PLAIN-LANGUAGE SUMMARY

Baode County, Shanxi Province, is well known for its fossils because the people of the area have mined and sold fossil bones for use in traditional medicine for many years. Otto Zdansky published a classic paper in 1923 on the occurrence of the bones. The paper was published in German, but it is translated to English here to make it more widely available in the tradition of translations produced by Will Downs. The rich fauna of three-toed horses, rhinoceroses, carnivores, and many other species was quarried from underground Dragon Bone Mines and hauled to the surface in carts by people on all fours using a harness that ran between their legs and over one shoulder.