Paleontologist Ken Lacovara, known for discovering the Dreadnoughtus dinosaur species, has transformed an excavation site in Mantua Township, New Jersey, into the Edelman Fossil Park & Museum, which recently opened to the public. The facility was established at a location that Lacovara initially dismissed as merely a training ground for university students, but later recognized as containing extraordinary paleontological significance.
The quarry contains a sediment layer documenting the extinction event that occurred following an asteroid impact near the Yucatan Peninsula approximately 66 million years ago. Researchers have recovered over 100,000 fossils representing more than 100 species from the site, along with iridium, an element commonly found in asteroids. According to Lacovara, the asteroid strike triggered a 10.3 magnitude earthquake that crossed North America within minutes, with a second seismic event occurring approximately 15 minutes later. Within an hour, global temperatures increased dramatically, leading to the functional extinction of dinosaurs after their 165-million-year dominance of Earth. A subsequent 130-foot tsunami swept dinosaur remains into the ocean, where they settled on the seafloor to form the bonebed studied today.
Lacovara describes the site as providing the most comprehensive record available of the hours immediately following the extinction-level event. The museum combines exhibition spaces with an active excavation site where visitors can participate in fossil hunting. Lacovara emphasizes the relevance of studying past mass extinctions to contemporary climate concerns, noting that all five previous major extinction events resulted from climate crises. He draws parallels between the asteroid’s catastrophic impact and current human-driven environmental changes, arguing that understanding deep time through geological evidence can inform present-day conservation efforts. The facility distributes climate action resources and operates under the motto “Discover the past, protect the future.”
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