Saurierfundstelle (Dinosaur find spot) Nehden, Sauerland, Germany

[Libraraptor]

In a karst-formation of Devonian deposits many bones from Iguanodon had been washed in, bones of these Ornithischians from all ages. They were discovered over 30 years ago and have been excavated by skilled workers from the LWL - Naturkundemuseum in Münster. The place of finding is a one-time calcite quarry,  mining  for  that and compact lime from Devonian  coral reefs has a long tradition in the Sauerland, the very German region I live in. The location is a one-hour drive away from my home. They put up an information board and it´s still very cool to hang around at this place . It´s quiet and calm and I always feel my connection to Earth´s history here very deeply.

View over the one time quarry . Close to the middle of the picture, a little to the right I think,  they dug out the Iguanodons, but three or four meters deep, which has been filled up again long ago.


Information board about calcite mining


Information board about the coral reefs building the "Briloner Hochfläche" nowadays:


Information board about the Iguanodons:


Information board about the emergence of the karst-formation infilled with fossilized clay with the fossilized bones


The original fossils are displayed in "Haus Hövener" in Brilon, five or so kilometers away from Nehden. There´s also a little lifesize model of a young Iguanodon and a built up skeleton of it. Here´s a little gallery, enjoy!

http://www.haus-hoevener.de/das-haus/ausstellungen/bildergalerien/2Dinosaurier.php

[Neosodon]

A Devonian deposit with Iguanadon? I don't quite understand unless an Iguanadon happened to die in a Devonian fossil bed.

[Libraraptor]

A Devonian deposit with Iguanadon? I don't quite understand unless an Iguanadon happened to die in a Devonian fossil bed.

I tried to explain. During the lower  Creatceous  in the Sauerland area Devonian deposits were the floor dinosaurs had been walking on so to speak. There were caves under their feet or at the shores of lakes and rivers. Carcasses or bones occasionally would be flooded into these caves  ("Karsthöhlen") and petrify. 30 or so years ago miners eventually found these Creatceous bones in this, well, "bubble". You See?  Maybe someone else can explain with better English.

[ceratopsian]

Thank you - I didn't know this site.  Very interesting.

[Libraraptor]

I was at the Museum Haus Hövener where the Nehden Iguanodon and Mantellisaurus are on display last week.

[Libraraptor]

Kind of resurrecting a thread, but I noticed I didn´t let you know I had contact with David Norman, who was involved in the Nehden digs in the 80s. I wrote how I admire his work on Iguanodon and dinosaurs in general. I asked him for memories of his time in Germany and so on. This is what he wrote back:

Dear Stefan

Thank you for your email about the Nehden discoveries. I am glad you enjoyed the museum displays of this material. It was very enjoyable working in Münster with Helmut (Professor Hölder - who kindly let me stay at his house while I was working on the new discoveries), and also with Karl-Heinz Hilpert who had done so much excellent work to collect and preserve the rather delicate bones that he had recovered from the collection site. I only have good memories of my time working with colleagues at the Geological Institute in Münster.

I enjoy working with dinosaurs because they, generally, push the boundaries of our understanding the biology and biomechanics of long-extinct animals. In order to understand these creatures it is necessary to adopt some of the approaches developed by present-day forensic scientists. This can be both challenging as well as intensely interesting and sometimes expands the boundaries of our understanding of the process of evolution and the biomechanical limits of animal design.

With all good wishes ... despite "Brexit" :-(

David N

[stegosauria]

A Devonian deposit with Iguanadon? I don't quite understand unless an Iguanadon happened to die in a Devonian fossil bed.

I tried to explain. During the lower  Creatceous  in the Sauerland area Devonian deposits were the floor dinosaurs had been walking on so to speak. There were caves under their feet or at the shores of lakes and rivers. Carcasses or bones occasionally would be flooded into these caves  ("Karsthöhlen") and petrify. 30 or so years ago miners eventually found these Creatceous bones in this, well, "bubble". You See?  Maybe someone else can explain with better English.

Probably a little late: the Iguanodons were like the cave bears- you now found in the caves the bears and the mountain's material is Jurassic while the deposit with the bear bones is Holocene. Later (by a few million years) the caves would be filled by younger deposits.

So in Devonian rocks there are sacks (ancient filled caves) with Cretaceous deposits and in this Cretaceous deposits are the Iguanodons.

Or other try: you have a donut, inside the donut is chocolate filling and in the chocolate filling there are a few candies. The donut is the Devonian rock, the filling is the Cretaceous deposits, the candies are the Iguanodons.

I know sometimes my explanations are quite funny (and food related).

@Libraraptor could you replace the first pictures, they're missing.

[Libraraptor]

@Libraraptor could you replace the first pictures, they're missing.

Oh my, this is a stupid Photobucket atavism.
Unfortunately, I don´t know if I still have the originals. If not, I am going to drive to Nehden soon to take new pictures. It´s not that far away.

[stegosauria]

@Libraraptor could you replace the first pictures, they're missing.

Oh my, this is a stupid Photobucket atavism.
Unfortunately, I don´t know if I still have the originals. If not, I am going to drive to Nehden soon to take new pictures. It´s not that far away.

Yeah, there's a few old thread that suffers from photobucket. It's really annoying. And thanks for the future pics!

[Libraraptor]

@Libraraptor could you replace the first pictures, they're missing.

Oh my, this is a stupid Photobucket atavism.
Unfortunately, I don´t know if I still have the originals. If not, I am going to drive to Nehden soon to take new pictures. It´s not that far away.

Yeah, there's a few old thread that suffers from photobucket. It's really annoying. And thanks for the future pics!

Don´t expect these to appear here that quickly please. Thanks for your understanding!