Solving the mystery of a dinosaur mass grave at the 'River of Death'

Summary

Solving the mystery of a dinosaur mass grave at the 'River of Death'Rebecca MorelleScience editorReporting fromAlberta, CanadaAlison FrancisSenior science journalistA tour of the bones being unearthed at Pipestone CreekHidden beneath the slopes of a lush forest in Alberta, Canada, is a mass grave on a monumental scale.Thousands of dinosaurs were buried here, killed in an instant on a day of utter devastation.Now, a group of palaeontologists have come to Pipestone Creek - appropriately nicknamed the "River of Death" - to help solve a 72-million-year-old enigma: how did they die?Trying to work out exactly what happened here starts with the hefty strike of a sledgehammer.Brute force is needed to crack open the thick layer of rock that covers what Professor Emily Bamforth, who's leading the dig, describes as "palaeo gold".As her team begins the more delicate job of removing the layers of dirt and dust, a jumble of fossilised bones slowly begins to emerge.Kevin Church/BBC NewsA hip bone of a Pachyrhinosaur is one of thousands of discoveries in the creek"That big blob of bone right there is, we think, part of a hip," Prof Bamforth says, watched on by her dog Aster - whose job today is to bark if she spots any nearby bears."Then here, we have all of these long, skinny bones. These are all ribs. And this is a neat one - it's part of a toe bone. This one here, we have no idea what it is - it's a great example of a Pipestone Creek mystery."BBC News has come to Pipestone Creek to witness the sheer scale of this prehistoric graveyard and see how researchers are piecing together the clues.Thousands of fossils have been collected from the site, and are constantly generating new discoveries.Kevin Church/BBC NewsProf Bamforth's dog, Aster, on lookout dutiesThe bones all belong to a dinosaur called Pachyrhinosaurus. The species, and Prof Bamforth's excavation, feature in a new landmark BBC series - Walking With Dinosaurs - which uses visual effects and science to bring this prehisto...