Cascading down the side of an arroyo, the mortal (and purple) remains of a Mesozoic beast. The faintly purple tinge of the bone fragments may be due to manganese, says a local paleontologist who refuses to stake his life on that.

And speaking of stakes, we were not the first discovers. Above and below the scatter were short lengths of rebar with aluminum tags–now illegible, leaving the bones once again to their quiet unmaking.