Dinosaur bones found underneath parking lot in Dinosaur, Colorado
For a place named Dinosaur, it’s been a while since the small Colorado town revealed a real fossils. But after a 101-year lull in discoveries, work has been halted on a new parking lot near Dinosaur National Monument after construction crews discovered an unexpected section of sandstone. Park staff and paleontologists quickly examined the find and identified sauropod bones likely belonging to Diplodocus-a massive, long-necked dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period.
Located on the Colorado-Utah border at the confluence of the Green and Yampa rivers, Dinosaur National Monument was established as a federally protected site in 1915. Its nearly 330 square miles of land encompass more than 800 distinct paleontological sites dating back 150 million years to the Jurassic era. The Carnegie Museum oversaw the very first excavations from 1909 to 1922, followed by projects by the Smithsonian Museum and the University of Utah in 1923 and 1924.
The region today is a largely arid desert landscape. However, more than 150 million years ago, a vast riverbed regularly received dinosaur remains as they floated downstream. These bones slowly fossilized in sandstone and conglomerates, giving rise to one of the best-preserved and most diverse collections of ancient megafauna on the continent. Today, the nearby national monument offers visitors a glimpse of the array of species that once roamed North America, such as Allosaurus, DeinonychusAnd Stegosaurus.
After identifying the new Diplodocus bones in a parking lot, paleontologists worked with park staff, the Utah Conservation Corps and local volunteers between September and October 2025 to remove approximately 3,000 pounds of rocks and fossils. The findings were then transferred to the Natural History State Park Museum in Vernal, Utah, where they can be viewed in the institution’s public fossil preparation laboratory. Other examples are already on display in the Quarry Exhibit Hall at Dinosaur National Monument. Also known as the Wall of Bones, the exhibition hall is located on an intact section of the original Carnegie Quarry excavations, displaying approximately 1,500 dinosaur fossils still embedded in the rock.
Researchers now continue to clean up and examine the parking lot finds that ended Dinosaur, Colorado’s century-long drought. That said, the city did not always live up to its name so well. Originally known as Baxter Springs, the place was eventually renamed Artesia during the oil rush during the 1940s oil boom. In 1966, the small center finally received its current dinosaur designation.
The best new PopSci 2025 releases
