Hutchinson Community College instructor unearths triceratops skull in Montana
Erin Roberts will guide honors students this fall in cleaning and preparing the ancient fossils
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Sign up freeHUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson Community College geology and physical science instructor Erin Roberts spent her summer break excavating dinosaur bones in the Montana badlands, uncovering what is believed to be an intact triceratops skull. Working with the fossil prospecting group Adventure360, Roberts' latest expedition also yielded a triceratops horn and a massive femur bone. The team affectionately nicknamed the potentially intact skull "Blue Dragon."
Roberts described the discovery as "pure magic" after days of scouring the field. "You're looking at a creature that hasn't seen the sun in years, and knowing our team was the first to lay eyes on it never gets old," she said.
The remains are destined for museums and colleges, but their first stop will be the Hutchinson campus. When classes resume this fall, Roberts will guide honors students through the meticulous logistics of cleaning, preparing and studying the unearthed fossils.
Roberts, who earned a master's degree from Emporia State University with a research focus on triceratops, regularly spends her summers as a field expert prospecting for paleontology finds. Her students will now have a hands-on opportunity to preserve Blue Dragon and the other specimens before the bones reach their final institutional homes.
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