One Of The Oddest Geological Wonders Is Located Right Here In Nebraska

Nebraska’s Agate Fossil Beds National Monument features unique spiral burrows created by the extinct land beaver Palaeocastor.

Nebraska has a wealth of fossils, including some that are totally unexpected. None have caused more confusion and speculation than the Daemonelix in western Nebraska.

In the early 1890s, a rancher in Sioux County in western Nebraska found a rather perplexing object.

He called Erwin Barbour, head of the Department of Geology at the University of Nebraska. Barbour found a six-foot-tall stone corkscrew that was unlike anything he – or anyone else – had ever seen.

His first idea was that the bizarre structure was the remains of an ancient freshwater sponge. He called it Daemonelix, or “Demon’s Corkscrew.”

As more and more of the weird structures were unearthed, and as it became clear that other nearby fossils did not come from ancient freshwater organisms, Barbour reevaluated his initial conclusion. His new idea was that the spirals were actually ancient tree roots from an extinct type of tree.

Other geologists studying the odd corkscrews noticed that there were little horizontal chambers at the bottom of the spirals. When the fossilized remains of a rodent were found in one of the chambers, the scientists had to reevaluate their ideas.