20P: Ladds
Pleistocene Vertebrates
Bartow County, Georgia
By
Thomas Thurman
26/Jan/2025
Ladds, in Bartow County.
The Ladds fossil site, in Cartersville, Georgia was discovered by Mr. and Mrs. Warren Moore, public school teachers, in the fall 1963. The Moores brought in Shorter College. Shorter College brought in the Smithsonian, where most of the fossils are safely held to this day.
In 2011 some of those fossils returned to Cartersville to be housed permanently at Tellus Science Museum where they are on display.
The Moore name, public school teachers, will forever be the foundation stone of the Ladds story. We should never again doubt the impact Georgia’s public schools have on science.
The Ladds fossil site, in Cartersville, Georgia was discovered by Mr. and Mrs. Warren Moore, public school teachers, in the fall 1963. The Moores brought in Shorter College. Shorter College brought in the Smithsonian, where most of the fossils are safely held to this day.
In 2011 some of those fossils returned to Cartersville to be housed permanently at Tellus Science Museum where they are on display.
The Moore name, public school teachers, will forever be the foundation stone of the Ladds story. We should never again doubt the impact Georgia’s public schools have on science.
The papers covered on this page are attached
as downloadable files at the base of this page.
as downloadable files at the base of this page.
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Ladds is alternatively referred to as a quarry, a cave, and a mountain. As we’ll see, in a curious turn of geology, all those terms are correct. The site revealed Georgia’s incredibly diverse vertebrate, Pleistocene, fossil record. Few sites globally have produced such a menagerie.
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The site rose to fame in a time, not so long ago, when most Georgians celebrated and actively supported science and scientific discovery. It’s this author’s opinion that if another such site was discovered today it’s unlikely that it’d be fully investigated.
Reporting the Discovery
In 1967 Emma Lewis Lipps of Shorter College in Rome, Georgia and Clayton E. Ray of the U.S. National Museum (Smithsonian), reported on the geology Ladds Quarry in Bartow County, Georgia and how the fossils were found. They’d both been working on Ladds material for a few years at this time and knew the subject intimately. In 1965 Ray described a new chipmunk, Tamis aristus, from Ladds and this same year he’d published a list of Pleistocene mammals recovered from Ladds.
In 1967 Emma Lewis Lipps of Shorter College in Rome, Georgia and Clayton E. Ray of the U.S. National Museum (Smithsonian), reported on the geology Ladds Quarry in Bartow County, Georgia and how the fossils were found. They’d both been working on Ladds material for a few years at this time and knew the subject intimately. In 1965 Ray described a new chipmunk, Tamis aristus, from Ladds and this same year he’d published a list of Pleistocene mammals recovered from Ladds.
Professor Emma Lewis Lipps, PhD, couldn’t use her whole name. Sadly, during her career Emma Lewis Lipps only published herself as Lewis Lipps. In the 1960’s a woman-of-science wasn’t taken seriously by most men-of-science.
In 1920 paleontologist Julia Gardner, as an employee of the US Geological Survey (USGS), published large, important works over Miocene gastropods in Southwest Georgia’s Gastropod Gulch and Florida. Her work was so important that a species was named after her. (See Section 18G of this website.) It’s alarming that just 40 years later a scientist had to hide her gender to be taken seriously. We must remain vigilant that we don’t return to such biases!
In 1920 paleontologist Julia Gardner, as an employee of the US Geological Survey (USGS), published large, important works over Miocene gastropods in Southwest Georgia’s Gastropod Gulch and Florida. Her work was so important that a species was named after her. (See Section 18G of this website.) It’s alarming that just 40 years later a scientist had to hide her gender to be taken seriously. We must remain vigilant that we don’t return to such biases!
I want to thank the Paleontology Association of Georgia for posting these papers on their Resource page & freely sharing this science.
https://paleoassocga.wixsite.com/home
https://paleoassocga.wixsite.com/home
I also want to thank Ryan Roney and Miranda Clody at Tellus Science Museum for sharing information woven into this history and informing me that Lewis Lipps was actually Emma Lewis Lipps. Miranda sent pics of their Ladds display. Y'all need to go see it, I've stood in front of it.
https://tellusmuseum.org/
https://tellusmuseum.org/
Up until the early 1960s, very little was known about Pleistocene vertebrates in Georgia, especially north Georgia. Most of the reported material had come from the coast through construction and dredging operations. Lewis and Ray report that in 1890 Joseph Moore published a giant beaver tooth from Castoroides georgiensis said to have been found during the Civil War in “some old forsaken gold diggings” in “Northern Georgia” but that same year the specimen was properly identified as the tusk of a modern hippopotamus.
