JENSEN, Utah (KTVX) — For the first time in over 100 years, fossils have been excavated from what is now the parking lot of the Quarry Exhibit Hall at Dinosaur National Monument in Utah.
According to a press release from the National Park Service (NPS), crews were doing construction on the parking lot and removed a section of asphalt. Park staff saw a portion of dinosaur-bearing sandstone underneath, and construction was halted so paleontologists could work.
“We were so excited,” ReBecca Hunt-Foster, the monument paleontologist, said in an interview with Nexstar’s KTVX. “It was really fun, too, you know. We anticipated that we would probably find something, but it was so exciting when we actually saw the fossils exposed just right under the surface of the pavement.”
Alongside paleontologists, NPS staff, a Utah Conservation Corps crew, volunteers, and on-site construction crews assisted in removing the fossil. They believe it belongs to a large, long-necked dinosaur, which NPS says is most likely Diplodocus.
Monument staff work on excavated dinosaur fossils in the Quarry Exhibit Hall Parking Lot. (NPS/ReBecca Hunt-Foster) 
Monument staff work on excavated dinosaur fossils in the Quarry Exhibit Hall Parking Lot. (NPS/ReBecca Hunt-Foster) 
Monument staff work on excavated dinosaur fossils in the Quarry Exhibit Hall Parking Lot. (NPS/ReBecca Hunt-Foster) 
Monument staff work on excavated dinosaur fossils in the Quarry Exhibit Hall Parking Lot. (NPS/ReBecca Hunt-Foster) 
Monument staff work on excavated dinosaur fossils in the Quarry Exhibit Hall Parking Lot. (NPS/ReBecca Hunt-Foster) 
Monument staff work on excavated dinosaur fossils in the Quarry Exhibit Hall Parking Lot. (NPS/ReBecca Hunt-Foster)
“The rock that we were excavating in is really hard, and so it took a lot of effort to get them out,” Hunt-Foster explained. “We had a lot of people helping us from the park and volunteers in the community. The construction crew even jumped in and helped us some, which was great. We definitely were digging pretty fast and had some long days to get it out.”
Roughly 3,000 pounds of fossils and rock were removed during this excavation, which started in mid-September and wrapped up in mid-October. Currently, the fossils are being housed at the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum in Vernal, where they are being cleaned and studied.
“Excavating is the best part of collecting fossils, so it was really enjoyable,” Hunt-Foster said. “Now the science part, where we’re cleaning the fossils and studying them and trying to figure out what part of the tail and of the leg and of the arm do we have? What other bones may we have collected that we don’t even realize yet? We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us still, so it’ll be exciting to see what comes as we continue to clean things.”
The parking lot construction and road improvement project was completed after the excavation concluded. NPS says it included “extensive concrete and asphalt work” that has resulted in more accessibility in the area.
The location where the fossil was found had not been excavated in over 100 years, the press release said. Between 1909 and 1922, the Carnegie Museum excavated the area, followed by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in 1923 and the University of Utah, which completed its last excavations there in 1924.
Dinosaur National Monument was established during these excavations in 1915, and the Quarry Exhibit Hall shows a preserved section of the historic Carnegie quarry. Visitors can view roughly 1,500 fossils still encased in rock. Some of the new fossils discovered are now on display at the Quarry Exhibit Hall, as well as the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum.
Hunt-Foster shared that paleontologists and park staff are still working to excavate the specimens they found, and hope the public will come visit Dinosaur National Monument to see what they’re working on.