Dinosaur Bone Preparation II.
The Final Product.
The Hanson Ranch Research Station Project
The toothline on the lingual surface is now nearly complete, revealing a portion of the mandible of a hadrosaur, probably Edmontosaurus.
Photos © 1999 J. Long
With the pedistal surface complete, Josh turns his attention to the upper surface. Josh removes the remaining plaster in small increments using a cutting wheel on a Dremel tool to cut it away. He then exposes the bone, and again stabilizes it with Paleobond.
Photos © 1999 J. Long
Josh now is ready to tackle the underside of the jaw where the condition of the bone is much weaker. It appears that the jaw may have been crushed, perhaps by a predator such as T. rex.
Photos © 1999 J. Long
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The nearly completed jaw reveals the dentary with two rows of teeth alternating along its length. Many other teeth, perhaps replacements for lost teeth, or developing batteries of teeth were found in the gumline.
Photos © 1999 J. Long
The nearly completed jaw from the proximal side. Because of Josh's careful work, we can learn a lot from the specimen. Virtually every piece of bone is in its original position in the specimen .Total time elapsed 5 weeks. More than 60 hours went into preparing this specimen.
Photos © 1999 J. Long
The nearly completed jaw from the distal side. Since this is the side exposed upwards in the burial site, it shows considerably more degradation than the distal surface. possibly some of the missing bone is due to weathering on this side. The specimen is ready for taphonomic analysis.
Photos © 1999 J. Long
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