---
title: "A Terp Fossil Hunt, Just Down the Street"
date: 2025-05-12T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/a-terp-fossil-hunt-just-down-the-street"
section: Articles
---
# A Terp Fossil Hunt, Just Down the Street

*May 12, 2025* — by [Karen Shih ’09](/author/karen-shih)


> UMD Students Explore Dinosaur Site as Part of Geology Class

*GEOL102 Laurel Dinosaur Park 05072025 SC 4747 1920x1080 — Paleontologist John-Paul Hodnett, who leads the team at the Dinosaur Park in Laurel, Md., explains to University of Maryland geology students the types of creatures that used to live in the area 115 million years ago, such as crocodiles.*

Liam Driver ’27 shouted in excitement as he picked up a shard of rock out of orange clay and ironstone on an exposed gray hillside.

As his classmates gathered around him, he held out his hand, revealing a sliver of bone in the center of his palm. “That blueish part is what gave it away” as a fossil, he said.


*A small fossil next to a thumb in the palm of a hand — Liam Driver ’27 shows off a small fish fossil he discovered at the Dinosaur Park.*


*A student holds a model dinosaur fossil head — Liam Driver '27 holds a model fossil head of a Priconodon, an armored dinosaur that could grow up to 45 feet long.*


*A student holds a piece of fossilized wood while a professor uses a tool to examine a piece of rock — Nicholas Comey ’27 holds a piece of lignite, fossilized wood, while Principal Lecturer Thomas Holtz examines a piece of material from the dig site.*


*students walk past a plaster-covered fossil — Students walk by a "jacketed" set of three fossil bones, protected by plaster so they can be moved safely to a lab for further examination.*




**Topics:** [Campus & Community](https://today.umd.edu/tags/campus-community)


**Tags:** [Geological, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/geology), [Student Experience](https://today.umd.edu/topic/student-experience)


**Units:** [College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-computer-mathematical-and-natural-sciences)