Press Release
Carole Jones and her late husband Ramal Jones put Emery County on the map when they each discovered the remains of their very own dinosaurs.
Amateur paleontologists and rock hounds, Carole and Ramal Jones were out exploring the deserts of Emery County when the observant eye of Carole Jones noticed an unusual rock. She called Ramal, who was exploring on a nearby hill, to come and see what she had found.
“I’ve finally found something that you can’t throw away,” she exclaimed. They gently uncovered the vertebrae.
With the vertebrae in hand, they returned to the University of Utah where Ramal worked at the time. Ramal showed radiologists what Carole had found. While the scientists were doing tests on the vertebrae, Carole and Ramal returned to Emery County with a small piece of the vertebrae, which had broken off. Ramal then contacted Don Burge, director of the Prehistoric Museum in Price, who met them at the discovery site. Don told them to continue to look for more pieces to see if there were any more bones in the area and in the meantime he said that he would get a group together to come and help.
Ramal was more than a paleontologist and rock hound. He was an amazing inventor of a magnificent tool that helped him in his dinosaur discoveries. Ramal discovered that dinosaur bones had a larger amount of radiation in them than normal rocks. He came up with a Geiger counter that he mounted on two wheel from his granddaughter’s Big Wheel. This home town boy worked with his wife, Carole, to discover two unidentified dinosaurs.
In August 1991, they discovered the remains of the EOLAMBIA, which was later named CarolJonesi, after Carole Jones. As far as Carole knows, this is the only dinosaur of this class discovered in this area. A replica of this dinosaur was made and is located in the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park in Ogden, Utah.
While the students were busy digging for EOLAMBIA, Ramal went exploring about 55 yards from the dig site. It was there that Ramal discovered a plate from another dinosaur. It was an exciting discovery and was witnessed by the people there for the original dig. The extremely rare, plated ANIMANTARX was discovered and later given the name RamalJonesi, after Ramal Jones. A replica of this amazing dinosaur is on display at the Museum of the San Rafael in Castle Dale.
Carole and Ramal’s lives were filled with “fearless curiosity, tireless achievements, passionate teaching, worthy lie and a legacy of inspiration.” Ramal passed away in 2013 and Carole continues to live in the family home in Castle Dale.