Fossil eggs reveal new way to date the Age of the Dinosaurs

Eggs laid by dinosaurs have provided paleontologists with a new way to tell prehistoric time. By looking to radioactive minerals taken up by eggshells in the deep past, experts have uncovered a novel method to determine when those eggs were laid—one that could put ancient ecosystems on a more accurate timeline

The new research, published today in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, adds to a growing body of evidence that fossil eggshells hold mineral clues that will allow experts to date them directly. Rather than deriving the dates of fossils from the rocks in which they are encased, the study proposes that radioactive minerals like uranium in fossil eggshells can be used to directly date the fossils and refine prehistoric timelines that have previously been mysteries.