Science tends to be self-correcting.
Science tends to be self-correcting.
In 1950 a right molar from a mastodon, Mammut americanum, was found by Mr. H. H. Lipscomb on his farm 1.7 miles NW of White, Georgia, in Bartow County. With an assist from Thomas L. Kesler of Cartersville, Georgia the tooth was sent to the U.S. National Museum (Smithsonian) and identified. Lipscomb donated the tooth to the Smithsonian, and it was assigned specimen# 20563. An image is below. The Smithsonian still holds the fossil. Sadly their official record states “Collector Unknown”. Thank you, Lipps & Ray, for preserving Mr. Lipscomb’s name.
In 1953 H. E. Cofer reported Cenozoic terrestrial gastropod (land snail) fossils in conglomerate with Paleozoic rock.
A very strange thing indeed.
The Paleozoic spans from 250 to 540 million years ago. The Cenozoic spans from 66 million years ago to today. The gastropods belong to the family Polygyridae, the two genus Triodopsis and Mesodon occur in the conglomerate but cannot be identified further. Cofer suspected the land snails were Pleistocene. If true, they’re no more than 2.5 million years old and preserved in conglomerate beside pebbles that are at least 250 million years old. For this to happen Paleozoic rock had to have been weathered to rubble, to pebbles, when the snails lived.
A very strange thing indeed.
The Paleozoic spans from 250 to 540 million years ago. The Cenozoic spans from 66 million years ago to today. The gastropods belong to the family Polygyridae, the two genus Triodopsis and Mesodon occur in the conglomerate but cannot be identified further. Cofer suspected the land snails were Pleistocene. If true, they’re no more than 2.5 million years old and preserved in conglomerate beside pebbles that are at least 250 million years old. For this to happen Paleozoic rock had to have been weathered to rubble, to pebbles, when the snails lived.
Cofer’s theory was that flood waters, probably from monsoons, dislodged and mixed the snails and loose Paleozoic pebbles then hardened into conglomerate. That’s a very laymen description of a complex process. Geology can be very cool.
There was the 1955 Anderson Spring Cave tapir (Tapirus veroensis) mandible fragment reported by Gray and Cramer (See Section 20O of this website).
In 1964 Phillip Greear reported the discovery of the partial skeleton of a Pleistocene black bear (Ursus americanus) from a cave in Black Bluff (Coosa Bluff) approximately three miles southwest of Rome, Floyd County, Georgia. This appeared in a Bulletin of the Georgia Academy of Sciences, but this author was unable to locate a copy.
Tellus Science Museum
Returning to Cartersville, GA
On 02/Nov/2011 Patch News reported that some (many) of the Ladds fossils had returned to Bartow County to be housed at Tellus Science Museum. Jose Santamaria, the Museum Director, opened a display showing many of the important fossils found. There’s a short video calling for information about anyone who assisted in field research or preparation. See the link below, there are also pictures of some of the fossils.
https://patch.com/georgia/cartersville/tellus-in-search-of-past-paleontologists
Returning to Cartersville, GA
On 02/Nov/2011 Patch News reported that some (many) of the Ladds fossils had returned to Bartow County to be housed at Tellus Science Museum. Jose Santamaria, the Museum Director, opened a display showing many of the important fossils found. There’s a short video calling for information about anyone who assisted in field research or preparation. See the link below, there are also pictures of some of the fossils.
https://patch.com/georgia/cartersville/tellus-in-search-of-past-paleontologists
Ladds Beginnings
Involvements & Permissions
In the past the quarry was operated by Ladd Lime Company but by the time the Moore family discovered fossils, Bartow County owned and operated the quarry as a source of road building material.
Involvements & Permissions
In the past the quarry was operated by Ladd Lime Company but by the time the Moore family discovered fossils, Bartow County owned and operated the quarry as a source of road building material.
As mentioned earlier, the Ladds paleontological story began in 1963 when Mr. Warren Moore and is family discovered fossil bones and mollusks in the quarry. Amateur explorers are the backbone of paleontology. Mr. & Mrs. Moore continued their involvement and actively collecting through the summer of 1964 when they left the area. Their efforts not only introduced the Ladds site, but they collected some of the most important fossils.
