First North American Dinosaur in NJ

[patelinho7]

I remember reading once that the first dinosaur skeleton to have been found in North America was Hadrosaurus. I didn’t know until reading today that it was found in New Jersey. Hadrosaurus foulkii was found in 1858 on someone’s property at the time. Thanks to the brilliant work of an Eagle Scout and later, a fourth grade class, the site was rediscovered and memorialized and the dinosaur became NJ’s state dinosaur! 

The memorial is just up a short ravine from the supposed dig site. This was a fascinating read and something I didn’t really know much about beforehand, but I’m curious about something. Unlike so many historical paleontological sites on the east coast, and frankly many modern sites too, this site is actually preserved and accessible. It’s not on private land, and it hasn’t been developed over. It’s part of a park, so people probably can’t hunt there, but scientists probably could get permission. How come this site and others like it haven’t drawn interest from paleontologists modern-day? Dinosaur-bearing exposures are so rare here on the east coast. How come nobody has bothered to come back and see if there is anything left of the dinosaur weathering out (the skeleton was not 100% complete), or if any other significant fossils are to be found? Was it truly a one-and-done exposure, or is it worth investigating further? I suppose one possible answer is that it could be a fully marine deposit? In that case unassociated dinosaur material is exceedingly rare, let alone finding a whole skeleton. Even still, the site would then be similar to Big Brook. You would think the area would draw similar interest. Just a random thought today.

 

[Fossildude19]

You might enjoy these books.

 

 

 

 

I think the sites have been looked at more thoroughly in the past. Nothing was found, so no mentions are made.

[jdp]

1 hour ago, patelinho7 said:

I remember reading once that the first dinosaur skeleton to have been found in North America was Hadrosaurus. I didn’t know until reading today that it was found in New Jersey. Hadrosaurus foulkii was found in 1858 on someone’s property at the time. Thanks to the brilliant work of an Eagle Scout and later, a fourth grade class, the site was rediscovered and memorialized and the dinosaur became NJ’s state dinosaur! 

The memorial is just up a short ravine from the supposed dig site. This was a fascinating read and something I didn’t really know much about beforehand, but I’m curious about something. Unlike so many historical paleontological sites on the east coast, and frankly many modern sites too, this site is actually preserved and accessible. It’s not on private land, and it hasn’t been developed over. It’s part of a park, so people probably can’t hunt there, but scientists probably could get permission. How come this site and others like it haven’t drawn interest from paleontologists modern-day? Dinosaur-bearing exposures are so rare here on the east coast. How come nobody has bothered to come back and see if there is anything left of the dinosaur weathering out (the skeleton was not 100% complete), or if any other significant fossils are to be found? Was it truly a one-and-done exposure, or is it worth investigating further? I suppose one possible answer is that it could be a fully marine deposit? In that case unassociated dinosaur material is exceedingly rare, let alone finding a whole skeleton. Even still, the site would then be similar to Big Brook. You would think the area would draw similar interest. Just a random thought today.

 

 

I think that specific quarry petered out. There have been various other dinosaur fossils, mostly fragmentary, collected throughout New Jersey, though, including the tyrannosauroid Dryptosaurus.

[Fossildude19]

Hadrosaur teeth are not entirely uncommon in Big Brook and adjacent county creeks.  We've even had some other dino material posted here by other members.

[patelinho7]

2 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

You might enjoy these books.

 

 

 

 

I think the sites have been looked at more thoroughly in the past. Nothing was found, so no mentions are made.

I had the good fortune of coming across a lot of Weishampel’s work when I was researching my footprint a couple years ago. I look forward to reading this book of his.