70 million-year-old dinosaur fossil found beneath Denver museum’s parking lot
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Denver science museum unearths rare dinosaur fossil under its parking lot
Scientists were digging scientific cores in January to test whether the museum could convert from natural gas to geothermal energy. That’s when they discovered a fossil 800 feet beneath the surface. The fossil turned out to be both Denver’s deepest and oldest dinosaur fossil at 70 million years old.
A team of scientists at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science discovered a dinosaur fossil hundreds of feet beneath the building’s parking lot earlier this year.
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The scientists were digging scientific cores in January to test whether the museum could convert from natural gas to geothermal energy. That’s when they discovered a fossil 800 feet beneath the surface.
“If you had drilled the well two feet over, might not have hit it,” James Hagadorn, the curator of geology at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, told NBC affiliate KUSA. “So it’s pretty amazing.”
Hagadorn said the fossil turned out to be both Denver’s deepest and oldest dinosaur fossil at 70 million years old. He and his team determined the bone was the vertebrae of a plant-eating dinosaur similar to a Edmontosaurus or Thescelosaurus.
While the museum is filled with fossils, the latest discovery is especially rare. Hagadorn believes it is “the only dinosaur bone from a core in the world that you can go see” and one of only three that have been discovered on the planet.
“It’s a needle, inside of a needle, inside of a haystack,” he said.
70 million-year-old dinosaur fossil found beneath Denver museum’s parking lot
A partial bone fossil from nearly 70 million years ago was discovered in January. The fossil was found 763 feet beneath the parking lot of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. The bone belonged to a herbivorous dinosaur similar to the Edmontosaurus or the Thescelosaurus. It is now on display in the museum’s “Discovering Teen Rex” exhibit. The discovery is the deepest and oldest dinosaur fossil ever found in Denver city limits, officials said. The findings were published in the scientific journal “Rocky Mountain Geology” on June 1.
DENVER (WJW) — Researchers with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science were thrilled after a dinosaur fossil from nearly 70 million years ago was discovered right under their feet.
Back in January, while crews were conducting a geothermal drilling project outside the museum, they found a partial bone fossil that was 763 feet beneath the parking lot, officials announced in a Thursday press release.
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Ornithopod vertebra from the Denver Formation, from 763′ of depth in the City Park core drilling in the parking lot at Denver Museum of Nature and Science (Courtesy of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science).
Investigators said the bone, identified as the vertebra of a herbivorous dinosaur, “occurs in Late Cretaceous rocks dated to approximately 67.5 million years ago.”
Scientists have described the discovery as the deepest and oldest dinosaur fossil ever found in Denver city limits.
“This is a scientifically and historically thrilling find for both the museum and the larger Denver community,” James Hagadorn, the museum’s geology curator, is quoted in the release. “This fossil comes from an era just before the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs, and it offers a rare window into the ecosystem that once existed right beneath modern-day Denver.”
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The findings, published in the scientific journal “Rocky Mountain Geology” on June 1, determined that the bone belonged to a dinosaur similar to the Edmontosaurus or the Thescelosaurus, as depicted in the photo below.
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Thescelosaurus (Courtesy of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science)
“The specimen deepens our understanding of dinosaurs in the Denver Basin and encourages us to imagine all the fossils hidden right beneath our feet — a world still waiting to be discovered and explored!” the release continued.
The fossil is now on display in the museum’s “Discovering Teen Rex” exhibit, officials said.
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US museum finds 67-million-year-old dinosaur fossil under asphalt
The fossil was found 763 feet beneath the surface of a Denver parking lot. It is believed to be from a herbivorous dinosaur, similar to a Thescelosaurus or Edmontosaurus. It dates from the Late Cretaceous period, just before the mass extinction event.
Buried 763 feet below the surface, the fossil was classified as a vertebra from a herbivorous dinosaur, similar to a Thescelosaurus or Edmontosaurus, and identified as the deepest and oldest dinosaur fossil ever found within the city limits.
“This is a scientifically and historically thrilling find for both the Museum and the larger Denver community,” James Hagadorn, PhD, curator of geology at the Museum said.
A rare piece of history
Radiometric dating places it at approximately 67.5 million years old, from the Late Cretaceous period, spanning from approximately 100.5 to 66 million years ago, just before the mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs.
