July 9, 2008
We returned to the dig site today (Wednesday) and continued the careful excavation of ribs and vertebrae. Careful equals slow, as it's very easy to damage or even destroy the bones. As portions of the bone are revealed, they are often coated with a liquid plastic that soaks into the pourous bone - this helps keep it from crumbling into tiny bits. Of course, using the word "bone" for this material is somewhat misleading. Over time, all of the calcium and other organic minerals that made up the bone of the living animal were replaced by other inorganic minerals. What remains is "bone-shaped rock" encased in more rock! What's for sure is that we wouldn't be able to do any scientifically useful work without the
advice and experience of our paleontologist guides. A frequently heard question from our group: "Is this a bone?" It's a good thing the experts were around!
After leaving the dig site, we drove to Grand Junction to visit the
workshop of Gaston Designs where museum and research-quality replicas of fossils are produced. We were fortunate to get an excellent tour of the facility from the owner, and even got to see an ice-age bear skull produced from a mold.
Tomorrow, a raft trip down the Colorado river!
Dan Summers, education curator at the Virginia Living Museum
No comments:
Post a Comment