Utah Geologists Excavate What May Be North America's Oldest Cretaceous Bonebed

Why Grand County holds a rare chapter of North America’s dinosaur history

Across Ironstone and nearby sites with fossils of roughly the same age, Kirkland estimates researchers have identified eight or nine kinds of dinosaurs.

Utah Geologists Excavate What May Be North America's Oldest Cretaceous Bonebed

The Utah Geological Survey has begun excavating a dinosaur bonebed dating back 138 to 141 million years on a Utah hillside — a site tied as potentially the oldest Cretaceous dinosaur bonebed ever found in North America, filling a critical gap in the fossil record.

Utah Geological Survey announces excavation of dinosaur bonebed from Cretaceous period

MOAB, Utah, Oct. 27, 2026 (Gephardt Daily) — The Utah Geological Survey (UGS) has opened a new paleontological excavation site that may hold the key to understanding a major evolutionary turning point. The site, which teams officially opened for excavation in mid-October, is currently tied as potentially the oldest Cretaceous dinosaur bonebed in North America, […] The post Utah Geological Survey announces excavation of dinosaur bonebed from Cret…

Near Arches National Park, a new dinosaur species emerges from the ground

SF Gate reported Fossils representing at least 4 dinosaur groups were discovered at the Ironstone Bonebed Earlier this month, paleontologists with the Utah Geological Survey broke ground on a new excavation site in the Utah desert just outside Arches National Park. The land, newly dubbed the Ironstone Bonebed in homage to the rust-red hue of its […]