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Related to WSA post on the fossils and finds of early humans what most people do not realize is that Africa is a very old and pretty much intact continent. It has had the other continents bouncing off of it several times in earth history and been joined all together in one massive continent but it has remained pretty much stable and the same shape for much of earths history. There is not a lot of volcanic history in Africa and what there is localized leaving large areas of ancient rock and sediment intact to accumulate fossils without subsequent disturbance. On the other hand, the North American continent is slammed on one side by the Pacific Subduction zone, mountains are new and volcanic along the West Coast and the Rocky Mountains are still growing in height. The central plains have been inland oceans for much of the history of the continent and the Appalachian Mountains are a small remnant of the mighty mountain range they used to be. So most of the North American fossil records are found in areas which used to be inland lakes and extensions of the inland sea that is now the Gulf of Mexico. What there is to find has to erode out of sediment in the areas which encouraged fossilization. Those areas were good habitat for dinosaurs, plains animals like camels, etc but hardly places where BF is likely to have preferred to live, died and been fossilized. . Most likely BF did not enter the continent much earlier than humans and human fossils are not found either. The earliest human remains found so far are much younger than evidence of human presence on the continent. So even that does not have a good track record of found skeletons supporting evidence of human habitation. Throw in specialized habitat for BF (forested area at or near the snow line), fewer numbers to begin with, West Coast volcanism and it is little wonder that nothing has been found yet. Much of what is there is probably under basalt layers and ash deposits. I see the ash as having potential. As those that have seen the human remains in Pompeii know, hot ash does a pretty good job of preserving remains. You really do not need fossilization processes. It comes down to boots on the ground looking. We have found so many dinosaur fossils because we hundreds of professionals and amateurs looking for them where they are likely to be found. The same is not true for BF.

Question: are you sure it is a through-route and not a destination? I've got a spot where I've had quite a bit of activity, one time of year only, with some reports from the west and a big gap in them to the east where they should, if continuing onward, have to cross a major interstate. I've been exploring a 5-6 mile chunk of interstate looking for underpasses or big, unblocked drain pipes. There are none. They're either crossing OVER the freeway using a railroad bridge in a series of corners that point car headlights away from the bridge 'til they're too far under to see what is happening overhead, OR they're simply not going any further, the spot I've run into them is end of the trip ... for some purpose or other. Just a consideration ... MIB

I don't entertain the we evolved from a monkey stuff, but these things burying any dead was most likely due to them not wanting to smell the nasty stuff.