The ''Hadrosaurus foulkii'' Leidy Site is a historic archaeological site in

Haddonfield :''Not the fictional Illinois town from the Halloween film series.'' Haddonfield is a borough located in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough had a total population of 11,593,

, Camden County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Now set in state-owned parkland, it is where the first relatively complete set of

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

bones were discovered in 1838, and then fully excavated by

William Parker Foulke William Parker Foulke (1816–1865) discovered the first full dinosaur skeleton in North America (''Hadrosaurus foulkii'', which means "Foulke's big lizard") in Haddonfield, New Jersey in 1858. Born in Philadelphia, and a descendant of Welsh ...

in 1858. The dinosaur was later named ''

Hadrosaurus foulkii ''Hadrosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of hadrosaurid ornithopod dinosaurs that lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous Period in what is now the Woodbury Formation about 80 million to 78 million years ago. The holotype specimen was found i ...

'' by

Joseph Leidy Joseph Mellick Leidy (September 9, 1823 – April 30, 1891) was an American paleontologist, parasitologist and anatomist. Leidy was professor of anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania, later was a professor of natural history at Swarthmore ...

. The site, designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1994, is now a small park known as "Hadrosaurus Park" and is accessed at the eastern end of Maple Avenue in northern Haddonfield.

History

, an attorney and amateur paleontologist affiliated with Philadelphia's

Academy of Natural Sciences The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading natura ...

, was vacationing in Haddonfield in 1858, when he was alerted to the discovery in 1838 of large bones on the farm of Joseph Hopkins. Hopkins and farm workers had been quarrying

marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. Marl makes up the lower part o ...

when they uncovered bones resembling

vertebrae The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic i ...

. Foulke proceeded to direct a careful excavation in the area surrounding Hopkins' marl pit, turning the finds over to Dr.

for analysis. Foulke unearthed 35 of an estimated 80 bones from the ''Hadrosaurus'', which is believed to have been

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

, 7 meters in length, and weigh 2.5 tons. It lived during the

Cretaceous period The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of t ...

, 73 million years ago. Leidy published an analysis in 1865, and oversaw the creation of a reconstructed skeleton of the creature found in 1868. This reconstruction, put on public display at the Academy, brought the find a wider public audience. The site lingered in obscurity until 1984 when a local

Boy Scout A Scout (in some countries a Boy Scout, Girl Scout, or Pathfinder) is a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split ...

from Troop 65, Christopher Brees, as part of an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Sc ...

project researched the site and generated publicity, eventually leading to the species being designated the official dinosaur of New Jersey. File:Hadrosaurus Foulkii.JPG, Plaques at the site showing National Historic Landmark status (left) and a plaque from Philadelphia's

. A deep pit or ravine is straight ahead about 10 yards. File:Hadro bones.JPG, A display at the Academy of Natural Sciences of casts of the 35 bones dug up at the site

References

External links

NJ page on discoverySite Visit
plu
maps
{{NRHP in Camden County, New Jersey Haddonfield, New Jersey National Historic Landmarks in New Jersey Cretaceous paleontological sites of North America National Register of Historic Places in Camden County, New Jersey Paleontology in New Jersey Natural history of New Jersey Parks in Camden County, New Jersey 1838 in paleontology 1994 in paleontology Fossil parks in the United States Dinosaur fossils

History

See also

References

External links