Through Shorter College (now Shorter University, Rome, GA) Mr. and Mrs. Moore were enrolled in the National Science Foundation’s In-Service Institute for public school teachers (1963-1964). They reported their Ladds discoveries to Emma Lewis Lipps at Shorter. Lipps informed the Smithsonian of the finds in December 1963.
Clayton Ray, of the Smithsonian, visited the site in April 1964 with staff and students from Shorter College. A co-operative program of exploration was agreed-to between Shorter College and the Smithsonian. Ray returned to visit the site two more times but essentially all of the field work was done by people affiliated with Shorter College aided by modest financial support from the Smithsonian.
Clayton Ray, of the Smithsonian, visited the site in April 1964 with staff and students from Shorter College. A co-operative program of exploration was agreed-to between Shorter College and the Smithsonian. Ray returned to visit the site two more times but essentially all of the field work was done by people affiliated with Shorter College aided by modest financial support from the Smithsonian.
Lipps and Ray thanked “the interest and cooperation” of Mr. Griffin Smith, Bartow County Commission at the time of the research, for granting access permission and taking steps to prevent further destruction of the fossiliferous deposits while research & collection was ongoing. Such municipal support is a rare thing indeed, but this was the 1960s when science was respected by most Georgians. I’m so glad Griffin Smith’s name was preserved by the researchers and I’m happy to mention him here.
The Geology
The quarry was developed in the southeast end of Ladds Mountain (Quarry Mountain) approximately 2.3 miles southwest of downtown Cartersville. Ladds Mountain is an isolated dolomite ridge reaching a maximum elevation of 1100 feet (1967) and standing approximately 500 feet above the surrounding countryside. The ridge is composed of Paleozoic Knox Dolomite, a thick bedded, cherty, gray dolomite.
The quarry was developed in the southeast end of Ladds Mountain (Quarry Mountain) approximately 2.3 miles southwest of downtown Cartersville. Ladds Mountain is an isolated dolomite ridge reaching a maximum elevation of 1100 feet (1967) and standing approximately 500 feet above the surrounding countryside. The ridge is composed of Paleozoic Knox Dolomite, a thick bedded, cherty, gray dolomite.
In 1893 J. W. Spencer described it…
“…Its face has been uncovered for quarry purposes. The rock is a siliceous, hard, and somewhat brittle dolomite, from light to dark in color, but all fine grained, compact and crystalline. The layers are thick. The bedding is disturbed, and in places appears as if rocks had fallen into cavities… There are joints of 50 feet or more in depth, which have been opened by decay and filled with clay…
“…Its face has been uncovered for quarry purposes. The rock is a siliceous, hard, and somewhat brittle dolomite, from light to dark in color, but all fine grained, compact and crystalline. The layers are thick. The bedding is disturbed, and in places appears as if rocks had fallen into cavities… There are joints of 50 feet or more in depth, which have been opened by decay and filled with clay…
This mountain is pierced with caves, some of which are vertical channels. These have been formed by streams dissolving out of the limestone after uplift of the strata, but before denudation of the valley. The caves contain large and beautiful stalactites. (1893)
Spencer’s 1893 description of cave, some as vertical channels, formed by streams dissolving limestone explain the Ladds’ cave references. There were multiple caves.
Explanation by Jeff Deere, Jan/2007
Dixie Mineral Council Field Trip
Collecting Cave Onyx samples.
During the mining process Quarry Mountain was basically cut in half, revealing various cave formations. For this reason, Ladd's became the premiere Georgia site for collecting cave onyx, a fancy term for basic flowstone or calcium carbonate. Collecting cave formations is legal in Georgia so long as you have the permission of the landowner to do so. So, with County permission, Ladd's has long been the place to go for this type of material. Those who do lapidary work tell me the material is tops.
Ladd's Mountain - Jeff Deere
Dixie Mineral Council Field Trip
Collecting Cave Onyx samples.
During the mining process Quarry Mountain was basically cut in half, revealing various cave formations. For this reason, Ladd's became the premiere Georgia site for collecting cave onyx, a fancy term for basic flowstone or calcium carbonate. Collecting cave formations is legal in Georgia so long as you have the permission of the landowner to do so. So, with County permission, Ladd's has long been the place to go for this type of material. Those who do lapidary work tell me the material is tops.
