Project Results

This was an exciting and extremely successful field season.  The T. rex  remains disappeared almost immediately after the excavation began, but the Edmontosaur and Triceratops remains turned out to be even better than expected.  In fact, the Triceratops remains are important because they are from a juvenile individual.  Both specimens are still being prepared in the lab, partly because the rock surrounding these bones is incredibly hard - we could have never excavated them without the jack hammer, generator, and demolition hammer we purchased with the funds raised on our Experiment campaign!  In the meantime, the bones have been viewed by tens of thousands of people visiting the Academy of Natural Sciences and the New Jersey State Museum, starting countless wonderful conversations with visitors, and capturing many more imaginations.  

About This Project

In 2014, in a remote and barren corner of the Bighorn Basin, NJSM paleontologists and participants in the annual Paleontology Field School made a remarkable discovery. We found at least three partial dinosaur skeletons, including the world's most famous predator - Tyrannosaurus rex. With YOUR support, our team will return in 2015 to excavate the skeletons and bring them back to our research labs for preparation, study, education, and exhibition.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

The ecosystem that existed in the northern Great Plains during the Late Cretaceous has been studied extensively in the famous Hell Creek Formation, but much less so in the nearby Lance Formation. The NJSM's expeditions in the region represent a decades-long research project dedicated to documenting this ancient ecosystem, which in turn helps us to understand the ecosystems that existed in eastern North America at the same time.

The 2014 discovery of a multi-individual bonebed is unprecedented in the history of the research project. Dinosaurs are important and fascinating pieces of the ecological puzzle, and these specimens will yield a wealth of information on the creatures themselves, their world in general, and on the mass extinction that wiped out most of Earth's species shortly after.

What is the significance of this project?

Excavating these dinosaur skeletons will provide us a treasure trove of information about the individual animals themselves - how they lived, and how they died. They'll also tell us about their species in general and their relationships to other species, including those in eastern North America. All of this information will give us better insight into the region's ecosystem at the end of the Cretaceous Period, which may in turn help us to better understand the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.

Even after our studies are complete, these specimens will help us engage countless visitors on paleontology, paleoecology, and many other science topics, for generations to come. We can only guess how many generations of students to come will marvel at and be inspired by these specimens.

What are the goals of the project?

Our goal is to fully excavate the three dinosaur skeletons and to safely transport them to our research labs at the New Jersey State Museum and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. Both of these labs are “open" to the public, to the extent that visitors can see and interact with researchers and volunteers preparing and studying the specimens. Hundreds of thousands of visitors to both institutions will be able to do just that as our scientists and students conserve, prepare, and study the specimens.

Once preparation is complete, the skeletons will be available for exhibition and study by researchers around the world in perpetuity. The specimens and the expedition will be incorporated into educational programming as well.