Dinosaur Dispatch


The Bighorn Basin in north central Wyoming is home to numerous fossil deposits. Working in its outcrops, paleontologists have discovered a multitude of dinosaur bones and tracksites. Today, research continues in the region in an effort to learn more about dinosaurs and other forms of prehistoric life.

Montgomery College journalism student Michelle Coffey was invited to join a paleontology dig in the Bighorn Basin led by Dr. Matthew Carrano, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History's Curator of Dinosauria. Coffey shares her dinosaur dig experience with Smithsonian.com in a series of dispatches from the road and on site.

Read updates from Coffey's dinosaur dig adventure below.

A view of the outcrop

Dinosaur Dispatch: Day 14

The paleontology team bids a fond farewell to Wyoming’s Big Basin

The search yields bones believed to be from a sauropod, a suborder of dinosaurs

Dinosaur Dispatch: Days 9, 10 and 11

A new site and more digging yields a dinosaur discovery

On the march back from the Death March site, everyone carries bags of sediment

Dinosaur Dispatch: Days 6, 7 and 8

The team survives the Death March dig and makes an essential stop in Thermopolis

Belemnite fossils found during the first day in the field

Dinosaur Dispatch: Days 3 and 4

The paleontology team is finally in place. After setting up camp, the dig begins. Fossils are found and dinosaur tracks investigated

Dinosaur Dispatch: Day 1

Michelle Coffey moves from biology class to the Bighorn Basin and prepares for her first dinosaur dig

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Brontosaurus skeleton sketch
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  • Bones to Pick
    Paleontologist William Hammer hunts dinosaur fossils in the Antarctic
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A tiny blob of stretchy brown matter, soft tissue from inside the leg bone, suggests the specimen had not completely decomposed
  • Dinosaur Shocker
    Probing a 68-million-year-old T. rex, Mary Schweitzer stumbled upon astonishing signs of life that may radically change our view of the beasts that once ruled the earth

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Photo Gallery

Dinosaur Dispatch Slideshow

Explore photos from the Bighorn Basin in north central Wyoming

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