Wyoming Fossils

20/05/2026

Watch the excavation process of a large dinosaur jaw section discovered within the Lance Creek Formation of Wyoming! At first glance, isolated jaw material can sometimes be difficult to identify out in the field, especially before preparation begins. Based on the shape and preservation, this specimen may belong to either a Triceratops or an Edmontosaurus — two of the most iconic dinosaurs found within the Lance Creek Formation.

The Lance Creek Formation dates back to the Late Cretaceous, around 66 million years ago, and preserves a wide variety of prehistoric life including ceratopsians, hadrosaurs, tyrannosaurs, crocodilians, turtles, and more. Because this formation represents ancient river channel and floodplain environments, fossils are often discovered as scattered or weathered sections rather than complete skeletons, making excavation and identification an exciting challenge.

This video shows part of the careful process of uncovering and stabilizing the fossil in the field before it can be brought back for preparation. Every exposed fragment helps piece together a small part of Wyoming’s prehistoric past.

If you enjoy fossils, dinosaurs, excavation, and behind-the-scenes paleontology content, you’re in the right place!

11/05/2026

Since dig season has officially begun here in Kemmerer, I felt the need to bring back this previous post about the “lil guys.” 🐟⛏️

These photos show an array of very small fossil specimens from the Green River Formation, including uncommon to rare phenomena that can show up in smaller fossils — aspiration events, certain species of fossil fish preserved in early stages of life, baby stingrays and crayfish, and other delicate details that are easy to overlook while out at the quarries.

When fossil hunting, it’s always worth slowing down and checking the small pieces carefully. Some of the coolest fossils aren’t giant display plates… sometimes they’re the tiny specimens hiding in plain sight after sitting beneath Wyoming’s ancient lake beds for over 50 million years.

So while everyone’s searching for the big showpieces this summer… don’t forget to keep an eye out for the lil guys. 👀🐠

01/05/2026

How some people think the colors on a Green River Formation fossil plate got there: Bob Ross personally stopped by the prep lab and painted them on. Happy little layers, happy little fossils.

The matrix surrounding fossil fish from the Green River Formation can show an amazing range of natural colors depending on the layer it came from. Some plates may have warm tans and creams, others rich browns, soft grays, reds, or even subtle greenish tones. These color differences come from changes in sediment, mineral content, oxidation, organic material, and the conditions present when that layer of ancient lakebed was deposited over 50 million years ago.

That means every fossil plate has its own look—no two are exactly alike. Nature did the painting long before we got here.

20/04/2026

These three dinosaur bones—a fragment of a larger bone, a toe, and a rib—were found in the Lance Creek Formation and are now being prepared in the lab. But two of them show something even more interesting… evidence of predation.

You can see scrape marks and punctures preserved in the bone—these aren’t from preparation, but from ancient animals feeding on the remains before burial.

The Lance Creek Formation represents a river channel deposit, which means we rarely find full skeletons. Instead, bones were scattered, transported, and heavily interacted with before fossilization.

During the Late Cretaceous, these remains were likely scavenged or preyed upon by crocodilians, lizards, and theropod dinosaurs, leaving behind the marks you see today. Those traces give us a direct look at feeding behavior from over 66 million years ago.

What looks like just a few random bones is actually a snapshot of an ancient ecosystem in action.



Music Used:
“Dubstep Cyber” by Synthezx (from the commercial folder in CapCut)

16/04/2026

It’s coming up quick! Wyoming Fossils are excited to be vendors at this year’s show! Check us out if you’re around the SLC area! 🦖 🐟 💎

💥 NEXT WEEK! 💥

April 24, 25, 26 at the USU Bastian Agricultural Center in South Jordan! 😃

Wasatch Gem Society

15/04/2026

You ever spend days working on a large fossil fish plate and finally step back to see it finished? That feeling is unreal. 😌

From roughing out the fish with an air scribe—carefully getting down to that thin layer of matrix above the fish—to air abrading the final details and exposing everything cleanly… it’s a process that takes time and patience.

And it doesn’t stop there—hours more go into backing the plate and getting it fully prepped, stabilized, and ready to mount and display.

But when it’s all said and done, and you see that full plate come to life… yeah, that’s the kind of accomplishment that never gets old.

fossilprep

10/04/2026

Not every fossil tells you what it is right away… and this one is keeping us guessing.

In this video, we’re preparing a mystery fossil from the Lance Creek Formation in Wyoming. Sometimes, especially with fragmented material—especially skull pieces—it can be really difficult to confidently identify what you’re looking at. Bone texture, shape, and structure all give clues, but without a complete specimen, it turns into a real puzzle.

That’s exactly what we’re dealing with here.

As we prep and expose more detail, we want your help—what do you think this fossil could be? Drop your guesses in the comments 👇

Could it be a T-Rex, Edmontosaurus, Triceratops… or even Nodosaurus?

Let’s see who gets it right.

08/04/2026

Fossil hunting season is right around the corner… and my friends are about to get recruited whether they like it or not 😅

This clip shows real excavation footage from the Lance Creek Formation here in Wyoming—where we dig up incredible Cretaceous fossils, including dinosaurs like Triceratops, Edmontosaurus, and more.

Nothing like a little peer pressure mixed with 66-million-year-old history to get people hooked 🦴

Drop a comment—would you join the hunt or run the other way? 👀

03/04/2026

Did you know fossil fish can show unique disarticulation based on how they decomposed before being buried?

Fossil fish from the Green River Formation can preserve incredible detail—not just in perfectly articulated specimens, but also in how they began to come apart before burial.

Some fish were buried quickly, preserving them almost perfectly with every bone still in place. Others remained exposed longer, allowing decay, movement, or scavengers to begin disarticulating the skeleton before they were finally buried.

This process can result in tails drifting away from the body, spines separating, or fins breaking while still remaining partially articulated. These features aren’t damage—they’re a preserved record of what happened between death and burial.

While disarticulated specimens tell a unique story of decomposition and movement, perfectly articulated fossils are just as remarkable—capturing a moment frozen in time with little to no disturbance.

Different preservation… same level of amazing.

education science

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Music Disclaimer:
Music used in this video is “Happy Indie Rock” by FiniteMusicForge, sourced from the commercial-use library within the CapCut video editing software. This music is licensed for commercial use and is not intended to infringe on any copyright.