Two hikers taking an afternoon walk in South Dakota in 1994 had no idea they were about to uncover a prehistoric mystery buried beneath the Badlands. Steve Gasman and Jim Carney spotted massive bones near the Conata Picnic Area in Badlands National Park — and instead of disturbing them, they marked the location and alerted park authorities.
That simple decision triggered years of scientific research and excavations, eventually leading to the recovery of more than 19,000 fossils from a site now known for the “Big Pig Dig.”
