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Aaron Hill

@thedinosource

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🦖The DinoSource🦕
This account will be featuring fossils I am selling, some highlights from my personal collection, and my latest paleo adventures!

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Getting a Triceratops femur out of the ground takes patience, teamwork—and possibly permission to redecorate! 🦴😂

Here on private ranch land outside Newcastle, Wyoming, paleontologists Aaron and Mike are preparing this dinosaur thigh bone for removal from a channel dig in the Lance Formation. They’re carefully working away the surrounding sediment while a protective plaster field jacket supports the fossil and the rock still enclosing it. Even a big dinosaur bone can be fragile after fossilization, so getting it safely out of the field is delicate work.

But Aaron’s toughest challenge might still be ahead: convincing his wife, Maddy, to let him display it in their living room!

I’m with Aaron. That’s one heck of a conversation piece. Who needs another throw pillow when you could have a Triceratops femur? 🤠🦖🦕❤️. #dinosaur #dinosource #paleoprospectors #wyoming #dinodoug

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Check out this amazing rare Mastodon jaw section mounted for @dinodepot #mastodon #fossil #florida #blacksmith #southflorida

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Had an incredible time digging up late cretaceous dinosaur fossils in the Lance formation, Wyoming. Excavated some awesome finds with some awesome people.

Our favorite finds of the weekend were a triceratops occipital condyle, a ton of triceratops and hadrosaur teeth, multiple tyrannosaur and richardoestesia teeth, and many fossilized plant leaves.

Can’t wait to get back out there. Time to clean and prep some bones🧼🦴🦖

Shout out @paleoprospectors and @thedinosource, they are the best!!

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A channel dig in the Lance Formation near Newcastle, Wyoming, is one of the best places to find dinosaur fossils. About 66 million years ago, winding rivers crossed a lush coastal plain filled with dinosaurs, crocodiles, turtles, and forests. As these rivers shifted, they carved channels into older sediments. Floodwaters then filled the channels with sand, gravel, logs, and the bones of animals that had died nearby or been carried downstream.

These ancient river channels often became natural bone traps. Heavy bones settled into the channel and were quickly buried by fresh sediment, protecting them from scavengers and weathering. That’s why channel deposits frequently produce large, well-preserved dinosaur fossils.

Aaron Hill’s discovery of a giant Triceratops femur is a perfect example of what makes these channel deposits so special. The femur is the largest bone in the dinosaur’s hind leg, and a massive specimen indicates a fully grown adult weighing several tons. Finding a bone of that size suggests there may be additional parts of the skeleton nearby, making every shovel of sediment an exciting step into the Late Cretaceous.

For paleontologists and fossil hunters alike, a Lance Formation channel dig is like opening a window into the final days of the dinosaurs. Every bone helps tell the story of an ecosystem that thrived just before the asteroid impact ended the Age of Dinosaurs. #dinosaur #triceratops #fossil #wyoming #dinodoug

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Anyone who knows me, knows I love my vertebrae 😫 new arrivals: a cute little set of Champsosaurus vert.
So smol.
So adorb.
🥹
I got these from @thedinosource my favorite source for all things fossils.
#fossils #champsosaurus #fossil #fossilcollector #bonecollector

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It's been a while! Today's post covers a new addition to the curated vault. This pedal ungual belongs to an indeterminate hadrosauroid from the Iren Dabasu formation in Mongolia (shout out @thedinosource for this pick up!). Hadrosauroids represent the gap between iguanodontids and the hadrosaurs that we are all very familiar with. One of the key diagnostics is the presence of pedal unguals that are tapered and winged like those of hadrosaurs but retain the arrowhead-like silhouette of iguanodontid unguals. The formations in Asia, from those in Mongolia to the Bissekty formation in Uzbekistan show evidence of transitional genera from various families, making pieces like this an exceptional representation in my collection.

#dinosaur #fossil #mongolia #hadrosaur #prehistoric

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Zander bought this fossil in Tucson with his own money let’s mount it up!

