Years of scraping the rocks and go through the lose dirt Hacker Dave taught important lessons of the fossil record. So when recent storms dumped nearly 10 inches of rain is an area of Silver Spring resident grabbed a knife and headed for the Dinosaur Laurel Park to see what he could find.
What he found was the largest dinosaur fossil to come out of the park in five years - probably a huge bone and plant eating dinosaur with proof that the 300 years of excavations, the metropolitan area in the soil is rich in history to be buried in the left find.
"Usually what we have here are small fragments and bones, but in this case is a much larger bone," said Hacker, who made a hobby of volunteering in the Dinosaur Park. "It struck me because it looked a little different. To the untrained eye, it looks like a big rock."
The fossil was released Wednesday from the grave 100 million years by the Smithsonian Institution coach Steve Jabo. The size of a head of cabbage and potatoes dirty color, the fossil was enveloped in plaster for safekeeping until a team of laboratory technicians and volunteers at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History was able to identify and clean the bones .
Last week, researchers at Johns Hopkins University has announced that the fossil is located in College Park was a baby dinosaur armored nodosaur name. It 'was founded in 1997, and the bed of the stream has been donated to the Smithsonian.
As Jabo shoveled subtle blend of wet soil, clay and wood away from fossil fuel large, told the audience curious, Mr. Hacker bones discovered quickly identified, but restricts the type of dinosaur would take some time.
However, a good guess is that it came from Astrodon, a herbivore has a very long neck, which also happens to be the official dinosaur of Maryland.
The researchers evaluated adult Astrodon could stretch 60 feet nose to tail and weigh several tons. About 20 years ago, the 6-foot, 220-pound femur from a large reptiles were discovered in the park.
"This is an important finding for the park," said Donald Creveling, program director of archeology at Prince George County Parks and Recreation Department. "What makes this park is important is that one of the few places east of the Mississippi River, where dinosaur bones and fossils are regularly found."
The fossils found on the surface of the park, but heavy rain causes erosion to occur and to reveal new samples.
Digging Wednesday was limited to professional hunters, throughout the year the park opened to the public so that the media history buffs may be borrowed from the hand of the fossil record.
Archaeologists from the Smithsonian has made the trip in five years, Laurel says Peter Kranz, a paleontologist and training coordinator for the Dinosaur Park.
The park is located at the end of an industrial park, about three miles northwest of Baltimore-Washington Parkway and adjacent to the first route
Although the site is midway between Washington and Baltimore, the history of the area lends itself to a diet rich in fossils.
More than 100 million years, climate and geography of Maryland was similar to the swamps of southern Louisiana today.
For more information related to dinosaurs, visit rareresource.com.
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