Prehistoric Prep
Emma Fowler — Senior, Paleontology
and Digital Reconstruction
THE CO-OP: For my second co-op, I worked as a lab technician and research assistant at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in Alberta, Canada. The job involved preparing fossils, taking 3-D laser scans of fossils, and occasionally making the casts for the exhibits. I also helped with fieldwork in a Centrosaurus bone bed, an Arrhinoceratops bone bed, and a Styracosaurus bone bed. Not very much Arrhinoceratops material has been found before, so that was an important site for new research. The Styracosaurus bone bed was an interesting site because it was “multi-taxic,” meaning several other types of animals were buried there. The bone bed was a river setting back in the day (late Cretaceous), and the other taxa found there include turtles, fish, champsosaurs (they resemble crocodiles), and even the occasional Ankylosaur bone.
THE OBJECT: This is a museum-quality cast of the skull of a Deinonychus (think: velociraptor from “Jurassic Park.”) Casts are made by taking a rubber mold of a fossil and filling the mold with plaster or plastic resin. Casts are often put on display in a museum exhibit, because they are lightweight and easy to arrange in a mounted skeleton, and it keeps the real fossils safe in the museum’s collections. But, making a cast can pose a risk of damaging the fossils, so great care must be taken, especially for complicated elements with thin structures, such as this Deinonychus skull.
THE TAKEAWAY: Our work in the Styracosaurus bone bed was my first time in an actual dinosaur quarry, and it was great. They really let us learn a lot of different techniques and help out with every step. As far as preparing fossils, I have a great appreciation for the amount of work it takes to excavate and prepare a fossil before the researchers can start studying it. The preparators and the technicians have to put in a lot of work; it’s not just the researchers writing the papers.
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