Robert DePalma
June 29, 2005
Base camp, South Dakota

The morning greeted us with gusty winds and weather in the high 50's, low 60's. A bit on the chilly side, but perfect for digging. Our day began with a thorough mapping of the Triceratops dig site, recording the location, size, and orientation of each bone. Mapping a dig site is very important, because, after the bones are removed from context, you will have a way to view their original position in the ground. Looking at such a "bone map", especially in the case of a whole skeleton, paleontologists can find clues as to what direction the water was flowing, where bones tended to disarticulate and wash away, and possibly, target areas to dig in search of the rest of the skeleton. The process of mapping can be done a number of different ways, but Dr. Cichocki and I used a detailed yet simple method. Using one fixed datum point, the compass direction and horizontal length to each bone was calculated. Using graph paper, these points were plotted, long with the bone's size and direction, and a map of the entire site unfolded before us. Check soon for pics of the actual field bone map.

No sooner had we finished mapping the site then did an enormous storm front appear before us. At 9 AM, the sky turned black, and we knew it was our time to return to camp. At the bottom of the valley, once the walls become slick with rainwater, it is nearly impossible to escape. A light, misty rain turned into a constant downpour, lasting all day. Stranded in our tents, Dr. Cichocki and I finished up the day with field notes, research and mapping.
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Robert DePalma
June 30, 2005
Base camp, South Dakota

Waiting for the Triceratops site to dry, work continued on the drier hilltop river channel site. The diversity of animals there is incredible, and nearly every major kind of dinosaur in the Hell Creek Formation has thus far been shown there. A literal turtle graveyard was found in the lower portion of the dinosaur bonebeds, with remains of over 7 turtles found, as well as carnivorous dinosaur teeth and smaller bones. The reptiles of the Late Cretaceous were almost identical to those in Florida and the Mississippi River Delta today. Giant Metasequoia and Cypress trees shaded vast river systems and swamps, where turtles, crocodilians, birds, salamanders, and small mammals were common. Just picture the Louisiana Bayou, add in a duckbilled hadrosaur and Triceratops herd, and you will have a relatively accurate idea of what the Hell Creek Formation once looked like.

Another amazing discovery at the river channel site: Tyrannosaurid bones! A cervical rib, a long, slender rib that existed in the neck of Tyrannosaurs was found and, less than a meter away, the jugal, or cheekbone of the same kind of dinosaur was found. All of the bones in the deposit are disarticulated and jumbled, but somewhere in there is the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurid! Fabulous news for paleontologists striving to put together an ancient dynamic ecosystem.
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Robert DePalma
July 1, 2005
Base camp, South Dakota

Getting a dinosaur out of the ground and back to the lab is a long, difficult process, and can be done in a number of ways. When the rock encasing the bones, called matrix, is soft enough (such as in the hilltop river deposit), bones can be removed individually. But, the juvenile Tricerartops is in very hard sandstone. Furthermore, the sandstone is packed with plant material which will need to be studied back in the lab. So, most of the skeleton will be removed in a single large block of rock, encased in plaster and burlap. The first stage, after the bones are stabilized with glue, is to dig a trench around the block's perimeter, so the block of rock containing the bones is eventually resting on a pedestal, like a mushroom. Today, Dr. Cichocki and I continued digging the trench around our baby. The rocky matrix is very hard, so we must use hammers and chisels all day long, chipping away until the task is done. The area is so remote and rocky that it is impossible to bring in a power generator and jackhammers. So, we must complete the task in the same way our forebears did centuries ago, with hand tools and ingenuity.
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