A stretch of earth where deep time meets daylight. Your local guide to the dinosaur discoveries reshaping what we know about the ancient world — told by the people who live here.
What locals once knew as quiet high desert has become one of the most significant paleontological discoveries of the 21st century. A single stretch of land — now nicknamed the Jurassic Mile — has yielded extraordinary fossil after fossil, rewriting our understanding of the creatures that once ruled this land.
We're the locals behind this site. We've watched the excavators arrive, we've talked with the scientists, and we've seen our hometown transform into a destination for dinosaur enthusiasts from around the world. This is our story to tell.
Our StoryPaleontologists describe the Jurassic Mile as a once-in-a-generation discovery site — a place where the Morrison Formation has preserved an astonishing variety of dinosaur life, from massive sauropods to fearsome theropods.
CBC's acclaimed documentary series The Nature of Things ventures into Wyoming's Big Horn Basin to explore the extraordinary fossil discoveries being unearthed at the Jurassic Mile — and what they reveal about life on Earth 150 million years ago.
Watch the documentary →The Children's Museum of Indianapolis brought two large rock slabs containing an Allosaurus skull to a hospital for a CT scan — using medical imaging technology to peer inside 150-million-year-old bones from the Jurassic Mile without disturbing the fossil.
Read the full story →The Jurassic Mile has produced some of the world's most important dinosaur discoveries — and it takes small armies of volunteers to excavate it. Families and first-time diggers work side-by-side with paleontologists from the Children's Museum of Indianapolis and Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands.
Read the full story →Every summer, a team of paleontologists and fossil preparators from the Netherlands' Naturalis Biodiversity Center travels to the Jurassic Mile to excavate. This year's expedition is already yielding remarkable results under the Wyoming sun.
Read the full story →Researchers, journalists, and documentary filmmakers from around the world are covering the Jurassic Mile. If you're working on a story or have a lead on new coverage, we'd love to hear from you.
Get in touch →The Jurassic Mile is located roughly 10 miles north of Lovell, Wyoming in Wyoming's Big Horn Basin. The dig site is on private property. Please contact us for information about visiting the site.
Weekend tours run May through October. Tours depart at 9am and 1pm from the visitor staging area. Advance booking is strongly recommended as spots fill quickly.
Late spring and early fall offer the best weather and the most active dig seasons. Summer temperatures can be extreme — bring plenty of water.