Ladd's Mountain - Jeff Deere
The Pleistocene fossils occur in the clays deposited in the caves. Red caves earths, sometimes unconsolidated and sometime erratically but thoroughly cemented into a “cave breccia”. (Breccia; a rock composed of angular, broken fragments cemented together by a fine matrix, Wikipedia) The fossil deposits known in 1967 to Lipps and Ray occurred in a small remnant of Quarry Mountain, on the southeast corner, separated from the main body of the mountain by blasting and quarrying.
Fossils have been collected from the old land surface, from blasting rubble, from crevices among boulders, and from solution holes of various sizes wherever remnants of cave earth. As a result of these conditions there is every reason to expect mixing of fossils deposited at different times. Lipps and Ray state “…the apparent ecological incompatibility displayed among the fossil mammals...” Reptiles share this incompatibility too.
The fossils cannot be dated by bedding. The only accurate methods of dating would be by comparison to known occurrences of the species or direct date-testing of the fossils.
Collecting macrofossils was done by standard field practices. Cave earth was washed for fossils. Because Ladds is only about 30 miles from Shorter College (University), fresh matrix was taken to the college for processing (washing) in the lab.
The fossils recovered by Shorter College were sorted, packed and shipped at irregular intervals to the Smithsonian, where most continue to be housed. Below is a link to the Smithsonian database where you can search for any fossil in their collection, including the Ladds material.
Link To Smithsonian Database
https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/paleo/
Link To Smithsonian Database
https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/paleo/
The principal participants in the Ladds research project from the staff at Shorter College (University) were…
- Phillip F-C Greear
- Paulina Buhl
- Emma Lewis Lipps
Friends of the college were also active at various stages…
- Robert Bagby
- Charles Cressler
- Jennings B. Gordon Jr.
- James Lewis
Students too numerous to name, also enthusiastically participated in the project collecting, washing, sorting, and packing specimens for transport. While not wishing to minimize the efforts of others, the labor of certain students demand attention:
- Frederick Amos
- Robert Anoka
- Leon Avery
- D. David Bailey
- Ronald Casey
- James Cole
- Fred Garner
- Jack Grant
- John Henry
- James Parker
- Larry Thompson
- Lamar Thornbrough
- Stephen Shapiro
- Robert Swint
At the Smithsonian Clayton Ray further sorted them and distributed them to museum specialists for study, all of whom prepared and published reports for Bulletins of the Georgia Academy of Science
- Mammals were reviewed by Ray.
- Birds went to Wetmore.
- Reptiles and amphibians to Holman.
- Mollusks to LaRocque.
- The matrix was inspected for pollen by Beninghoff.
Ladds New Large Chipmunk Tamias aristus
In 1965 Clayton Ray reported the occurrence of a new “large”, but now extinct, species of chipmunk from the Ladds caves. He describes Tamias aristus, as closely related to Tamius striatus which is our modern chipmunk. He speculates that the larger species shared a range with the modern T. striatus but remained reproductively distinct. Our modern chipmunk is the only surviving member of the genus Tamias, but Ladds shows us that it once had a “cousin” in North Georgia.
In 1965 Clayton Ray reported the occurrence of a new “large”, but now extinct, species of chipmunk from the Ladds caves. He describes Tamias aristus, as closely related to Tamius striatus which is our modern chipmunk. He speculates that the larger species shared a range with the modern T. striatus but remained reproductively distinct. Our modern chipmunk is the only surviving member of the genus Tamias, but Ladds shows us that it once had a “cousin” in North Georgia.
Ray begins his report again crediting “Mr. Warren Moore and family” for discovering the fossils at Ladds. He adds “Although many people have participated in the project among the most active have been public school teachers.” So, another cheer for Public School Teachers doing Science in Georgia!
Ray states that Tamias aristus is “…represented by an essentially complete skull (USNM 23320) and miscellaneous bones, all modern in appearance. Derived from sediments in a small cave, dated as Late Pleistocene.”
He describes a skull significantly larger than the modern chipmunk, 10% to 30% larger in almost all cranial and dental dimensions. Significantly larger than even the largest known, modern Tamias striatus. Size is the primary difference, Ray comments that there were few differences between Tamias aristus and Tamias striatus beyond size.
Ray describes the fossils’ presence.
