Vertebrate Fossil Preparation

Chemical preparation is an important technique in palaeontology that uses a dilute aqueous acid solution to remove calcareous matrix from fossils, but which leads to the evolution of salts as a by-product. Acid preparation is usually undertaken using formic and acetic acids, whereas sulphamic acid has only rarely been considered. Sulphamic acid is a strong acid, with many industrial uses, but which has fewer health and safety concerns, and produces fewer irritant fumes, than formic or acetic acids. Three comparative procedures were undertaken to understand the action of sulphamic acid in relation to formic and acetic acids, using calcareous matrix from Colombian (South American) large Mesozoic marine reptiles. The results of these procedures indicate sulphamic acid acts in a comparable manner to formic acid, and more rapidly than acetic acid, in terms of rate of matrix removal. A fourth procedure investigated the removal of acid and salt residues following sulphamic acid preparation of a Colombian large Mesozoic marine reptile fossil, a process essential for the long-term survival of any acid prepared specimen. The fossil was immersed in type 1 deionized water, and increasing electrical conductivity was used as a proxy for ionic leaching. The results imply the preparators 'rule of thumb' of soaking a specimen in water for three times the length of time spent in the acid solution, is inadequate to ensure satisfactory removal of acid and salt residues. Although tested on a specimen prepared using sulphamic acid, the technique for post-preparation ion removal is equally be applicable to all fossils prepared using sulphamic, formic or acetic acids in aqueous solution.

The ability to conduct research on fossil vertebrates is typically
predicated on exposure of morphology. This exposure often takes place in
preparation laboratories, and is conducted by laboratory staff that
usually do not have as extensive an understanding of specific morphological
features or their relevance as the primary researchers requesting the
work. Likewise, laboratory and collections staff may have concerns about
long-term effects of treatments that conflict with the goals of short-term
research projects. Misunderstandings can have dire consequences due to
loss of information through damage to specimens, increased labor costs, and
potential risk to specimens. These risks can be mitigated by improving
communication between members of the research team. Expectations and
concerns must be clearly stated throughout the project, and can be
communicated consistently using common technology, e.g., email,
digital photos, CT scans, and digital maps, as well as through the use of tools
like dual-head teaching microscopes and computer monitors. This information should be maintained, along with detailed records of materials and techniques applied, within the collections database or laboratory archives and included in the Methods section of resulting publications.

Increased levels of specialization in the field of paleontology along with new methods of collecting and analyzing data from fossil specimens require a large body of knowledge and breadth of skill from fossil preparators. In order to advance the science of vertebrate paleontology, preparators must hold themselves personally and as a community to high standards of quality, safety, and ethics. Currently there is no widely accepted curriculum of training or standard of best practice for the prep lab, but many other professions demonstrate effective models. Evaluating and adopting these models while incorporating elements of successful existing institutional programs allows us to create a plan for professional development. This presentation examines the roles of educational institutions, professional associations, and the individual lab in training and evaluation of fossil preparators. Brown, M.A., J. F. Kane. 2008. Evaluation and certification of fossil preparators: ideas for the future. First Annual Fossil Preparation and Collections Symposium, Abstracts of Papers 1:8

Experience during the 1970s in pediatric psychology demonstrated that training, evaluation, certification and periodic re-certification are absolutely essential in providing quality treatment and service delivery to children with severe behavior disorders. However, resistance to certification was intense and was resolved only after a series scandals and litigation. Resistance was a product of an antiquated model of treatment. This model was replaced by a more flexible paradigm accompanied by intensive efforts to train, certify and supervise "front line child behavior analysts and change agents". In many respects the current discussion and model of doing science in paleontology appear to be similar to the discussions encountered in the 1970s. The presentation will briefly describe the development and will draw parallels relevant to the practice of preparation. The brief experience of the presenter as a novice preparator strongly suggests the need for specific training and supervision. Finally the author will point out why the current preparator "role model" needs to be rethought and perhaps revised. The model of preparator as the guarantor of quality data perhaps needs greater exposition. Kane, J., and M. Brown. 2008. Evaluation and certification of fossil preparators: an outsiders view. First Annual Fossil Preparation and Collections Symposium, Abstracts of Papers 1:13

