Fossil Preparation

Fossil preparation or cleaning is carried out at the museum's Vertebrate Paleontology Lab. The Gomphothere (extinct shovel tusk elephant) tusk featured on this page was collected on our Fall 2006 family field trip (September 29 - October 1 2006) and was found by Howard Lichtman.  The tusk is approxiamately 9.5 - 10 Million years old.  

Vertebrate fossils are often delicate and can not be easily removed in the field. Paleontologists use jackets to protect the fossil, both from the ride back to the Museum and from environmental conditions that might damage it. Jacketing a fossil means wrapping it like you would wrap a broken bone. The jacket itself is composed of strips of strong material, usually burlap, and plaster that is mixed on site. Excess rock is included in the jacket to help protect it. Once a fossil has been removed from a site, it is taken to the preparation lab where the meticulous work of preparation is carried out. The process of fossil preparation is a long and tedious one. Using tools like brushes, dental instruments, and air scribes fossil preparators and volunteers remove any surrounding sediment from the fossil surface. Air scribes are basically tiny jackhammers with a rotating tip to break up rock, and a steady stream of air to blow away debris. As the preparator works the fossil is slowly exposed for the first time in thousands, millions, even hundreds of millions of years. During this process the fossil bone may crack or break. Broken pieces are secured with strong adhesives and unstable areas strengthened with consolidants. Once prepared the fossil is ready to be included in the museums collections for study by other paleontologist or display.