The fossils occur in small fissures exposed in a remnant pinnacle of limestone representing the southerly end of Quarry Mountain, now (1965) isolated from the major part of the mountain by extensive quarrying. The fossiliferous matrix is red cave earth in part little indurated (hardened) and yielding readily to standard washing techniques as well as firmly cemented as “cave breccia”.
In essence, some of the fossils were in soft, red clay-earth matrix which washed away easily. Others were in harder breccia rock which isn’t very workable. Why there is such a difference in the matrix is unexplained.
The fossils occur in small fissures exposed in a remnant pinnacle of limestone representing the southerly end of Quarry Mountain, now (1965) isolated from the major part of the mountain by extensive quarrying. The fossiliferous matrix is red cave earth in part little indurated (hardened) and yielding readily to standard washing techniques as well as firmly cemented as “cave breccia”.
In essence, some of the fossils were in soft, red clay-earth matrix which washed away easily. Others were in harder breccia rock which isn’t very workable. Why there is such a difference in the matrix is unexplained.
Ray observes the “…presence of certain apparently ecologically incompatible species…” but he offers no explanation. Reindeer and alligators occur in Ladds fossil record, two environmentally incompatible species. Ray recognized the issue. It was clear that Ladds didn’t represent a snapshot in time. Rather, it’s like trying to understand a movie from a few hundred loose, individual frames, whose correct order cannot be determined.
Clearly these many of these animals lived at different times separated by decades, centuries, or millennia. Clearly their fossils were transported, but only short distances as the researchers report little to no transportation damage. Flowing water from floods (?) possibly deposited the fossils into the caves and pockets, thus preserving them. Monsoons are well documented from portions of Georgia’s Pleistocene record. (See Section 20C: Georgia’s Eolian Dunes for more information.)
The Lessons of Ladds
Our Pleistocene climate was hardly stable but has changed many times and will change again. As seen on this website, Ladds produced a wide variety of Pleistocene fossils ranging from caribou (reindeer) to alligator and giant tortoises. The reindeer were the same modern species which roams North America’s current arctic tundra (see Section 20N of this website), which are cold adapted. The alligator fossils were also from the same species which lives in South Georgia but their modern range does not extend much past Georgia’s Fall Line, they cannot stand a typical, modern Bartow County winter.
This tells just that in recent times, probably within the last 30,000 years, Georgia has been both much warmer and much cooler for periods long enough that populations of animals became established. Animals with very distinct climate needs.
Climates change.
Science is a journey, not a destination.
Our Pleistocene climate was hardly stable but has changed many times and will change again. As seen on this website, Ladds produced a wide variety of Pleistocene fossils ranging from caribou (reindeer) to alligator and giant tortoises. The reindeer were the same modern species which roams North America’s current arctic tundra (see Section 20N of this website), which are cold adapted. The alligator fossils were also from the same species which lives in South Georgia but their modern range does not extend much past Georgia’s Fall Line, they cannot stand a typical, modern Bartow County winter.
This tells just that in recent times, probably within the last 30,000 years, Georgia has been both much warmer and much cooler for periods long enough that populations of animals became established. Animals with very distinct climate needs.
Climates change.
Science is a journey, not a destination.
You can download and read the Ladds papers below.
| lipps_ladds_cave_bartow.pdf |
| ray_chipmunk.pdf |
| ray_ladds_verts_1965.pdf |
References:
- Greear, P. F-C.; A Pleistocene Bear in Northwest Georgia, Bulletin of the Georgia Academy of Science, 22, Pgs 13-14, 1964
- Ray, Clayton E.; A new Chipmunk, Tamias aristus, From the Pleistocene of Georgia, Journal of Paleontology, 39(5), Pg 1016-1022, 1965
- Ray, Clayton E.; Pleistocene Mammals from Ladds, Bartow County, Georgia; Bulletin of Georgia Academy of Science, 25(3), Pg 120-150, 1967
- Lipps, Lewis and Ray, Clayton E.; The Pleistocene Fossiliferous Deposit at Ladds, Bartow County, Georgia; Bulletin of the Georgia Academy of Science; 25(3), Pgs 113-119. 1967
- Source; Cofer, H. E., Cenozoic Fossils in a Conglomerate Interstratified with Paleozoic Rocks, Georgia Geological Survey, Bulletin 60, Short Contributions to the Geology, Geography, and Archaeology of Georgia. Pgs 200-204, 1953
- Jan/2007 Dixie Mineral Council Ladds Mountain Field Trip; Ladd's Mountain - Jeff Deere