When people ask me why I moved from central New Jersey to Salt Lake City, Utah, I always give the same response: “For the fossils.” The Beehive State is home to an exceptional array of fossil sites, and is quite simply a gorgeous place to do fieldwork in. Most friends and acquaintances get this immediately and don’t ask any follow-up questions. But one friend of mine was confused by my motivation. “Haven’t paleontologists already found all the dinosaurs?”, he asked.

Paleontologists have been scouring North America’s western deserts for fossils since the late 19th century. The most famous dinosaurs of all – Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, and the like – were all found over a century ago in the Mesozoic rock