Dinosaur Fossils Hidden In Plain Sight At Valley Forge: Report

VALLEY FORGE, PA — Valley Forge is a place of history for innumerable reasons, some of those reasons more Triassic than others.

While it's long been known that the park has been home to some of the richest fossil deposits in North America, including the Port Kennedy Bone Cave that includes fossils of an American cheetah, saber-toothed cat, and more, a recent report indicates Valley Forge has another layer of unique history embedded in its rolling greenery.

Trace fossils bearing dinosaur footprints were purchased from a nearby quarry in 2011 and used to line a stretch of hiking trail, according to the Associated Press.

While hikers and bikers and tourists in one of nation's most important historical monuments might be looking for evidence of what transpired here less than 300 years ago, it's possible they could come across something about 210 million years old.

The marks were reportedly discovered by Tom Stack, who was working as a volunteer park ambassador at Valley Forge. They appear as "indistinguishable bumps," the report states, until more closely examined.

The footprints predate the Jurassic era, and are from the Triassic era, according to the report.