High up in the Koytendag Mountain Range in the far eastern side of Turkmenistan, a seven-hour drive from the nearest large city, is a large limestone slab that looks like a weird scar. However, that slab contains over a hundred dinosaur footprints dating from the Jurassic Period. Known as the Dinosaur Plateau, it's effectively Turkmenistan's version of Jurassic Park, and it's as unknown as it is fascinating.

The plateau contains no fossils, only footprints. So it's impossible to use any sort of dating method to test the age of the dinosaurs. Therefore, scientists must use characteristics of the footprints (size, shape, stride length, pace angle, etc.) to determine the types of dinosaurs and approximate ages, comparing against known species.

Unfortunately, because Turkmenistan is such a closed country, very few scientists are allowed to do research at the dinosaur plateau, and thus there are conflicting reports. Some sources claim that there are footprints from 40 different species, but others claim just three species. When I was there, I could see at least a few different types of footprints:

Sample Problems

1. Research different types of dinosaur footprints and attempt to classify the footprints above. Note that this is not an easy problem, due to the extremely limited and conflicting information about the dinosaur plateau. But it is something that could be fun to attempt, with a lot to learn, even if you cannot find a clear answer.