Como Bluff — Apatosaurus ("Bertha")

Como Bluff, along an anticline ridge near Medicine Bow, Wyoming, is one of the historic dinosaur localities of North America. From 1994 to 1997, as part of a research project with Casper College under the direction of Dr. Robert T. Bakker, fieldwork here recovered Apatosaurus material from the Morrison Formation — including the pubis (“Bertha”) and complete foot bones — with associated Allosaurus material present. The “Bertha” Apatosaurus excavation was central to the work.

The bone-bearing layers are smectitic clays that swell and crack, and every specimen needed careful stabilization before it could be lifted. Each summer season ran roughly two weeks and covered the full field cycle: prospecting, excavation, mapping, jacketing, preparation, documentation, and public interaction — worked through desert heat and thunderstorms, with the crew housed in Medicine Bow.

This record preserves modern excavation at a historically significant locality and its contribution to the Apatosaurus / Brontosaurus research context.