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I’m excited to finally be able to do a fossil prep post here on TFF. In addition to the Fossils on Wheels stuff, I am also a Supervisor at the Gateway Science Museum here in Chico. I’ve mentioned that the Gateway has some pretty special fossils right now that will become part of a fossil exhibit in the fall. Some of the fossils are getting quite a bit of attention from media outlets from around the world. These fossils come from the Miocene Merton Formation of Central California. Most of the prep work is being done by faculty, staff members and students of the Geology department at CSU Chico. Employees of the museum can also help and today was my first experience prepping a fossil. I got to work on a block containing Tortoise bones and possibly other stuff too. The Tortoise is named Donatello after one of the TMT characters. The block is fairly soft mudstone that contains a lot of volcanic material and was pretty easy to work with. I used dental picks and managed to make some progress. I was probably being a bit more cautious than I needed to be but being my first attempt at this work, I didn’t want to damage anything. I dont know if the pictures will show the progress at that well but I did make some headway. I can not yet tell what part of the Tortoise I have with the exposed pieces so far but I should have a better idea next week. This was so so much fun and a fantastic learning experience. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the prep work. Here are before and after pics of Day 1 of my fossil prep adventure.