking Rocks Cavern near Branson, Missouri.  To learn more, click on the link above.  

Almost from the moment of its discovery on September 11, 2001, the Riverbluff Cave site has yielded a treasure trove of significant scientific discoveries.  The oldest date in the cave so far is 1.08 million years old, with several feet of sediment below that mark still waiting to be dated.  To learn more, click on the link above.

In 1993, Matthew Forir, the Executive Director of the Missouri Institute of Natural Science, began to work on a site in the Missouri boot heel that contained the fossilized remains of various fish, turtles and crocodiles.  Click on the above link to learn more.

In conjunction with Wright State University in Ohio, The Missouri Institute of Natural Science traveled to a site near Quitman, Mississippi to extract the fossilized remains of a 35 million-year-old whale. Click on the link above to read more.