Castle Rock rainforest

During widening of Interstate 25 at Castle Rock, CDOT workers noticed big, black leaves falling out of the rock alongside the highway. The Museum collaborated with CDOT to excavate these incredible fossil beds, revealing one of the earliest rainforests ever discovered—about 64 million years old. The discovery included fossil flowers, seedling cycads, and the pictured Artocarpus, a type of “breadfruit” that today lives in southeast Asia.