Ancient Colorado; Redwood and Roses
Denver Public Art 1%
2005.4.9
Redwoods and Roses
Florissant Fossil Beds
34 million years ago
Giant redwoods grew in Colorado 34 million years ago, the way they do along the coast of northern California today. Brilliant shafts of sunlight pierced the forest, illuminating patches of wild roses and palmetto shrubs. Tiny and timid oreodonts, distant relatives of today’s goats, nibbled rosehips among the trees.
Massive fossil trees provide mute testimony that Colorado hosted redwood forests during the Eocene Epoch. Massive tree trunks, foliage, ancient insects, and other fossils are preserved within the Florissant Formation at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.
Florissant Fossil Beds
34 million years ago
Giant redwoods grew in Colorado 34 million years ago, the way they do along the coast of northern California today. Brilliant shafts of sunlight pierced the forest, illuminating patches of wild roses and palmetto shrubs. Tiny and timid oreodonts, distant relatives of today’s goats, nibbled rosehips among the trees.
Massive fossil trees provide mute testimony that Colorado hosted redwood forests during the Eocene Epoch. Massive tree trunks, foliage, ancient insects, and other fossils are preserved within the Florissant Formation at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.
Jan Vriesen and Kirk Johnson (artist)