Workers at a work in Thornton, Colorado, were surprised to discover the skull and other parts of the skeleton of a rare triceratops during the excavations.
Shocked by their discovery, the workers contacted the paleontologists at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, who arrived at the spot where the remains were found to confirm the discovery.
After examining the fossils, Joe Sertich, the museum's dinosaur expert, said the remains of the triceratops found date back about 66 million years, which is unusual considering that most of the fossils found in the Denver area dates back only to 10 thousand -12 thousand years.
According to officials, the age difference is related to these excavations being deeper than those of previous projects, such as car parks.
"This is probably one of the three triceratops skulls found in the Front Range area," said Sertich.
"My heart was racing, I realized it was a very important dinosaur discovery," he added.
The Front Range is an area in the southern Rocky Mountains, where excavators have in the past found remains of dinosaurs.
Construction work was canceled in the area where the fossils were found, Thornton city officials said in a press release.
"The DMNS scientists will stabilize the area, carefully expose the fossils, look for other bones that remain in the air, and extract them safely," city officials said.
For Sertich, as soon as the bones are extracted, his hope is that the new discoveries will be lodged in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
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