Details

LOT 0399

Adult Triceratops Dinosaur Fossilised Brow Horn

CRETACEOUS PERIOD, CIRCA 68-65 MILLION YEARS B.P.

30 in. (25 kg total, 76 cm including stand).

A robust supraorbital brow horn from an adult individual, exhibiting the natural surface detail of the bone, the shaft clearly showing the numerous deep branching grooves and pits (nutrient canals and foramina), which supplied blood to the outer horn sheath; preserved in fragmentary condition, restored, and mounted on a custom-made display stand.

Provenance

Discovered in USA.

Footnotes

With its three-horned head, the Triceratops is one of the most famous species of dinosaur that roamed the Earth. Scientists have recently discovered that horned dinosaurs, including the famous Triceratops, lived in Europe, as well as Asia and North America, at the very end of the Cretaceous Period before the fatal mass extinction triggered by the asteroid that caused the Chicxulub crater 65 million years ago.

Triceratops means ‘three-horned face,’ a group characterised by their large size, frills, and horns. Adults could grow up to 9 meters (30 feet) in length and weigh between 6 and 12 tons. The most striking features are its two long, forward-pointing horns, which were located above the eyes. These ‘brow horns’ were likely used for display, combat, and defence against predators like Tyrannosaurus rex. A smaller horn resided on the nose.