Dinosaur Name:	Tenontosaurus
		Pronunciation:	(te-NON-tuh-SAWR-us)
		Name Meaning:	Tendon lizard
		When it lived:	100 million years ago, Early Cretaceous Period
		Location of Dig:	Springtown in Tarrant County

   In 1988, Ted Williams and his son Thad discovered the bones of a Tenontosaurus at Doss Ranch in Parker County. In May of 1992, a relative of theirs was on the job as a bridge inspector when he noticed something unusual. He was in Springtown checking for damage not long after a spring flood. Sticking out from underneath the bridge were some bones, which he suspected belonged to a dinosaur.

   Of course, being a bridge inspector by trade, he wanted an expert opinion. When it came to ancient relics, one of the most knowledgeable people in town was Laurie Mosley, a well-known archaeologist and administrator for the Springtown Independent School District. Laurie explained that his specialty really wasn’t dinosaurs, but he knew who to call. At that point, Laurie contacted Jim Diffily, curator at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. Jim and his colleagues headed to the bridge where they identified the bones as being from another Tenontosaurus.

   The two-day excavation became quite a community event. News crews came, and Laurie Mosley saw to it that busload after busload of Springtown ISD students arrived to observe the dig. Laurie also rounded up an archaeology crew, and volunteers came by droves to help. “There were ten times more diggers than there was anything to dig out,” said Jim.

   Like the previous excavations, this one had its own set of challenges. The creek was still undercutting bones embedded in the bank, causing them to drop into the creek and be carried downstream. It was a good thing that the archaeology crew had come because they were instrumental in diverting the creek’s waters.

   In the end, it was another successful dig. The team recovered bones from the hips, hind legs, and tail of the specimen.

Photo Album: View all 13 photos of the Springtown excavation at a larger scale.