Dinosaur Bone Returns To Tumbler Ridge

The first reported dinosaur bone from British Columbia was found in 1979 as part of a coal pebble display in the Fernie area (Sampson and Currie, 1996). The incomplete and weathered bone was tentatively identified as a toe or finger bone of plant-eating ornithopod dinosaur. The exact locality of the Fernie dinosaur bone is unknown and no more bones have been reported from that area.

It wasn't until August, 2002 that the second dinosaur bone from British Columbia was discovered during the documentation of Daniel Helm and Mark Turner's dinosaur trackway find (For the full story on the trackway find please follow this link). The bone was discovered only a few metres away from the trackway and on the same surface. The bone was mapped in relation to the trackway and was removed by Rich McCrea with the help of Charles and Daniel Helm, and Mark Turner.

 

 

Fossil dinosaur bone only a few metres away from an ankylosaur trackway.

 

The dinosaur bone being pedastaled prior to removal.

 

Charles Helm and Mark Turner helping with the dinosaur bone removal.

 

Charles Helm (the Tumbler Ridge physician) applying modern medical techniques to an old bone.

 

Once the bone had been removed from the site it had to be protected. At the time Tumbler Ridge did not have a museum foundation or a collections and research facility so the specimen was donated to The Exploration Place in Prince George, British Columbia who accepted the bone into their collections.

Over the next few years the T.R.M.F. demonstrated their commitment to exploring and protecting the Peace Region's palaeontological heritage by organizing British Columbia's first dinosaur excavation and establishing the P.R.P.R.C. Due to the high scientific standards the T.R.M.F. and the P.R.P.R.C. are achieving the bone was brought back to Tumbler Ridge by Bob Campbell of The Exploration Place on October 19, 2004. This important piece of Tumbler Ridge history and pre-history is now part of the P.R.P.R.C. collections.

Bob Campbell of The Exploration Place (Prince George) returning the Flatbed dinosaur bone to Tumbler Ridge c/o the P.R.P.R.C. (left to right: Kevin Sharman [TRMF member], Bob Campbell [The Exploration Place], Charles Helm [T.R.M.F. Vice-President], Rich McCrea and Lisa Buckley [P.R.P.R.C. palaeontologists] )

 

The Flatbed Creek dinosaur bone.