Researchers from the Academy of Natural Sciences and the Bighorn Basin Paleontological Institute collaborated this summer on an expedition to find, collect and document Jurassic fossils. Co-led by BBPI founder Jason Schein and Academy Dinosaur Hall and Fossil Prep Lab Coordinator Jason Poole, the team takes researchers, students and citizen scientists into the fossil-rich landscapes of southern Montana and northern Wyoming in search of dinosaur fossils.
Fossils from the expeditions are prepared in the Academy’s Fossil Prep Lab. This year, the crew brought back five tons of Jurassic dinosaur fossils!
Among the fossils are bones from a Suuwassea, Allosaurus and Diplodocus, as well as bones from several as of yet unidentified dinosaurs.
The team was digging for seven weeks in Montana, where the temperature could climb to 103 degrees Fahrenheit in the afternoons.
Academy staff and volunteer preparators will spend about one year cleaning and repairing the fossils.
Putting a jacket (a coat of plaster and other padding) around each fossil and the rock it is embedded in helps to protect it during the long drive from Montana to Philadelphia. Now that the fossils have arrived in Philadelphia, these jackets will be removed to expose the fossils inside.
Photos by Ramon Torres/ANS