![]() Once you think you’ve got dinosaur bones, do the stick test. Fractured stones have lines that go in many directions. If the lines on one edge are perpendicular to the lines on the adjacent surface-this is merely a mineral. Lines that wrap all the way around a rock indicate that it’s a rock-these are layers. Do they look like bones-and more importantly, do the lines end in holes? Straight lines that end in holes are evidence of bones, revealing the fossilized Haversian canals. Use a paintbrush to dust off your specimen and inspect it closely. Dinosaur bones will usually show a lined organic pattern, which are the fossilized Haversian canals from the original bone tissue. “Look for something different on the ground, and when you inspect it, look for patterns,” adds Matthew. When “walking” a site, search over the stones on the surface-what sticks out? What looks a little out of place? Notice shape, color and pattern. Why do paleontologists take tourists like me out into the field? “Because you have fresh eyes-and the more eyes looking, the better,” explains Matthew. Today’s erosion continues to expose and release long-hidden dinosaur bones, sometimes to the point of pushing them right out on the soil surface. That means the part of Montana where the mountains meet the plains was once a prehistoric beach, with so many rivers running into the sea, which deposited heavy sedimentation-ideal conditions for fossilizing dinosaur bones. The Rocky Mountains were also about twice as high as they are now, eroding away into the sea. ![]() Any signs of erosion-like a wash that flows out, “You definitely want to look there.”Ī long, long time ago (80 million years, give or take), most of Montana was underwater, forming part of the great Western Interior Seaway. ![]() “What you’re really looking for is a conical bluff or badlands with scarping,” advises Matthew Haacker, a geologist at the Two Medicine Dinosaur Center. and the Two Medicine and the Montana Dinosaur Trail While visiting Montana doesn’t guarantee you’ll find dinosaur bones, it offers plenty of opportunities to try. Come to Montana More dinosaur bones have been discovered in Montana than in any other state in America, which explains why Montana’s Museum of the Rockies holds the largest collection of dinosaur bones in the world. I also learned the seven fundamental steps behind finding dinosaur bones:ġ. One day on a dig does not a paleontologist make, but in the time I spent searching for dinosaurs, I sure learned a lot-like how I lack the patience it takes to be a paleontologist but how awesome it would be. I spent the rest of the day digging in the dirt, imagining the Hadrosaurid and Ceratopsian melee that took place on this very spot. Now, finding dinosaur bones is hard work, and not as simple or quick as the movies might indicate, but just an hour after heading out from the Two Medicine Dinosaur Center, I had already spotted and correctly identified my first real dinosaur bone fragment. Admittedly, I was once a young boy with a bedroom full of plastic dinosaurs and an obsession with beasts for which there was no zoo, and traveling to Montana turned me back into that very same kid, giddy with the thrill of hunting down any vague remnant of the prehistoric past. Though I travel far and wide, it is rare that I get to travel so far back in time (to the Cretaceous period) and walk among the gigantic wildlife (dinosaurs) who once romped along the tropical shores of central Montana.
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