Ammonites were extinct marine animals that lived from about 400 to 66 million years ago. They belonged to the cephalopod group, making them relatives of modern squid, octopuses, and nautiluses. Ammonites are best known for their spiral-shaped shells, which were divided into chambers that helped them float and move in ancient oceans. They were widespread and diverse, making them important fossils for scientists studying Earth’s history. Ammonites went extinct during the same mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs. #dinosaur #fossil #blacksmith #southflorida #welding

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Mosasaurus was a giant marine reptile that lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 70–66 million years ago. Despite often being mistaken for a dinosaur, it was actually more closely related to modern lizards and snakes.

It grew up to around 50 feet (15 meters) long and was one of the top predators of the ancient oceans. With a long, powerful body, paddle-like limbs, and a strong tail, it was built for swimming and hunting. Its jaws were flexible and filled with sharp teeth, allowing it to catch and swallow large prey like fish, turtles, and even other marine reptiles.

Mosasaurus went extinct during the same mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. #mosasaurus #dinosaur #fossil #blacksmith #fabrication

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Megalodon (Otodus
megalodon) was a gigantic prehistoric shark that lived about 23 to 3.6 million years ago. It is considered the largest shark to ever exist, reaching lengths of around 50-60 feet (15-18 meters).
Megalodon had massive serrated teeth up to 7 inches long, which it used to hunt whales, dolphins, and large marine animals. Fossil teeth have been discovered around the world, showing it lived in many oceans. Scientists believe it went extinct due to ocean cooling and competition with other predators.
#blacksmith #southflorida #fossil #megalodon #shark

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Please enjoy these 12 different Dinosaur bone mounts, for the Tucson show #custom #blacksmith #dinosaur #dinosaurs #dinosaurbones #custommount @G & S ironworks #wellington #southflorida #fossil #fossilshow #tucsongemshow

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We are mounting a few bones for @jay_edinger for his museum today# #Triceratops
Triceratops was a large plant-eating dinosaur that lived about 68–66 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now North America. It is famous for its three facial horns (two above the eyes and one on the nose) and a large bony frill at the back of its skull. Triceratops likely used its horns and frill for defense against predators like Tyrannosaurus rex, as well as for display or combat with other Triceratops. It could grow up to 30 feet (9 m) long and weigh around 6–12 tons.

#Maiasaura
Maiasaura was a duck-billed (hadrosaur) herbivorous dinosaur that lived about 76–74 million years ago in North America. Its name means “good mother lizard” because fossils show it cared for its young in nests, one of the first dinosaurs discovered to demonstrate parental care. Maiasaura lived in large herds and grew to about 30 feet (9 m) long. It likely walked on both two and four legs.

#Edmontosaurus
Edmontosaurus was a large duck-billed herbivorous dinosaur that lived about 73–66 million years ago in North America. It could reach about 40 feet (12 m) long and weighed up to 4 tons, making it one of the largest hadrosaurs. Edmontosaurus had a flat, tooth-packed beak perfect for grinding plants and may have had a soft fleshy crest on its head. Fossils show it sometimes survived attacks from Tyrannosaurus rex, indicating it lived alongside this famous predator. #dinosaur blacksmith

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Please mind the imperfections of the AI clips it’s just for viewing pleasure. Maiasaura, meaning “good mother lizard,” was a plant-eating, duck-billed dinosaur that lived about 76–74 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Montana, USA. It grew to about 23–30 feet (7–9 meters) long and weighed roughly 2–3 tons.

Maiasaura is famous for fossil discoveries showing nests, eggs, and baby dinosaurs together, providing strong evidence that it cared for its young. This made it one of the first dinosaurs proven to show parental behavior. It likely lived in large herds and used its flat beak and hundreds of grinding teeth to eat tough plants.

First described in 1979 by paleontologist Jack Horner, Maiasaura became one of the most important dinosaurs for understanding dinosaur family life and social behavior. #dinosaur #blacksmith #southflorida #fossil handmade

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