Jaws drop at sight of a fossilized one – and more – getting cleaned at museum
Kids swarmed the open window, leaning in to watch a volunteer brush away dirt and slowly expose the triceratops’ jaw.
Many volunteers work in the fossil preparation lab at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, cleaning fossils from around the world. As they went about their work Saturday, three fossils sat in the lab’s window. These had arrived the night before from a place significantly closer — the Public Safety Building construction site in Thornton.
The fossils were still in jackets — the plaster cases used to transport fossils — but the jackets had been cut open to reveal the sand and fossils inside.
Only those three have been transported to the museum so far, but 20 to 25 bones have been found as of Saturday.
Jerry Clark, a 6-year-old from Thornton, stood at the glass with his mom, Ashley. The two had come to check out the triceratops and were looking at the jackets. Jerry explained to his mom how the fossils were excavated.
The boy knows a good amount about dinosaurs, having learned about them from books and movies. He knew triceratops had a frill like a shield at the back of their head. They also eat plants. He said the fossils were “pretty cool.”
“I was thinking like, like, like, like, they dig into the bones, they find it so they could put it out around the museum so we can look at the triceratops,” he said.
Ashley Clark said it was wild that they found the dinosaur in their town buried around houses — it was a sentiment repeated by many
at the museum Saturday.
“We could be living on top of a dinosaur and wouldn’t even know it,” she said her son.
Jerry responded with a simple “Yeah.”
He and his mom hurried back to the window to look again at the jackets holding the fossils.
Waves of kids and parents made their way through, intermixing with periodic lulls and massive hoards. Some came to the museum just to see the Thornton triceratops, while others were learning about the discovery for the first time.
Museum educator Sa- mantha Sands explained the fossils to visitors. Construction workers found the fossils while digging 6 feet deep — “Yes, only 6 feet.” Museum workers and volunteers are working in a 400-square-foot construction area.
The bones are complete compared with a lot of the fossils found in this area, which tend to be in chunks, she explained. The museum has found the front and back of the triceratops, which makes them hopeful that they may find the middle. The triceratops was left on the ground for a while when it died 66 million years ago — give or take a thousand years — and its parts have been scattered, probably by scavengers.
The Denver basin was made up of soft sand at the time, making it easy for the museum to extract the bones from the surrounding dirt. The excavation could continue until the end of this week — and may go longer if more bones are found, she said.
“We go all over the world to find dinosaurs,” Sands said. “To find one in our community is exciting.”
She said it was great to see the local excitement about the dinosaur, saying the Thornton triceratops represents the community’s history and belongs to the people of Colorado.
“Did you hear that?” One woman said, walking up to her husband. The two began to leave the exhibit. “They just discovered a triceratops. Here in Thornton!”