Ravine Where the World's First
Dinosaur Skeleton was Found

	Today, a stream known as "Hardosaurus Run" winds through the ravine (above, left) where the fossil bones were found in 1858. Marl deposits (above, right) are visible along the bank.

The site of the world's first dinosaur skeleton find is located in a thiry-foot-deep, heavily-wooded ravine running parallel to Maple Avenue in Haddonfield, New Jersey (above, left). The actual location -- a former marl pit -- was documented on a detailed map by discoverer William Parker Foulke in 1858 and recorded in the published proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. A Stream Called "Hadrosaurus Run" A narrow stream--now called "Hadrosaurus Run" -- wends its way through the ravine to empty into Cooper River, the central waterway of an adjacent county park system. As Hadrosaurus Run snakes its way out toward that park land, it also exposes bluish-gray and chocolate-colored marl deposits (above, right) where ancient seashells can still be found. During the Cretaceous period, southern New Jersey at what is now Haddonfield was under about 100 feet of sea water. The actual coast line was located roughly along the region of what is now Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sea bed sediments ultimately became the marl deposits that are now a common geological feature throughout the southern half of the state. The same marl is rich in fossils of ancient sea life as well as land creatures, such as Hadrosaurus, that sank to the bottom to be quickly covered and naturally preserved.

OTHER LOCAL SITES
>The Haddonfield Historical Society

>Camden County Historical Society

>Historic Camden County.com