“Nate” 2018 – CK Preparations – Professional Fossil Services

Katie next tot the Nate skull partially prepared on the left side.

Day of discovery picture. Only the tips of the two brow horns and the back top of the parietal were exposed.

Nate exposing more of the skull to see if it keeps going.

The center ridge of the parietal leading to the brow horns. This was enough to know there was something special here.

Since we believed that the entire skull was preserved, we started to skid steer around the entire area. This way we could jacket the entire site safely for the fossil and us.

The entire area around the skull is dug down. We just located the tip of the rostrum and now we can plan the jacketing phase.

We have outlined the entire skull, leaving a few inches of matrix around it. At the bottom right, we dug in to see if the lower dentition was preserved, it was!

Starting to plaster jacket the skull.

Nearly complete with the first layer of plaster and burlap. Only 9 more layers to go plus the steel frame.

Field jacket with frame, ready to remove.

We had to dig down below the skull to be able to back a trailer in to load. It is now ready to push on the trailer. At this point, the skull jacket weighs around 8 thousand pounds.

Adding steel rollers to the trailer so we can push the skull on.

Skull is on the trailer and secured. Now we have to get out of the badlands.

Back at the lab, the skull has been unloaded and now we are exposing the left side. Katie is using a microblaster with baking soda to remove the sand matrix.

Specimen Information

A complete Triceratops prorsus skull from the Hell Creek Formation in N.E. Montana. Discovered by Nathan Cooper in 2018.

Status:
This specimen has been acquired. NATE is on its way to its new home for many to enjoy and be inspired.

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