Jason in Enid
Gold Member
- Oct 10, 2009
- 9,593
- 9,229
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Some of the best fossils we recovered this year were left with Walter from PaleoAdventures for professional prep. We got them back this week, and they look amazing.
The long piece is a tendon from Edmontosaurus (duckbill). Its the largest piece i have ever recovered or seen. Normally you only find 1 inch long bits. It was preserved with some of the original matrix and a BOB (blob of bone), probably more duckbill.
The nano-tyranus tooth is well worn and missing most of its enamel as well as the tip. The trike tooth is a beautiful piece with its partial root intact.
These are the bigger fossil pieces we brought home to prep ourselves. This is 2 parts of an edmontosaurus rib bone, although likely two different ribs. Placed end to end it shows how a single rib would have looked.
Also cleaning up a large piece of turtle shell. I think this might have from Trionychidae, based on the bump pattern.
Still need some final cleaning and conservation, but i need a soda blaster to finish the cleaning of this and the rib frags.
Then there were a couple items we didnt get to bring back because they are going to go for academic research. Smallest but certainly not leastest is a Juvenile T-rex tooth.
Most surprising find of the dig this year was an armor plate (scute) from an Ankylosaur.
Unfortunately I dont have any pics of it cleaned up. Funny story with the scute... initially it looked like another ironstone, so when it broke (you can see the tip glued back in the pic) I tossed it over the side of the ledge with all the overburden. After I got the rest of it uncovered, I realized this wasnt an ironstone but I couldnt ID it. Just the coloring and density tipped me off. So I carried it about 1/4 mile to the paleontologist to ask his opinion. His opinion was that I go find the piece I threw away!
So I went back to the working face and began crawling down the tailing slope on my hands and knees looking at every piece of rock until I finally found the piece!
Tons of BOBs (blobs of bone) including one big ugly chunk that may have been part of a Tricerotops frill, but a positive ID isnt possible.
The only major species I havent found from this site so far has been a raptor (Dakotaraptor). Over the years we have recovered parts of Stegosaurs, Tricerotops, Edmontosaurs, Pachycephalosaurs, Ankylosaurs, Tyranosaurs, Nano-Tyranus, Champsosaur, and turtles. I can't wait to go back for another week next year. Maybe 2020 will be the year I finally find something from a raptor.
The long piece is a tendon from Edmontosaurus (duckbill). Its the largest piece i have ever recovered or seen. Normally you only find 1 inch long bits. It was preserved with some of the original matrix and a BOB (blob of bone), probably more duckbill.
The nano-tyranus tooth is well worn and missing most of its enamel as well as the tip. The trike tooth is a beautiful piece with its partial root intact.
These are the bigger fossil pieces we brought home to prep ourselves. This is 2 parts of an edmontosaurus rib bone, although likely two different ribs. Placed end to end it shows how a single rib would have looked.
Also cleaning up a large piece of turtle shell. I think this might have from Trionychidae, based on the bump pattern.
Still need some final cleaning and conservation, but i need a soda blaster to finish the cleaning of this and the rib frags.
Then there were a couple items we didnt get to bring back because they are going to go for academic research. Smallest but certainly not leastest is a Juvenile T-rex tooth.
Most surprising find of the dig this year was an armor plate (scute) from an Ankylosaur.
Unfortunately I dont have any pics of it cleaned up. Funny story with the scute... initially it looked like another ironstone, so when it broke (you can see the tip glued back in the pic) I tossed it over the side of the ledge with all the overburden. After I got the rest of it uncovered, I realized this wasnt an ironstone but I couldnt ID it. Just the coloring and density tipped me off. So I carried it about 1/4 mile to the paleontologist to ask his opinion. His opinion was that I go find the piece I threw away!
So I went back to the working face and began crawling down the tailing slope on my hands and knees looking at every piece of rock until I finally found the piece!Tons of BOBs (blobs of bone) including one big ugly chunk that may have been part of a Tricerotops frill, but a positive ID isnt possible.
The only major species I havent found from this site so far has been a raptor (Dakotaraptor). Over the years we have recovered parts of Stegosaurs, Tricerotops, Edmontosaurs, Pachycephalosaurs, Ankylosaurs, Tyranosaurs, Nano-Tyranus, Champsosaur, and turtles. I can't wait to go back for another week next year. Maybe 2020 will be the year I finally find something from a raptor.
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