
Why the U.S. Army Owns So Many Fossils - andrewl
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-does-the-army-own-dinosaurs
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mothsonasloth
Its 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?

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billyhoffman
I’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

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chrisseaton
But why are soldiers doing it? The IRS is also a federal government thing but
it's not run by soldiers.

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rando444
The criminal division of the IRS is most certainly armed, as well as equipped
with AR-15s, and are trained by Army Special Forces contractors.

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chrisseaton
Huh? That doesn't make them soldiers. Police are armed as well but they're not
soldiers. Civilian contractors aren’t soldiers either.

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merlincorey
As 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.

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Bayart
I 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".

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mattmanser
My 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.

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50ckpuppet
Still looking for the Spear of Destiny

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ryanmercer
Obviously it's in Hangar 51 next to the Ark of the Covenant.

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anticensor
Military units are always the best protected lands.

