This is the green house that encloses the excavation at the privately owned Chronister site near Glen Allen, Missouri. Without the greenhouse the excavation would soon become a pond and render the site unworkable. For accurate mapping the greenhouse is equipped with a hanging grid system composed of meter squares suspended above the excavation.


After months of hard work we have found a mass of bones! Paleontologist David Parris of the New Jersey State Museum has been called in to share his expertise with the crew. Here he is trying to determine the extent of the bones. David will also be spearheading the scientific paper on this new discovery.


This is the mobile grid that we use to accurately map the finds. It was invented by crew member, Bill Teeters, a Marble Hill resident. It is a meter square with adjustable legs, has precise XYZ coordinates, and is also laser enhanced for accuracy. We align it with the suspended grid squares by using a plumb bob.


Here is a close-up of a single vertebra as it was exposed on the block of clay. These fossils are very brittle and have been fractured over time by earth movements.

This block of clay contains the most concentrated mass of dinosaur bones yet found at the site. The bones exposed on the surface include a shoulder blade, bones of the front leg, and vertebrae (backbones). These bones may be from the hadrosaur, Hypsibema missouriense, a duckbill-type dinosaur. Also mixed in with the dinosaur bones are pieces of turtle shell and fish scales from a relative of the gar.

A trench has been dug around the block and it has been undercut in preparation to put a plaster jacket around it. First the block will be covered in aluminum foil to prevent the plaster from touching the bones. Finally, it is wrapped in strips of burlap dipped in plaster to form a hard protective cast.


The block, now encased in a plaster jacket, is being raised with a hoist so that it can be placed on a ramp to pull it up and out of the excavation.


The block of clay has been lowered onto the ramp. Because of its size and weight it has been nicknamed "Gargantua." It is the largest, single block that we have ever jacketed at this site and getting it out of the hole is proving to be a major feat of engineering!


A steel cable has been attached to the pallet and the other end is attached to the trailer hitch of a pickup truck. This is a tense moment and the team hopes that everything holds together as the block is pulled from the excavation.


The effort is a success! The bones are out of the hole and the block now rests on the second ramp, which will be used to pull it to the greenhouse door. Finally, the block was loaded into the bed of the pickup truck.


Fortunately the local lumberyard has come to the rescue with their forklift. The bones were loaded onto a specially made table that will roll right into the museum lab.


Finally the bones are safely in the museum lab. Here, in front of windows looking into the lab, visitors to the museum will be able to view the bones as they are being cleaned. Because of a grant that that was recently awarded to the museum, we will also have a live feed to the museum's web site so visitors can watch the process.
Left to right in the photo is: Mike Fix, Tony Sole, and Guy Darrough.