Triceratops skull found in Thornton

[GilpinGuy]

I was a geologist in my former life, so I find this stuff cool as hell.


LINK

Construction crew unearths triceratops skull in Colorado
THORNTON,Colo. - A construction crew unearthed a triceratops skeleton and skull at a construction site in Thornton on Friday.

Paleontologists from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science came to the construction site on Monday to examine the skeleton.

Joe Sertich, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science curator of dinosaurs, says it’s one of only three triceratops skulls found in the Front Range area.

“A lot of times these will be plowed up and they won’t be recognized,”Sertich said. “We’re really lucky in this case that it was recognized as fossils and we got the call.”

The triceratops was at least 66 million years old – something a little different from the 10,000 to 12,000-year-old fossils Sertich says are usually found in the Denver area.

The difference in this case was construction crews were digging deeper for this building than they usually do to build parking lots and other structures – something that allowed them to get closer to an era when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

“My heart was racing!” Sertich said. “As soon as uncovered it and realized this was a horn of a triceratops and not just another leg bone or part of a hip, it made the site really exciting.”

Construction crews have stopped work in the area so scientists can expose the fossil, look for other bones and then extract them, the city of Thornton said.

When the fossil is safely removed, the hope is that one day it will be housed at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

“A soon as I got on site, I realized it was a pretty important dinosaur find, which are pretty unusual in the Denver area,” Sertich said.

[sigmanx]

That's a pretty cool find. I'm big into that kind of stuff myself.

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[roberth]

Very cool!! When I was little I read every dinosaur book I could get my hands on.

[Great-Kazoo]

Very cool!! When I was little I read every dinosaur book I could get my hands on.

The Flintstones comics don't count.

[StagLefty]

I thought "Blaster Bob " moved ?

[BPTactical]

I thought "Blaster Bob " moved ?

BOOM!
Head shot!

[roberth]

The Flintstones comics don't count.

YABBA DABBA DOOOOOOO

[CapLock]

I hear of a museum in Kentucky that says them was saddle broke. LoL.

[flogger]

There goes someone's tight construction schedule

[OtterbatHellcat]

Yeah, bummer on the slowdown.......BUT.......pretty neato on the find. I heard it might be a complete fossil and if I'm not mistaken, that would like the fourth or fifth complete Triceratops found ever?

Honestly, I think the find is more important than some government building for sure, I hope it ends up being an important find when everything is all said and done.

ETA:...I thought I heard Trex on early reports. Triceratops just as neato.