Rotten Wood in Sand: Difficult Preparation of a Large Theropod Specimen

Anthony Maltese
Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center
201 S. Fairview St.
Woodland Park, CO 80863
(719) 686-1820

A difficult combination of soft matrix, low overburden, and a high degree of specimen articulation posed special problems in the recovery of a Daspletosaurus torusus skeleton. Traditional jacketing and mechanical preparation yielded unsatisfactory results. Mechanical preparation proved impossible without consolidation of both the fossil material and the surrounding matrix. Techniques were developed for the stabilization, transportation, and preparation of the original fossil material.

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