Triceratops Discovery
Remarkably complete Triceratops skull, lower jaws, and neck
A team of paleontologists and student interns from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science discovered a remarkably complete and visually stunning Triceratops skull, lower jaws, and neck. Uncovered during the Museum’s annual summer fieldwork in the Hell Creek Formation near Marmarth, North Dakota, the around 67-million-year-old Triceratops skeleton is one of the heaviest fossils the Museum has ever collected — second only to the Museum’s famed Stegosaurus in the "Prehistoric Journey" preparation lab.
Weighing in at over 5.4 tons, the paleontologists have brought the massive field jacket containing the skull, lower jaw, articulated neck and portions of the spine and ribcage embedded in rock and dirt back to the Museum, where it is currently being prepared in public view in the “Discovering Teen Rex” exhibition.
The Find
The fossil was initially spotted in the summer of 2024 by Casey Thater, a CU Boulder graduate student and summer volunteer with the Museum, who noticed part of the Triceratops shield poking out of a hillside. What began as a routine dig quickly revealed a pristine skull that extended down through the neck and ribcage. The fossil’s extraordinary preservation led the team to pursue full excavation the following summer under permit from the U.S.D.A Forest Service, which manages the public lands and resources where the find was made and collaborated closely with the Museum in the fossil’s excavation in July, 2025.
More than 50 interns and students from 21 universities across four continents contributed to the excavation, adding muscle and momentum to the massive undertaking.
Triceratops dig site bustling with activity.
Close-up of the exposed horn and fossil jacket encasing the Triceratops' shield. Inscription reads: "If you can read this, it means our Triceratops dreams came true."
Interns Chalfont Conley, Kibrom Legesse, Max Krueger and Marisa Luft, right to left, expose new fossil bone in the quarry.
Museum interns at dig site.
Salvador Bastien, a fossil preparator and an excavation crew leader, pick axing at the dig site in North Dakota.
The Extraction
Extraction of the massive fossil required intense coordination and local support. The team enlisted heavy machinery from nearby towns, with Derek Lyson — Dr. Lyson’s brother and a local welder — playing a pivotal role in locating a 61,500-pound front-end loader to transport the jacket to the highway and fabricating a steel frame strong enough to support the 5.4-ton fossil.
Dr. Tyler Lyson with his brother Derek Lyson and equipment operations team standing in front of a 60,000-pound front-end loader to transport the jacket to the highway.
The team setting up straps and preparing to flip the fossil.
Paleontologists thin rock after jacket flip.
Loading and repositioning the fossil jacket on the front loader in North Dakota.
The front loader taking the fossil jacket to the highway to transport to the Museum.
Bringing the Fossil Back to the Museum
When it came time to move the massive fossil jacket into “Discovering Teen Rex,” there was just one problem—it didn’t fit through the hallway.
The solution? Museum staff carefully rolled the fossil from the loading dock, through our first-floor prep lab where it received some initial prep work, and finally into “Discovering Teen Rex.” To make it work, they even cut a temporary opening in the wall of "Discovering Teen Rex.”
Museum staff unloading the fossil jacket at the Museum.
Fossil Preparators Salvador Bastien and Natalie Toth in the parking lot of the Museum discussing logistics for moving the fossil off the trailer.
The team removing the rock matrix outside the Museum before pushing it into the Museum’s loading dock.
Getting the fossil back into the Museum wasn’t easy. In this video, go behind the scenes as Museum staff roll the massive fossil jacket through the Museum into "Discovering Teen Rex."
