Current Projects

Current Projects

Sauropod (Camarasaurus) from a Morrison Formation in Colorado (details of fossil recovery and preparation)
	This is one of our major current projects, a sauropod from northwestern Colorado. At left is one of the femurs shortly after is was excavated, notice its incredible size and distinctive features. The femur measures 61½ inches long and weighs approximately 300 lbs. As you can see the distal end has been damaged due to exposure to the harsh northwestern Colorado winters. After water gets in and then freezes, its all over for a fossil unless it is quickly excavated and restored. After excavation the bone was taken to the museum where is was prepped and restored in our lab. After many hours of lab work, the fossil took on a whole new personality, we could see increased details such as rugosity (grooves) in the ends of the bones, where the muscles attached.
This is the same bone after preparation and hardening. Details have surfaced now that all the rock and dirt have been removed. Notice the ball joint on the end, its enormous, you can imagine how big the socket for it is. (We have recovered the pelvic girdle to this animal as well, however it has not been "prepped" yet). As you can see this bone is broken in many places, the bone itself was probably not broken when it was buried, the breaks probably formed after burial due to ground shifting and other factors. This bone is absolutely beautiful, you can now appreciate the value of lab work and preparation and how important it really is to a paleontologist.
Sauropod from a Morrison Formation in Colorado ( articulation of fossils casts)

	The femur articulated to the tibia, a rather tall combination. You can see how the bones dwarf Joe, this animal was approximately 14 ft. at the hips. These bones are actually casts made from a mold of the real bones, they don't weigh as much as the originals, so lightweight, in fact, that you can hold them both with ease. The fibula (not shown) has yet to be molded, when it is more pictures will be taken and posted of the fully intact leg. Camarsaurus was approximately 60 feet long in life and had a rather short head with a blunt snout. The nostrils were directly behind the eyes. The front and back limbs on Camarasaurs were almost the same length suggesting that this animal stood relatively horizontal.
Work continues on the bones from our Spring dig, an almost innumerable number of field jackets waiting to be opened. It's almost like Christmas, only, opening these takes a little more time and a lot more care.

Work continues on the Sauropod bones, field jackets are continually being processed and opened.

A Fossil preparator opens up a field jacket from our spring dig and begins the meticulous removal of matrix from the bones. (right) The matrix is a hard green clay that turns to gumbo when exposed to water. Many hours of work are put into one field jacket. First the matrix will be carefully removed and the bones will be cleaned and hardened with PVA (poly-vinyl-acetate) then the exposed bone will be covered with a display jacket and flipped over so that the process can begin anew on the other side. Once the entire bone has been prepared it will be molded.