Local father/daughter duo dig for dinosaur bones across West Tennessee

HENDERSON COUNTY, Tenn. — A local father/daughter duo share a unique hobby of digging deep into the history of West Tennessee.

Joshua and Gwynn Welch say creeks are a normal hangout for the father/daughter team, who dig for dinosaur bones. They say it all started after recovering some amber in Sardis back in 2013.

“It’s a tree with sap on it, and they harden, and it turns into these,” said Gwynn as she shows the pieces of amber.

“And from there, it wasn’t just a small step to connect that all of this sediment around this area was actually from the days of the dinosaurs and took off like a rocket after that,” said Joshua Welch.

Since then the team says they’ve recovered fossils and dinosaur bones experts say have never been seen before in the state of Tennessee.

“My daughter, she’s found baby dinosaur material; the first to be found in Tennessee,” Joshua said. “In our collection, we have the largest specimen of amber resin that’s been found in North America.”

Welch says all of his knowledge is self-taught, having come from books and online resources. He says he uses geological maps to find places that might be prone for dino digging.

Welch says the only thing more rewarding than unearthing pieces of history is the priceless time he spends with his seven-year-old daughter.

“I want to be a paleontologist,” said Gwynn.

“We’ve got quite a bit of memories,” Joshua said. “They’re long lasting, and I’ll always think about them.”

Welch says he has recovered fossils mainly in places around Henderson, Hardin, and Decatur Counties.

He says state geologists along with experts from the University of Tennessee and the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science have all confirmed his findings as authentic.

Welch says he hopes to donate his and Gwynn’s findings to local museums, so they can inspire people to take up the hobby themselves.