The Denver Museum of Nature & Science has announced the discovery of a dinosaur fossil under the Museum’s parking lot in City Park. In January, the Museum conducted a geothermal test drilling project to assess the viability of transitioning from natural gas to geothermal energy. At that time, the team took the opportunity to carry out a scientific coring research initiative to help researchers better understand the geology of the Denver Basin. The coring investigation led to the unexpected discovery of a nearly 70 million dinosaur fossil. The partial-bone fossil was found 763 feet below the surface and has been identified as the deepest and oldest dinosaur fossil ever found within the city limits. The fossil is now on display on the Museum floor in the “Discovering Teen Rex” exhibition.
“This is a scientifically and historically thrilling find for both the Museum and the larger Denver community,” said Dr. James Hagadorn, curator of geology at the Museum. “This fossil comes from an era just before the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs, and it offers a rare window into the ecosystem that once existed right beneath modern-day Denver.”
Dr. Patrick O’Connor, director of Earth & Space Sciences at the Museum, was part of the team that identified the bone as a vertebra of an herbivorous dinosaur. The fossil is described in an article in the scientific journal “Rocky Mountain Geology.” The bone occurs in Late Cretaceous rocks dated to approximately 67.5 million years ago.
A portion of the dinosaur bone recovered from the scientific core — drilled 763 feet below the surface of the Museum’s parking lot in City Park. It has been identified by Museum paleontologists as the deepest and oldest dinosaur fossil ever found within the city limits. Specimen is housed at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, courtesy of History Colorado, Office of the State Archaeologist.
"This may be the most unusual dinosaur discovery I have ever been a part of," said Dr. O’Connor. “Not only is it exceptionally rare to find any fossil as part of a drilling project, but the discovery provided an outstanding collaborative opportunity for the Museum earth sciences team to produce an article led by Denver Museum of Nature & Science postdoctoral scholar, Dr. Holger Petermann.”
In 2024, the Museum was awarded a $250,000 grant through Gov. Jared Polis’ Geothermal Energy Grant Program at the Colorado Energy Office, part of a $7.7 million statewide investment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition to clean energy. The grant is helping the Museum explore the viability of replacing natural gas with geothermal systems to sustainably heat and cool the facility.
For longtime Earth Sciences Research Associate Dr. Bob Raynolds, the project is nothing short of extraordinary: “In my 35 years at the Museum, we’ve never had an opportunity quite like this — to study the deep geologic layers beneath our feet with such precision. That this fossil turned up here, in City Park, is nothing short of magical.”
The specimen deepens our understanding of dinosaurs in the Denver Basin and encourages us to imagine all the fossils hidden right beneath our feet — a world still waiting to be discovered and explored!
Lead Image descriptions:
- Image of a plant-eating ornithopod dinosaur, Thescelosaurus during the latest Cretaceous Period, nearly 67 million years ago. These around 10-12 foot long two-legged animals roamed the tropical swamps, forests and floodplains where Denver now stands. Their vertebrae are similar to the one found in the rock core deep below the Museum.
- Earth Sciences Curator Dr. James Hagadorn and Research Associate Dr. Bob Raynolds examine scientific cores in the parking lot at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science in January, 2025.
About the Denver Museum of Nature & Science
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science is the Rocky Mountain region’s leading resource for formal and informal science education. Many of the Museum’s educational programs and exhibits are made possible in part by the citizens of the seven-county metro area through the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District. The Museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
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