Dinosaurs have undoubtedly been unearthed by humans over the centuries but they were not recognized for what they were. It is almost certain that the Chinese found dinosaur remains over 3000 years ago, judged by reports of 'dragon's teeth' which were collected for medicinal reasons in parts of China now known to be quite rich in dinosaur bones. In 1676, Robert Plot, the curator of an English museum, described and drew a thigh bone that he believed belonged to a giant man. Although that fossil disappeared without a trace, in 1824, William Buckland of Oxford University in England discovered the jaws of the same species of dinosaur as Robert Plot. Buckland decided that they belonged to a giant extinct reptile and named it Megalosaurus. It was in 1824 that they were first described as the remains of extinct reptiles. The first dinosaur fossil found in the USA was a thigh bone found by Dr. Caspar Wistar, in Gloucester County, New Jersey, in 1787. Reference Links: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dinosaurs/howdoweknow/q50.shtml http://www.geologyshop.co.uk/dinoearly.htm http://teacher.scholastic.com/researchtools/articlearchives/dinos/whendis.htm

The answer to this question is a bit unclear, but it appears that the first dino found was about 2000 years ago in China. Here's a website. http://www.zoomdinosaurs.com/subjects/dinosaurs/questions/faq/First.shtml