Major Dinosaur Fossil Discovery on BLM Land in Wayne County, Utah

Contact: Megan Crandall (801) 539-4061

Salt Lake City—June 16, 2008—Bureau of Land Management Utah is excited to announce a major dinosaur fossil discovery in southeastern Utah, near Hanksville.  Currently identified as the Hanksville-Burpee Quarry, the area was recently excavated by a team from the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, Ill.

Although the area was known to BLM Utah and the local community for many years, the Burpee Museum’s recent in depth investigation and excavation efforts revealed the site’s true magnitude.  In addition to BLM Utah’s planned Environmental Assessment for the area, BLM Utah and the Burpee Museum are working together to develop long-term research initiatives and interpretive plans to provide for educational and recreational opportunities in coming years.

After only three weeks of excavation, the quarry yielded at least four long-necked sauropods, two carnivorous dinosaurs and a possible herbivorous Stegosaurus.  Similar in age to the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry near Price, the Hanksville-Burpee site is 145-150 million years old.  Located in a preserved river channel, the quarry contains the fossilized remains of multiple dinosaur skeletons, animal burrows and large petrified tree trunks.

The Hanksville-Burpee Quarry site will be closed on Friday, June 20, 2008, and will remain closed until next summer when an excavation team from the Burpee Museum will return to continue work.