A Historic Ranch in Dinosaur, Colorado, Is Hitting the Market for $15.5 Million

If you dreamed of becoming a paleontologist when you were younger, it’s not too late to pursue your dinosaur-hunting ambitions. Forty years after yielding an important fossil discovery, a Colorado ranch has hit the market for $15.5 million, TopTenRealEstateDeals.com reports.

In 1979, 12-year-old India Wood was visiting Three Springs Ranch with her mother when she decided to explore the property. She spotted the end of a bone sticking out of the dirt, and after some digging she uncovered a hip bone “the size of a turkey platter.”

India made several return trips to the ranch in the subsequent years and found 18 additional fossils to add to the collection she kept under her bed. The Denver Museum of Nature and Science later confirmed that the partial skeleton belonged to Allosaurus, a carnivorous theropod from the Late Jurassic period that rivaled T. rex in size. India went on to attend Dartmouth and MIT, and her Allosaurus ended up at the Denver museum, where it’s still displayed today.

As its name suggests, Dinosaur, Colorado, has been the site of many fossil finds over the years, and the discovery at Three Springs Ranch remains one of the town’s biggest. A rich history that dates back more than 150 million years isn’t the only desirable feature the property has going for it. Spanning 108,000 acres, it comes with five homes and a year-round cattle operation. Creeks, ponds, springs, and mountains peaking at 8000 feet make the ranch a scenic place to hunt for dinosaur bones. And if you’re looking to track something a little more lively, the land is ideal for big game hunting, with healthy populations of elk and deer.

Three Springs Ranch—and any fossils it includes—is being listed through Hall and Hall. If you can’t afford to pay the $15.5 million asking price to hunt for prehistoric treasures, here are some public places where you can fossil-hunt for free.

[h/t TopTenRealEstateDeals.com]