Hanksville, Utah is about to become a hot-spot on the paleontological map.  There, in the southeast of the state, a batch of well-preserved dinosaur bones, petrified trees and even freshwater clams have been unearthed.  They all date from around 150 million years ago. 

The Quarry Where the Fossils Were Found

An excavation of the area revealed at least four sauropods, long-necked, long-tailed, herbivorous dinosaurs, and two carnivorous ones.   There may also be a stegosaurus.

Animal burrows and petrified tree trunks 6 feet in diameter were also found nearby. The site does not contain any new species, but offers scientists the chance to learn more about the ecology of that time of the late Jurassic.

The fossilized dinosaurs are all from the same late Jurrasic, much like those at Dinosaur National Monument, which is partially in Utah.   The site measures roughly 50 yards wide by 200 yards long and was excavated by a team from the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, Illinois.  The bones were found in a sandstone channel of an ancient river.  Thanks to the depth at which the bones were found, “The preservation of these dinosaurs is excellent,” Scott Foss, a leading paleontoloist said.

The mix of dinosaurs, trees and other species in the area may help scientists fill in the blank spaces of how the area and life which resided there looked like 145 million years to 150 million years ago, including details about the ancient climate.