Natural history museums maintain collections as archives of the natural world. These collections serve as the foundation for much of scientific research into the history of life, Earth, and the universe. They allow us to develop and test theories about natural processes, and the specimens that constitute collections act as theoretically unchanging vouchers that permit scientists to conduct repeatable research into the future. Acceptance of a static nature of museum specimens is widespread in natural sciences. However, specimens are frequently altered through environmental and human interactions, raising questions about how closely such specimens can be said to represent the original organism or process. Despite being a basic building block of the formation of scientific knowledge, the concept of the “specimen” remains ill defined within the specimen-based research community.  Vertebrate fossil collections illuminate the essence of museums specimens through their long history of invasive laboratory processes and conservation interventions through their museum life. In vertebrate paleontology, awareness of laboratory methods that give rise to specimens is not high, yet the final museum specimen is something wholly altered from its natural state. The path of specimens through the collections and research process shows that objects as vouchers change through time, and this must be represented in scientific theories derived from museum objects. The four-dimensional nature of museum specimens represents a combination of method and theory in the creation and intervention in the laboratory and collections. This is reflected in revised definitions of museum specimens, a specimen must be considered to be both object and data in order to accommodate the varying temporal states as material and information.

Natural history museum collections serve as storehouses for the raw data that underpins much of the natural sciences. Hypotheses are generated and tested based on observations of evidence preserved in the form of museum specimens; amalgams of natural objects and associated data. These natural objects are altered from their original biological states through the processes of field collection and laboratory and collections manipulation. The science of vertebrate paleontology, particularly the application of laboratory methods (often referred to as fossil preparation), serves as an exemplar for illustrating the system of intervention and study common to the natural sciences. Mischaracterized as a purely technical activity centered on accurate exposure of anatomy, fossil preparation is a process of scientific interpretation. Reducing error is a focus of preparation, but in practice decision-making is based on the judgment of a worker in the laboratory. For the purposes of research, museum specimens are generally assumed to a) represent a natural organism, and b) to remain static through their life in the collections. However, fossils are a result of a complex interaction between biological and geological processes subject to physical and chemical alteration both prior to discovery and continuing through their museum life. They are transformed into museum specimens through anthropogenic intervention, yet this process is infrequently recorded or reported in the paleontology laboratory and literature. This lack of awareness about basic methods has a demonstrable negative effect on the soundness of conclusions in the science, and further examination of similar systems in natural science is warranted.

Extinct Monsters to Deep Time is an ethnography that documents the growing friction between the research and outreach functions of the museum in the 21st century. Marsh describes participant observation and historical research at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History as it prepared for its largest-ever exhibit renovation, Deep Time.  As a museum ethnography, the book provides a grounded perspective on the inner-workings of the world’s largest natural history museum and the social processes of communicating science to the public.

Selección oficial de la Rassegna Internazionale del Cinema Archeologico di Rovereto (Italia, 2018): Deep Time Crabs - I granchi fossili del vicentino

Dirección: Marcello Peres - Nicola Tagliabue
Producción: Heracles Archaeology

En colaboración con: Associazione Amici del Museo Zannato, Soprintendenza Archeologia Veneto, Museo Zannato, Centro Studi Archeologici

Regia e testi del documentario "Deep Time Crabs - I granchi fossili del vicentino".

Sinossi:
Ideato e promosso dagli "Amici del Museo Zannato" di Montecchio Maggiore, il film documenta le attività di ricerca pulizia e studio che il gruppo di studiosi svolge da anni con lo scopo di salvaguardare e valorizzare il patrimonio paleontologico, soprattutto carcinologico, del territorio vicentino. Una immersione del tutto inedita in un mondo acquatico che non esiste più.

Regia: Marcello Peres e Nicola Tagliabue
Produzione: Heracles Archaeology
Consulenza scientifica: Andrea Checchi e Claudio Beschin
Anno: 2018
Durata: '28
Lingua: Italiano, Spagnolo, Inglese
In collaborazione con la Soprintendenza Archeologica del Veneto

Video Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU6Xr70SJAQ

Abstract Will the number you put on your specimen, its tag, box or other housing, be legible in one hundred years? Is it rub-proof, water-proof, fade-proof? Will a future worker be able to remove it if necessary? This poster will present a plan for assembling an archival marking ...

The 'Collard Plesiosaur', found in 2003 in Bridgwater Bay on the Somerset coast is the only complete and fully articulated plesiosaur skeleton to have been found in Britain for over 100 years. The 1.5 metre long specimen was preserved in the finegrained and thinly laminated Lower Liassic Kilve Shales. This lithology is susceptible to fluctuations in humidity, severely compromising the integrity of specimens once dry. The priorities for the project were to arrest shale delamination caused by environmental fluctuations and to prepare the specimen for research. The specimen appeared to be mostly well fossilised in a homogeneous, un-cemented matrix, offering excellent potential for non-destructive recovery of fossil information using conventional X-radiography and Computed Tomography before the preparation commenced. Despite the skeleton being variably mineralised, the analyses yielded very detailed images. This 'virtual preparation' helped to inform the subsequent physi...