CNCC paleontology dig: Bones abundant throughout nearby areas

Twenty-seven Colorado Northwestern Community College instructors, students and county residents joined for a tour of the CNCC dinosaur dig south of Rangely on Saturday as a field trip to show the residents the progress being made on the dig for a large dinosaur well hidden in a canyon. Several large rib bones and upper leg bones have been exposed in the two to three weeks the dig has been going on, and CNCC is using the dig as an educational opportunity. To the left, in red, is CNCC science instructor Liz Johnson, who is also a certified paleontologist, who must be on site for this kind of dig.

The dinosaur dig being conducted by Colorado Northwestern Community College about five miles south of Rangely is invisible from above and overlooks the deep canyon and cedar and pinyons below, which is well more than a 100-foot drop. The site is just over the ledge, and a slip from where the perch has been established for the dig would most likely end up with a serious trip to the hospital or worse.

Evident in a different location are several clearly visible dinosaur ribs that run four to five feet through the lower level of the dig. The ribs are considered to be in very good condition and very dense. The site you see here is also where one of the world’s best specimens of fossilized dinosaur skin was found. The site was discovered on a Sunday afternoon in April 2014 when Josh Ellis and Ellis Thompson-Ellis were walking their Great Dane in the desert. It has taken a vast amount of work to get permission to excavate the site, which was only able to begin within the past month.

Pictured is a clear photo of a four-foot section of one of the ribs that has been excavated at the CNCC dig site south of Rangely. The dig is obviously being done on a large animal, the species being unknown now, until more has been unearthed. The CNCC science classes, which are utilizing the site as an educational opportunity for students, could be literally the doorway to an ever-growing future in the world of paleontology for Colorado Northwestern Community College. The college has a facility in Craig that has been designated as a federally certified clearing house and fossil depository for digs in the area. Without that designation having been received, all fossils found in this area would have to be shipped out of Colorado to an approved facility in another state.

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