Overview
- The National Park Service announced on Jan. 16 that fossils found in September near the Quarry Exhibit Hall are from a large, long‑necked dinosaur most likely Diplodocus.
- Construction halted on Sept. 16 after asphalt removal exposed dinosaur‑bearing sandstone, and a team of park staff, Utah Conservation Corps members, volunteers and workers excavated the find from mid‑September to mid‑October.
- About 3,000 pounds of fossil‑bearing rock were removed, and so far roughly 20 feet of dinosaur have been collected, including 14 tail vertebrae plus a humerus, radius, ulna, tibia, fibula and toes.
- The material is being cleaned and studied at the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum in Vernal, with some newly recovered bones on display there and at the monument’s Quarry Exhibit Hall.
- This specific bonebed had not been excavated since 1924, and after the fossil recovery, crews completed parking lot and accessibility upgrades around the exhibit hall.