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| Very large lambeosaur tibia on the east edge of the site |
We've been so busy working the
Avaceratops site in central Montana that I've hardly had a chance to think of this blog let alone update it. Luckily, that means we've found a lot of stuff, including most of the skeleton of this very rare animal.
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| Measuring a jacket before putting plaster over it |
The site, which started out as a small hand dug pit at the bottom of a wash, ended up as a hole the size of a decent basement. Bobcat excavators, jackhammers and air tools (complete with 2 compressors running)made for a noisy and gritty dig site, but the work paid off.
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| That's a sizable hole |
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| Using the bobcat to haul out heavy things |
Prep is now starting in the lab with the ultimate goal of making a complete restored cast skeleton. We're slowly filling in our bone map, updating it weekly with the bones we're sure we have. T
hanks to Scott Hartman for the base image. You can see more of his reconstructions here.
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| More bones to come as prep continues |
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| Working the final jacket |
As mentioned, the
Avaceratops has a very faint set of skin impressions with it. Not extraordinarily spectacular, however it is the first time it's ever been found for this kind of dinosaur. I'm excited!
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| Flipped and getting lightened for transport |
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| Can you see the skin pattern? |
