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T-rex Skull Untombed


Troodon

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Holy smokes this thing just keeps getting better and better. To think, it's someone's "job" to work on this every day.

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20 minutes ago, Xiphactinus said:

Holy smokes this thing just keeps getting better and better. To think, it's someone's "job" to work on this every day.

Yea I know what you mean.  But have to say that this skull makes up for all the other less rewarding jobs they see.  Still a pretty tedious task and everyone is looking over your shoulder.

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On 3/30/2018 at 9:30 AM, Troodon said:

Humerus has been prepped and came out in fantastic shape.   A very rare rex bone not many have been found

 

DZhKOrlV4AApmsu.thumb.jpeg.0ce227325003958045b6dee091d9180c.jpeg

Wow! That is stunning preservation. There’s no composite or anything on it? That’s amazing!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Appears that the dig for the remainder of the skeleton is finished with a total of about 30 percent found, the skull being the prize

 

Burke Museum:

"The "Tufts-Love" T. rex is now undergoing preparation at the museum, where visitors can watch the process every day. While perhaps about 30 percent of the skeleton appears to have been preserved, we certainly got the right 30 percent! 

A few of the bones are displaced, but most of the skull is articulated in the correct anatomical position and there is only minimal crushing or distortion. The term “exquisite” does not overstate the quality of this specimen."

t-rex-window.jpg.fe80989546d9aaa738d3e2dbaaf07b6c.jpg

 

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That's so cool! Congrats to them :) Now that all the excavation is finished, all they have left is "just a little" workload of prep work and paper-writing.. Thanks for sharing these wonderful pictures!

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Opalised fossils are the best: a wonderful mix between paleontology and mineralogy!

 

Q. Where do dinosaurs study?

A. At Khaan Academy!...

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Jason Love posted the following

The surangulars, prearticulars, and right articular from the Tufts-Love BurkeTrex. This is shaping up to be a well preserved and near complete skull.

Dhbi3NDVMAARHUi.thumb.jpeg.7aea3bdf22cd136937f34d13e8790e5d.jpeg

 

A chance break through the left dentary exposed some interesting rooty business

DihOXJ3V4AMk86-.thumb.jpeg.db405143fc9db64033bc02b87375a578.jpeg

 

Post orbital Horn

Dg3is5ZVQAAtTm1.thumb.jpeg.41c1abe109bb59c35e351fbed9655cdb.jpeg

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  • 3 weeks later...

The left dentary is sublime . Incredible well preserved and I imagine there going to be a lot learnt from this skull . Thank for sharing with us. 

11 minutes ago, Troodon said:

 

DjFNLsQVAAAhIKj.thumb.jpeg.e673b6c4974470064aab99d79615f099.jpeg

 

Left dentary

DkNIStEVAAA4fv0.thumb.jpeg.27bf14b8ee861b1974b902e3e8625a8d.jpeg

 

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On 8/10/2018 at 5:21 AM, Bobby Rico said:

The left dentary is sublime . Incredible well preserved and I imagine there going to be a lot learnt from this skull . Thank for sharing with us. 

 

Will keep them coming as long as they are posted

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Jason Love:

Interesting minor asymmetries in the proximal nasal bones, frontals, and prefrontals of the Tufts-Love #BurkeTrex. The eyeballs are an artistic re-creation.

Dkxgb1RUUAAwPxT.thumb.jpeg.5af00ce6dece6ccd1a67028adc93b256.jpeg

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What an amazing find and prep work, however they are not real t-rex eyes.....well now I feel silly for biding a hearty sum of genuine T-rex eyes.:ighappy:

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  • 2 months later...

Hope @Troodon doesn't mind me doing a bit of reporting on the Tufts-Love Rex specimen while he's not there ;).. 

Anyways, according to a recent update from the Burke Museum, "100% of the dinosaur's skull and jaw bones" have been recovered :) Preparation of the skull has revealed several small elements that usually aren't well preserved (e.g. the right epipterygoid and the left columella)..

 

trexbones-accountedfor7.jpg.e071c99d7845b48709e02e3ec8b8d286.jpg

 

Let's hope that the team uncovers more details about this amazing specimen!

 

-Christian

 

Edited by The Amateur Paleontologist
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Opalised fossils are the best: a wonderful mix between paleontology and mineralogy!

