He purchased the plot sight unseen, so maybe was expecting one or two little surprises. Well, he got a big surprise when he unearthed hundreds of ancient fossilized footsteps.

The fossilized footprints are believed to date back over 240 million years. This would mean these ancient prints, and the extinct species who made them, are so old they pre-date the dinosaurs.

The creatures responsible for these footprints were likely related to the ancestor species of modern crocodiles. They probably would’ve been large carnivores with partially upright gaits.

This is how Chirotherium came to get its name — “chiro” means hand and “therium” means beast or monster. So the name describes the tracks of a “hand beast.”

Realizing these prints were something special, he called in paleontologists from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.

He describes the significance of the find: “It is the most extensive and well-preserved footprint locality of its age in North America, which makes it one of the best in the world.” He continues: “The only sites that I think are a little bit better are a couple that are in Germany.” 

Lucas has also formally published research on Lang’s find and the significance of this track site in the southwestern United States.

In fact, Arizona has the 12th most dinosaur fossils among states where dinosaur remains have been discovered. Fossils reveal that at least 15 dinosaur species once lived in what is now Arizona, including the Tyrannosaurus rex.

Take the famed Laetoli footprint trails, for example. Fossilized footprints of human ancestors from around 3.7 million years ago revealed that our earliest forbearers walked upright, rather than dragging their knuckles as some had previously believed.

These tracks revealed that our ancestor Homo erectus, the species modern humans evolved from, had very similar walking to modern humans biomechanically. They also revealed that they moved in groups, displaying the same social tendencies our species would evidently inherit.

Lang says: “I’ve got a friend I grew up with since first grade whose grandson out in California has been following along. I’ve been sending them pictures. I sent him some tracks. He’s just online away. I thought, wow, if he’s going to be the next paleontologist, I thought that’s pretty cool.”

This find in particular is remarkable, given its significance, size and the quality of how well-preserved the fossils are. Hopefully, this amazing Arizona fossil find does inspire a generation of paleontologists, as Lang hopes it will.