Moenave, also known as Moa Ave, is a

populated place In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community of people living in a particular place. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of dwellings grouped together to t ...

situated in

Coconino County Coconino County is a County (United States), county in the North Central Arizona, North-Central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. Its population was 145,101 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The county seat is Flagstaff, Arizon ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, United States. It was officially named Moenave as a result of a

Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal gover ...

decision in 1971. Moenave has an estimated elevation of above sea level. Moenave became a notable destination after the completion of U.S. Route 160 through Arizona. During construction, it was discovered that a large concentration of dinosaur tracks have been preserved in what was once a shallow marshland. It is apparent that the area dried very quickly, turning the mud along with the dinosaur tracks into hardened rock, preserving them for millions of years. Well defined tracks made by ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', ''

Velociraptor ''Velociraptor'' (; ) is a genus of small dromaeosaurid dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 75 million to 71 million years ago. Two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in th ...

'', ''

Pterodactylus ''Pterodactylus'' (from ) is a genus of extinct pterosaurs. It is thought to contain only a single species, ''Pterodactylus antiquus'', which was the first pterosaur to be named and identified as a flying reptile and one of the first prehis ...

'', and many others species can be found at the site. In addition to the tracks, poorly preserved remains of dinosaur bones and raptor claws can be found in the area. The best preserved fossils discovered in Moenave were removed by paleontologists to be displayed in museums. Residents of Moenave regularly offer guided tours of the area and are very knowledgeable of the different species that once trekked their land.

References

{{Coconino County, Arizona Populated places in Coconino County, Arizona