Dinosaur bone found under CO museum parking lot. See 67.5-million-year-old fossil
Researchers found an “ancient bedrock from the Late Cretaceous Period,” which didn’t shock scientists – until they learned it contained a 67.5-million-year-old partial dinosaur bone. The rock contained partial vertebrae of a “plant-eating dinosaur, similar to a Thescelosaurus or Edmontosaurus,’ researchers said. “No one could have predicted that this little square foot of land where we started drilling would actually contain a dinosaur bone beneath it!” James Hagadorn, curator of geology at the museum said in the release. This marks the “deepest and oldest dinosaur fossil ever found within” the city’s limits, officials said.
It all started with a “geothermal feasibility project in the spring of 2024,” the Denver Museum of Nature and Science said in a July 9 News release.
The team had goals of drilling hundreds of feet below the surface with hopes to use “the Earth’s internal energy to heat and cool the museum,” researchers said.
A partial dinosaur fossil was uncovered in Colorado, a museum said. Rick Wicker/Denver Museum of Nature and Science
But, what the museum didn’t take into account during the project was it being led by scientists, making “the urge to survey and study what’s down there” “irresistible,” researchers said.
The team began drilling over 763 feet below the museum’s parking lot when they came across a “major dinosaur discovery,” the museum said on Facebook.
Researchers found an “ancient bedrock from the Late Cretaceous Period,” which didn’t shock scientists – until they learned it contained a 67.5-million-year-old partial dinosaur bone, officials said.
A 67.5-million-year-old fossil was uncovered under a parking lot, a Colorado museum said. Rick Wicker/Denver Museum of Nature and Science
“It’s basically like winning the lottery and getting struck by lightning on the same day,” James Hagadorn, curator of geology at the museum said in the release. “No one could have predicted that this little square foot of land where we started drilling would actually contain a dinosaur bone beneath it!”
Researchers at a museum discovered a 67.5-million-year-old dinosaur fossil, the Colorado museum said. Rick Wicker/Denver Museum of Nature and Science
The rock contained partial vertebrae of a “plant-eating dinosaur, similar to a Thescelosaurus or Edmontosaurus,” researchers said.
This marks the “deepest and oldest dinosaur fossil ever found within” the city’s limits, officials said.
Smaller dinosaurs, like that of the Thescelosaurus, were “agile and alert” hiding from their Tyrannosaurus rex predator and when the animals died, their remains would get buried into sediment that turned to rock after being carried through bodies of water, researchers said.
“In my 35 years at the Museum, we’ve never had an opportunity quite like this — to study the deep geologic layers beneath our feet with such precision. That this fossil turned up here, in City Park, is nothing short of magical,” Earth sciences research associate Bob Raynolds said in the release.
For those who want to see the fossil, the museum has curated a display.
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Drilling project in Museum of Nature & Science parking lot leads to ‘exceptionally rare’ fossil find
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science began a geothermal test drilling project in its parking lot in January. Scientists were eager to take up the rare opportunity to learn what was below the surface there. That led to quite the surprise 763 feet under the ground of the museum’s parking lot. The bone belonged to a plant-eating dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous about 67.5 million years ago, similar to a Thescelosaurus or Edmontosaurus. Those creatures lived in modern day-Denver just ahead of the asteroid strike that killed off the dinosaurs, the museum said.. It has now been named the deepest and oldest dinosaur fossil ever found within Denver city limits. The fossil is on display at the museum within the “Discovering Teen Rex’ exhibition, which displays an adolescent T. rex fossil that was discovered by teens in North Dakota. The find was “basically like winning the lottery and getting struck by lightning on the same day,” said Dr. James Hagadorn, curator of geology.
In January, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science began a geothermal test drilling project in its parking lot to assess the possibility of using geothermal energy to cool the museum and moving away from natural gas. With a giant, narrow drill going about 1,000 feet deep into the ground, local scientists were eager to take up the rare opportunity to learn what was below the surface there.
Those staff carried out a “scientific coring research initiative” to better help researchers understand the geology of the Denver Basin, the museum said.
Rick Wicker Earth Sciences Curator Dr. James Hagadorn and Research Associate Dr. Bob Raynolds examine scientific cores in the parking lot at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science in January 2025. (Photo/ Rick Wicker)
That led to quite the surprise 763 feet under the ground of the museum’s parking lot in City Park — a 70-million-year-old partial dinosaur fossil.
