Snow covering the Painted Hills of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon

© Floris van Breugel/Minden Picture

The painted hills of prehistory. There’s treasure in them thar hills

This wintry view comes from Oregon’s Painted Hills, part of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument and home to one of the most complete fossil records on the planet. Paleontologists have uncovered here fossils dating as far back as 44 million years ago, when this region was a hot, wet, subtropical climate, home to crocodiles and rhino-like planteaters. And what’s above ground here is equally impressive. This is only a glimpse of the portion of the monument called the Painted Hills, named for its vivid colours that are a result of layers of sediment from various geologic periods.