| Renovating the Lab
|
 |
- To ensure safe
handling of these 200 million year old bones, lab staff create a light,
but strong plaster jacket, or
cradle, for the fossils to sit in.
- A layer of
thin plastic (right) keeps the bone dry while wet paper towel and
plaster cover its surface.
- This
particular bone is so thin, it cannot support its own weight. Two
sections on one end are too heavy to stay glued in place; they will
only break off again. Instead of repairing the breaks, the
fragments sit in their new jacket without moving.
|
|
|
| Juvenile Hip Block
|
 |
|
- Earlier, the weak bone was strengthened with a consolidant before it could be
fully cleaned. The surface now looks very dirty.
|
- The old consolidant removed, the bone is
strengthened again with liquid plastic that will hopefully remain
whiter.
|
|
|
- After cleaning much of
the lower surface of the bone, the preparator moves back to the upper
surface.
|
- The technician
removes sandstone from between the ridges of bone in the hip section.
|
|
|
- To clean the sides of
these ridges, the preparator trades her hand pick for a dental
pick.
- The metal is more
flexible than she'd like, but the curved pick is a much better tool for
working on these side surfaces.
|
- The bones'
weakness has made progress very slow, but the time it takes is worth it
when you see how clean the surfaces are.
- Being able to see
the newly cleaned joints around the hip more clearly will be a help to
our researcher.
|
Rib
|
 |
- The technician
removes excess matrix (sandstone)
with water, a chisel and an air scribe to make the specimen
lighter.
- The water
does two things. It softens the matrix to make it easier to
remove and reduces the amount of dust that flies up into the air.
|
|
|
Parrsboro,
Nova Scotia
