Mrs. Daniels Fund for Teachers
As the school year is winding down, I am busy packing, making last minute arrangements, and working with Ms. Woodworth in the RIver Room to set up the website in such a way that I can share pictures and video with you of my Fund For Teachers adventure in Montana. I'll be working side by side with David Trexler, a paleontologist at the Two Medicine Dinosaur Center in Bynum, Montana. I leave on Tuesday evening, June 24th. Please feel free to email me any questions you may have, either now or during the trip. I'm thrilled to add an exciting piece of news...Hans is going with me! He is all packed and ready to depart on this adventure with me to conduct research on dinosaurs.
Web Gallery
Day 1, June 25
Day one was very exciting! Hans and I arrived at the Two Medicine Dinosaur Center a little early, so we had time to drive around the area. We then met our teachers, Kelly and Corey. Kelly is a biologist, studying at the University of Montana, and Corey is a geologist. Both these gentlemen were great in explaining to us the difference between rock and dinosaur bone. We went on a hike to try out our skills. After lunch we traveled to Egg Mountain to practice what we learned in the morning. We uncovered some bones and were so excited that it was hard to work slowly and carefully. (It is very important to be gentle so as not to damage the fossils.) We can't wait to return to the same site tomorrow! Go to the web gallery to see photographs and video from today.
Day 2, JUNE 26
It was back to the dig site for an all day adventure! The bones found yesterday were not disturbed by cattle or anything else. They were just as we left them. Hans got an opportunity to try his hand at working with the ice pick to clear away rock from the fossilized bone. After excavating very carefully around the bones, Kelly felt confident in saying that this seems to be a tarsal bone from a Hadrosaur! The most exciting find of the day was a tyranosaur tooth, which, although damaged by a root growing through it, is still identifiable. We packaged the tooth half and will return to glue the remaining piece before removing any more bone. I also worked with Kelly today taking measurements of the dig site and recording in the field notes the exact location of where these bones are. Check out the web gallery for video clips of today. The wind was quite strong on the hill, so sound is a problem for today. Sorry!
Day 3, JUNE 27
Today was a day that I found extremely interesting. I got to work in the prep lab, under the watchful eye of David Trexler and Corey. After a lecture on preservation and museum conservation by David, I went to work on three different scpecimens. The first, a hadrosaur tibia, is the dark, shiny bone in the photos. This bone has been partially preserved and cleaned. My task was to clear off the next section of bone so that other pieces could get assembled next to it. The tedious job of removing the matrix, the material on the bone, is done by first applying air, either with a brush or actually blowing through a straw on to the bone. Next, a small amount of water is added to soften up the matrix. Finally, a dental instrument is used to scrape off the remaining matrix. I had to work very slowly and carefully so as not to take off any bone fragments! The next pictures show me working on a hadrosaur femur. This involved the same steps in the process, but was much harder to do, as the matrix and bone material are the same color. The final pictures show me working on a tyranosaur skull, which is imbedded in very hard rock. This fossil was sent out of the lab to be prepped, but was ruined in the process. Now the job of the staff at the Dinosaur Center is to undo the damage and remove the fossil! This process was the hardest, as air and water have no effect on the hard stone. I can't wait to return to the prep lab for more work time!
Day 4, JUNE 28
Hans is safe! On our way to the dig this morning we had a tire blow out on the truck!
No worries, Hans and I are safe. Hans is a little tired from having to help change the tire. AAA won't come unless called, and there is no cell phone reception out here. As soon as the tire was changed, we started off to the Lewis and Clark National Forest to dig for a different type of fossil. The forest is right at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and has many wonderful fossils of the Mississippian period. These warm sea fossils are about 40 million years younger than the fossils found around Rochester. Unlike the Rochester fossils, these are preserved in a hard limestone or shist, which makes them hard to remove. We found a six inch crionoid stem preserved in rock, beautiful brachiopids, and many fossils of the interior of horn coral. I'll try to pack all of these in my suitcase. I hope the flight attendant asks me if I have rocks in my bag. I will honestly be able to answer, "Yes!" Make sure to check the Web Gallery for pictures of the mountains, fossils, and of course, Hans with some new friends!
Day 5, JUNE 29
What an exciting day! In the morning we went to the dig to "jacket" the fossil. We used paper towels, water, plastar, cheese cloth and burlap to create a protective cover around the bone. It is tricky to do because you never know exactly what is underneath the fossil material. We were successful in making the jacket and rolling the fossil out of the ground. It weighed about 30 pounds! (Guess who got to carry it back to the truck? Hans!) You can see pictures and video of him checking my work. Later, I went off on my own to search for fossils in the area. I originally wanted to go elsewhere in Montana on a dig, but found out that all the land where fossils are located is either privately owned or belongs to the state or federal government. I am allowed to look on private land, but cannot remove anything without permission from the land owner. Land owners hesitate to give permission for fossil digging because they don't want swarms of people on their land. Looking for the same characteristics in the land as were evident at our dig site, I was able to find many fragmets of dinosaur bone. I checked in reference books and with the curator of the Old Trail Museum in Choteau and identified them as ossified tendons, the stringy pieces that attach muscles to the bone. I was not able to remove anything, but later informed my teachers of the bones. They will come back soon to set up a data marker start collecting bones there! The biggest find of the day was a tyranosaur tooth! Make sure you check out pictures and video from today!
Day 6, JUNE 30
What a fantastic conclusion to the adventure of a lifetime! We visited the Museum of the Rockies and found the most amazing bones, fossils and displays of prehistoric life. I wasn't able to document the trip with video, as that type of photography is not allowed in the museum, but make sure you check the web gallery! The museum also had a special visiting exhibit of costumes. I saw Darth Vadar's outfit, complete with his light saber, Luke's orange flight suit, a storm trooper helmet, Luke's light saber and Obi Wan's cape! (Also the original hat of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz, Indiana Jones' jacket, whip and staff of Ra, and lots of costumes from Star Trek and other shows.(Absolutely no photography in this exhibit :(. Following that was a trip through Yellowstone National Park. (Hans met the park ranger and was very interested to learn that the park is more than 2.2 million acres of land!) The Geysers, mud pots, hot springs and animal life were things Hans and I have never seen before. Hans witness the eruption of Old Faithful, played with snow on the side of the road in June, and posed by the sign identifying the Continental Divide. This is the mark that basically creates two giant watersheds for North America. Any water to the west of the divide flows to the Pacific ocean, water to the east flows to the Atlantic. Look on a map of North America to see what land form makes this true. I am sad to end this trip, but it will be great to return to Rochester with the bags of fossils, books, poster, and memories of a lifetime!
