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Diplodocus carnegii discovered at Sheep Creek Quarry

When
1899–1901
Where
Sheep Creek Quarry; Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Episodes
2

The discovery of the Diplodocus carnegii skeleton, known as 'Dippy', occurred at Sheep Creek Quarry near Medicine Bow, Wyoming, in 1899. Funded by Andrew Carnegie for the Carnegie Museum, the expedition led by William Harlow Reed found the first part of the skeleton on July 4, 1899. The specimen, designated as the holotype, was named in honor of Carnegie and later described by John Bell Hatcher in 1901.

Episodes

  1. 1899-07-04 · Sheep Creek QuarryDiscovery at Sheep Creek

    William Harlow Reed found the first part of the Dippy skeleton, a toe bone, on July 4, 1899, at Sheep Creek Quarry D.

  2. 1901 · Carnegie Museum of Natural HistoryNaming of Diplodocus carnegii

    John Bell Hatcher named the specimen Diplodocus carnegii in 1901, honoring Andrew Carnegie.

Background and detail

Background. The discovery was catalyzed by William Reed's announcement of a large thigh bone excavation near Medicine Bow in December 1898. This event spurred the Carnegie Museum of Natural History to finance a return trip. The expedition, led by William Harlow Reed, aimed to locate the source of the initial find, resulting in the excavation of Sheep Creek Quarry D.

Discovery. On July 4, 1899, Reed excavated Sheep Creek Quarry D and found the first part of the skeleton, a toe bone. The skeleton was found in the upper 10 meters of the Talking Rock facies of the Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation in Albany County, Wyoming. The specimen, CM 84, became the holotype of Diplodocus carnegii.

Naming. The skeleton was named Diplodocus carnegii, meaning 'Andrew Carnegie's double beam', in honor of the financier. John Bell Hatcher published the monograph describing the find in 1901. The specimen became the centerpiece of the Carnegie Museum, earning it the nickname 'the house that Dippy built'.

People involved

Sources

  1. Dippy Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-22
  2. Diplodocus Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-09

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.