Discovered beneath the underground parking lot of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science

A dinosaur fossil has been unearthed beneath the underground parking lot of a renowned U.S. museum known for its dinosaur exhibits, according to international reports.

On July 11 (local time), the Associated Press reported that dinosaur and plant fossils were discovered beneath the parking lot floor of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science in Colorado. The fossils were extracted from a borehole approximately 230 meters deep, drilled as part of a geothermal heating feasibility study. Citing museum officials, AP noted that this is only the second known instance worldwide of a dinosaur fossil being found through a borehole, and the first time it has occurred directly on the grounds of a dinosaur museum—an extraordinarily rare coincidence. The borehole was just 5 centimeters (about 2 inches) in diameter, meaning the drill would have had to hit precisely the right spot to uncover the fossil—a discovery against astronomically low odds.

James Hagadorn, the museum's curator of geology, remarked, “Finding a dinosaur bone in a borehole is like hitting a hole-in-one on the Moon. It feels like winning a golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory—it’s unbelievably rare.” The fossil is believed to be part of a vertebra from a small herbivorous dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period around 67.5 million years ago. However, it’s shaped like a hockey puck and is so small that experts can’t determine its exact species. Still, it is now considered the oldest dinosaur fossil ever discovered in the Denver area, which is already famous for yielding fossils of dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops. Dinosaurs went extinct around 66 million years ago, likely due to an asteroid impact.

Patrick O’Connor, a curator of vertebrate paleontology at the museum, said the dinosaur likely lived in a lush, swampy environment. The fossil is now on display at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Despite the excitement, the museum has no plans for additional drilling. Hagadorn added, “I’d love to drill a 233-meter hole through the parking lot to recover more of the dinosaur, but we really need the parking space.”

(Hankyoreh Journal, July 21, 2025)