 This "Avaceratops" specimen was likely buried in the sandbar after its body was swept downstream by the current.The finds, displayed in Cole's fossil shop, were in October 1981 inspected by Peter Dodson who in July 1982 during a visit with Cole to the site discovered additional bones, which from 1984 were excavated by Anthony Fiorillo.The fossil was formally named and described by Dodson in 1986, as the type species "Avaceratops lammersi".