“That this fossil turned up here, in City Park, is nothing short of magical,” said Earth Sciences Research Associate Dr. Bob Raynolds, who has worked at the museum for 35 years.
Rick Wicker A portion of the dinosaur bone was recovered from a scientific core — drilled 763 feet below the surface of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science’s parking lot in City Park. (Photo/Rick Wicker)
According to a recent article in the scientific journal “Rocky Mountain Geology,” the core that was removed by the drill was relatively small, so “it is remarkable that a dinosaur fossil was encountered.”
“This is a scientifically and historically thrilling find for both the museum and the larger Denver community,” said Dr. James Hagadorn, curator of geology at the museum. “This fossil comes from an era just before the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs, and it offers a rare window into the ecosystem that once existed right beneath modern-day Denver.”
He added that this find was “basically like winning the lottery and getting struck by lightning on the same day.”
Wicker; Richard M./Denver Museum of Nature and Science Researchers at Denver Museum of Nature and Science looking at ornithopod vertebra from the Denver Formation. Left to Right: S. Augusta Maccracken; David Krause; Patrick O’Connor.
Dr. Patrick O’Connor, director of Earth & Space Sciences at the Museum, helped the team to identify the bone as a vertebral centrum belonging to an plant-eating dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous about 67.5 million years ago, similar to a Thescelosaurus or Edmontosaurus. Those creatures lived in modern day-Denver just ahead of the asteroid strike that killed off the dinosaurs.
It has now been named the deepest and oldest dinosaur fossil ever found within Denver city limits, the museum said.
Andrey Atuchin, Denver Museum of Nature & Science Image of a plant-eating ornithopod dinosaur, Thescelosaurus, during the latest Cretaceous Period, nearly 67 million years ago. These around 10-12 foot long two-legged animals roamed the tropical swamps, forests and floodplains where Denver now stands. Their vertebrae are similar to the one found in the rock core deep below the Museum. (Photo/Andrey Atuchin, Denver Museum of Nature & Science)
The fossil is on display at the museum within the “Discovering Teen Rex” exhibition, which displays an adolescent T. rex fossil that was discovered by teens in North Dakota.
“This may be the most unusual dinosaur discovery I have ever been a part of,” O’Connor added. “Not only is it exceptionally rare to find any fossil as part of a drilling project, but the discovery provided an outstanding collaborative opportunity for the museum earth sciences team to produce an article led by Denver Museum of Nature & Science postdoctoral scholar Dr. Holger Petermann.”
That article by Petermann was published in the scientific journal “Rocky Mountain Geology.”
The fossil was found within the Denver Formation — or D1 Sequence — which is a rock layer within the Denver Basin, where non-ornithopod ornithischian dinosaurs have been discovered, including Triceratops, Pachycephalosaurus, Triceratops, Torosaurus, and a nodosaur. However ornithopod fossils, as the one found earlier this year appears to be, “are comparatively rare,” the article reads.
GeoScience World
“This fossil underscores the highly fossiliferous nature of the entire D1 Sequence (Denver Formation) and increases the diversity of dinosaurs known from the Denver metropolitan area,” the scientific article reads.
The D1 Sequence area is “rich” with fossils and discoveries date back to more than a century ago with Arthur Lakes, a professor out of Golden, “filling wheelbarrows full of bones along the Front Range to be shipped to colleagues on the East Coast,” the article continues. Lakes is responsible for identifying many of the fossils along the Dakota Hogback in Morrison, which is now called Dinosaur Ridge. He also found a Tyrannosaurus rex tooth on South Table Mountain in 1874 and discovered the first dinosaur footprints in the state near Colorado Springs in 1902, according to the Dinosaur Ridge visitors center.
Hagadorn, in an interview with Denver7 on Wednesday, also mentioned that construction crews found fossils when building Denver International Airport and Coors Field, which is why the Rockies’ mascot, Dinger, is a triceratops.
“One of the things that’s great about the rocks underfoot here is that they’re well preserved,” he told Denver7. “They haven’t been cooked by a volcano. They haven’t been beaten up by huge faults, by continents colliding with one another, and they’re not that far away from the surface. So we have the potential to find them.”
“There are probably way more dinosaurs beneath the museum, and probably other buildings in Colorado too, just waiting to be discovered,” he added.
Source: https://fox8.com/news/70-million-year-old-dinosaur-fossil-found-beneath-denver-museums-parking-lot/