Wanted: Albertosaurus
Case Solved

In 1910 a fossil hunter named Barnum Brown made news: He uncovered a cache of Albertosaurus fossils in the badlands of Alberta, Canada. It was extraordinary to find so many Albertosaurus skeletons together! Brown sent the bones to the Museum of Natural History in New York. There, they were eventually forgotten.

Almost 90 years later Philip Currie set out to find Browns dig site. Currie is a paleontologist, a scientist who studies fossils to learn more about the history of the Earth. First he searched the museum for clues and discovered four of Browns old photographs of the site and his field notes. Brown hadnt written down the exact locationit was still a mystery.

click to view full size image of Currie comparing Brown's photo with the landscape click to view full size photo of the dinosaur bone excavation
Left: Currie compares Browns photograph with the present-day landscape. Above: Fossil hunters Eva Koppelhus and Philip Currie carefully remove soil around dinosaur bones.

Next Currie and his team of scientists rafted down the Red Deer River in Alberta, trying to match the scenery with landmarks in Browns photographs. One day the team discovered a hill that matched one in Browns photographs. The scientists were close! For hours the team searched the area in the blazing sun. The team was ready to give up; but Currie pushed on. On a ridge, he discovered the bone heap!

Learn more about the find


Photographs by Richard T. Nowitz

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