AllMovie

The early 21st century marked an extraordinary time for paleontology - one of the first periods in which scientists began to happen upon entire dinosaur specimens, well preserved from the eras in which the creatures roamed the Earth. Many of the more striking discoveries originated in the Junggar Basin of northwestern China - a locale tagged as 'The Dinosaur Pompeii' and 'The Pit of Death,' and home to entire stacks of complete dinosaur skeletons. Specimens found here (many estimated at around 160 million years old) include unusual forerunners of the triceratops and Tyrannosaurus Rex, and a distant ancestor of the modern crocodile. The documentary program National Geographic: Dino Death Trap observes scholars of the prehistoric era, as they use the said findings to investigate a historical period so ancient that it has traditionally eluded most paleontologists.