First Report on the Preparation of Bernie at OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry)
Greg Carr Feb 2, 2013
So far, I have spent portions of 8 volunteer days working on Bernie at the Preparation lab at OMSI. I’m the only one working on it so far, and I don’t know what Sue Wu (the director of the Earth Sciences section) has planned for the other volunteers. So far I’ve completely prepped out one block about the size of two decks of cards that had a lot of bones visible on it. I also worked on the adjoining block that has a Coracoid or Scapula
on it. So far I have recovered parts of 4 vertebrae, one long bone,
one rib,
one chewed up end of a long bone, one very small spine that may be
from a sea urchin, three tiny ammonites, a couple of decent brachiopods, and
pieces of several broken bones of unknown sources. The blocks are so rich that
you have to be very careful – just digging into them to free up a bone will
uncover other bones, ad infinitum.
one chewed up end of a long bone, one very small spine that may be
from a sea urchin, three tiny ammonites, a couple of decent brachiopods, and
pieces of several broken bones of unknown sources. The blocks are so rich that
you have to be very careful – just digging into them to free up a bone will
uncover other bones, ad infinitum.
One thing is puzzling – I think we will have too many ‘Long
Bones’ to be a Shastasorous – they only had 4 per animal, and I think I’ve
already accounted for 3 full bones and 3 ends of others. So maybe it’s a
different, more primitive type from the middle or early Triassic. That would
upset the dating of the Vester formation/Brisbois
member. Or perhaps it’s a new species (Oh please, please!!)> Or
maybe there is more than one body present. Anyway, we’ll know more in about 6
months when we get the Coracoid/Scapula and the arm bone associated with it out
& prepped& sent off for speciation.
Sincerely, Greg Carr
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