 

Q. Where do dinosaurs study?

A. At Khaan Academy!...

 

My ResearchGate profile

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7 hours ago, The Amateur Paleontologist said:

Hope @Troodon doesn't mind

I think he would be pleased you updated his post, I definitely am. Cheers Bobby 

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  • 4 months later...

I have not updated this recently and checked out the recent postings at the museum's web page and found these two disturbing photos and nothing was said what happened to damage those beautiful teeth :(

5c82eacf7861d_D1Jg3stU4AANHEj(1).thumb.jpeg.8ed5cbc7bb0aba1665ea1955da5d7012.jpeg5c82eaddda6d8_D1Jg3suVsAMouU2(1).thumb.jpeg.28ac1ce430d2cfbc9e28336e627fdcf4.jpeg

 

 

I did some more investigation and found that they had to move the skull 400 feet ..was this a big oops?

52478564_10157026680653064_2680481448686780416_n.jpg.1ef343122f85bf870e25194055bee81c.jpg

 

This sequence was provided by the museum but nothing was said what happened

 

Teeth in the first two

52700548_10157026680523064_6894386403820437504_n.jpg.db0189188d8c5e37362d77a13bba1344.jpg52109948_10157026680478064_4732680478425874432_n.jpg.0777a9c36a02bc560a9f2f4f1c53a51b.jpg

 

Damaged teeth

52508036_10157026680628064_1880016715715182592_n.jpg.e30d23aa0ec416e29df589244fcd592a.jpg

52313865_10157026680578064_6133178530927738880_n.jpg.17c2db3e5ada4fbc345223d57f955e0e.jpg

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That is very sad, what a disaster

and very hard to imagine but It can even happen  to the professional. :(

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Sad indeed. But things like that happen. Much worse happened to the Suncor Nodosaur/Borealopelta. There the whole block exploded when they tried to lift it.

 

 

On 10/26/2018 at 3:04 PM, The Amateur Paleontologist said:

Hope @Troodon doesn't mind me doing a bit of reporting on the Tufts-Love Rex specimen while he's not there ;).. 

Anyways, according to a recent update from the Burke Museum, "100% of the dinosaur's skull and jaw bones" have been recovered :) Preparation of the skull has revealed several small elements that usually aren't well preserved (e.g. the right epipterygoid and the left columella)..

That seems like a lot. It seems like they haven't even gotten everything out of the matrix yet, so how can they know if they have everything? As far as I know for example I think the only specimen that preserves the stapes is Trix. Or at least that's what I heard.

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Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite

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This is really sad :(

-Christian 

Opalised fossils are the best: a wonderful mix between paleontology and mineralogy!

 

Q. Where do dinosaurs study?

A. At Khaan Academy!...

 

My ResearchGate profile

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On 3/8/2019 at 3:42 PM, Bobby Rico said:

That is very sad, what a disaster

and very hard to imagine but It can even happen  to the professional. :(

 

On 3/8/2019 at 4:14 PM, LordTrilobite said:

Sad indeed. But things like that happen. Much worse happened to the Suncor Nodosaur/Borealopelta. There the whole block exploded when they tried to lift it.

 

 

 

23 hours ago, The Amateur Paleontologist said:

This is really sad :(

-Christian 

 

Sad indeed,  I just hope that the tooth fragments were not shattered but can be restored.   Its definitely in need of a good oral surgeon.  Since this is a special skull I have to believe something will be done during the last phases of prep before it goes into permanent display.     

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I know how bad I feel when I break a fish tail, or some other common thing.  I can't imagine how bad they guy felt who was responsible for this.  I feel for him!

For one species to mourn the death of another is a new thing under the sun.
-Aldo Leopold
 

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  • 2 weeks later...

From what I understand lots of the teeth had some minor damage from plant roots eroding into their medial surface.  The prep guys elected to intentionally separate the teeth at the level of this damage, and they plan to clean them up and glue them back on.  So it wasn't a big bonk!  It was deliberate, so to speak. 

 

They did find a stapes too.  It isn't in the exactly correct position, and it isn't completely intact, but it is present.  In the attached picture the straight arrow points to the stapes and the curved arrow points to the grove where the columella should lie.

 

As far as finding all the bones, they do some funny math with that.  If they have at least one of every bone, they kind of say they have found all of them.  So they might find the right stapes and not the left, but if they have one they say "all bones accounted for!" I guess.  

 

  Jason

 

stapes.jpg

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