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5d ago

Denver Museum Unveils 67.5-Million-Year-Old Fossil Buried Below Parking Lot

The exhibit aims to engage the public in Denver’s prehistoric world through a rare glimpse of the city’s deepest dinosaur find.

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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.
Part of a fossilized vertebrae from a herbivorous dinosaur found deep under the parking lot of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science is displayed at the museum on July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
James Hagadorn, left, and Bob Raynolds examine a drilling core from the City Park core drilling in the parking lot at Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Crews found a partial-bone fossil of a 67.5 million-year-old dinosaur during a drilling project in Jan. 2025. (Courtesy of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science)

Overview

  • The fossil is a partial ornithopod vertebra dated to about 67.5 million years ago, making it the oldest dinosaur remains recovered within Denver city limits.
  • Researchers encountered the bone at 763 feet beneath the Denver Museum of Nature & Science parking lot during a January geothermal drilling and coring initiative.
  • Analysis published in Rocky Mountain Geology links the vertebra to herbivorous dinosaurs such as Thescelosaurus or Edmontosaurus.
  • The specimen is now featured in the Discovering Teen Rex gallery as a centerpiece to spark community interest in the region’s Late Cretaceous ecosystem.
  • Museum scientists continue to study Denver Basin core samples to advance geothermal feasibility and refine the basin’s geological history.