Nature
PUBLISHED
Dinosaurs once roamed in Utah’s Dinosaur National Monument Park. The evidence is embedded in the rocks, but some enormous – and previously uncovered – fossils were recently dug up during what was supposed to be parking lot construction work. All part of the rich tapestry of digging in dinosaur country, I suppose.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.Construction workers were removing asphalt covering an area of sandstone when the discovery was made. Turns out that sticky concrete had been concealing some enormous fossils that were identified by park staff on September 16, 2025. It transformed what was meant to be a bit of park maintenance into the first excavation at Dinosaur National Monument Park in over 100 years.
The last dig here ended in 1924, with historic excavations having been led by the Carnegie Museum, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and the University of Utah. The ground was left alone for a century or so, and then along came the parking lot construction. The fossils are near the park’s Quarry Exhibit Hall, and they’re huge.
Construction work officially on hold, the palaeontologists were unleashed, but they weren’t alone. With the help of park staff, Utah Conservation Corps crew, volunteers, and the construction workers themselves, they removed 1,361 kilograms (3,000 pounds) of fossils and rock over the course of a month.
Their investigations have so far revealed that the fossils were that of a large, long-necked dinosaur. Diplodocus is a likely candidate, being a household name in Utah’s bonebed.
The fossils have been taken to Utah Field House at the Natural History State Park Museum in Vernal, Utah (where you can legally hunt dinosaurs). The work now begins to clean and study the fossils – work that can be viewed in the museum’s fossil preparation lab.
You’ll also find some of the fossils uncovered in the excavation on display in the Quarry Exhibit Hall, which is famous for its “Wall Of Bones” exhibit. It’s a fitting name for a area of the quarry where you can see around 1,500 bones still locked into the rock.
“And what of the parking lot?” I hear you cry. “Won’t anybody think of the parking lot?” Fear not, dear reader. Once the palaeontologists had had their fun, the construction project continued and the parking lot and road improvement have now been completed. The work hopes to improve accessibility to this area of Dinosaur National Monument Park, and if you uncover a few giants along the way? Well, that’s just a bonus.
Turns out dinosaur trackway fossils also have a thing for parking lots.
