August 10, 2006 - Paul Discovers Dinosaur Footprint, More Evidence Uncovered Options

[Jason_Petula]

Last night over another meal of dehydrated delight, Paul mentioned he found a possible dinosaur track a mile up from our quarry. Tony was excited to hear the news and first thing this morning we followed Paul to the track. Well almost! Paul led me on a suicidal hike up a near vertical dead end that left my feet aching with cramps – as well as a few other body parts. Since it is his daughter’s birthday today and he expressed disappointment in missing it, I decided not to harass him too much. When we finally arrived at the sight, Tony agreed that it was a dinosaur track. As he pointed out the features of the track to me, he commented, “Ya know, I wish my daughter Olivia was here to see this. She would think it was the coolest thing in the world.”

Back at the quarry, the discovery of bones continued. The difficult part of this quarry is not only the bone density, but also the condition of the bones. The cycles of freezing and thawing have really turned this dinosaur graveyard into a jig-saw puzzle. Amazingly, the preparators back at the museum somehow get all of the pieces back together. The difficulty of the quarry was relaxed when Tony realized we may have an intact skull of a pachyrhinosaur. He spent the later part of the afternoon uncovering it and it was obviously a great specimen. The beak and nasal cavity were clear as day. Tomorrow Tony is going to try and uncover the eye socket, but it will be tricky because we are starting to hit permafrost.


Dr. Tony Fiorillo tracing a foot print left by a dinosaur between 65 and 70 million years ago.