Back in September, as heavy machinery broke the asphalt of a parking lot at Dinosaur National Monument, ReBecca Hunt-Foster carefully watched. 

“We knew that there was the possibility of encountering fossils,” the paleontologist said.

She and staff knew, as they were very aware of what was through the front door of the Quarry Exhibit Hall just steps away. That’s the main attraction of this national monument sprawling between northwest Colorado and Utah ー the old quarry-turned-exhibit also known as the “Wall of Bones” for the 1,500 dinosaur fossils encased in rock. 

That same rock ran under the parking lot outside, Hunt-Foster knew. And so during construction, crews worked carefully — “like somebody icing a cake with a bulldozer,” she said. 

She recalled the crew excavating down about 5 feet. 

“That’s when I spotted the bone and cross section.” 

It was the leg bone of a sauropod, a long-necked giant that roamed here some 150 million years ago when this desert canyonland was lush and green. 

Construction stopped at the sight. Hunt-Foster and her assistant hurried closer. They started digging more. 

“That’s when we discovered two vertebrae, and Rudy and I looked at each other and we were like, Uh-oh,” Hunt-Foster said. “He worked in one direction and I worked in the other. And by the time it was over with, we had 14 tail vertebrae.” 

Along with parts of the tail and that lower leg, they found an upper arm as they dug through October alongside other staff, volunteers and construction workers. They worked long hours, hoping to finish so the parking lot construction could continue ahead of winter. 

“It was hard work,” Hunt-Foster said. “We got rained on. It started to get cold. But it was wonderful.” 

Wonderful to finally see what lay beneath the ground that had not been excavated since 1924, as noted in a recent news release announcing the discovery. 

That year marked the end of a series of major digs that led to Dinosaur National Monument’s designation and fame. The Carnegie Museum oversaw excavation here from 1909 to 1922, followed by the Smithsonian and University of Utah ー all leading up to the Quarry Exhibit Hall, which achieved early paleontologist Earl Douglass’s dream for visitors to see dinosaurs entombed. 

“Lots of paleontology work has happened over 100 years; we’ve had lots of excavation and lots of new discoveries around the park,” Hunt-Foster said, “but not on this particular part of the quarry.” 

This part of the quarry yielded finds in the past century, she said: “complete or fairly complete” skeletons of fellow long-necked sauropods displayed at the Smithsonian and at the American Museum of Natural History. 

“Ours is looking to be reasonably complete as well,” Hunt-Foster said. 

She’ll know more later this year. 

“There’s still more in the ground,” she said. “So we plan on renewing our excavation efforts as soon as winter passes and it’s safe to do so. And we’ll see what else we find.” 

Visitors will see as well there in the parking lot, just steps away from the Quarry Exhibit Hall. The scene has indeed turned heads, Hunt-Foster said. 

“There’s a lot of curiosity about it,” she said. “It’s funny, too, to think that so many people have been driving over it for decades and it was just right underneath the surface. It just goes to show you never know what’s right under your feet.”